Scan barcode
bookrantreviews's review against another edition
5.0
It’s the financial crisis of 2008, and Ireland’s economy is “wobbling on a foundation of sand, spit and next year’s hopes.” Irish-American billionaire Shay Govern has just received the green light to prospect for gold on Delphi Island just off the Donegal coast, a venture that could pump millions of dollars into the economy.
Freelance journalist Tom Noone is facing a financial crisis of his own. Faced with a custody fight from his ex-wife Rachel, he must prove to the courts that he earns a stable income. When Shay Govern offers him a handsome sum to ghostwrite a book about long-forgotten thriller writer Sebastian Devereaux, he sees it as the monetary solution he needs to keep seeing his young daughter Emily on a frequent basis.
However, a story is rarely as simple as it seems, and the truth isn’t always the version of the story that people want told. For Tom, what was supposed to be a story about one man takes him to Delphi Island and the site of a Nazi atrocity that took the lives of six children in 1940. But what does that have to do with Sebastian Devereaux – or Shay Govern? What really happened on Delphi Island over sixty years ago? Why is it important that the story is told now, and who is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out?
In "The Lost and the Blind," Declan Burke weaves plot twist after plot twist together to create a thriller full of mystery and intrigue. If you think you can predict endings, you won’t this time. The first few chapters keep you dizzy with questions as the story starts to unfold. If not for Burke’s ability to create a spellbinding tale, you might be tempted to put the book down. You are never quite sure what happened, who to trust, or what’s truly going on in Delphi Island until the end. The only promise is that Burke keeps you turning the page with his style of writing, deft dialogue, and cast of characters. Not many authors are capable of successfully pulling off such a complex plot, but Burke does and makes it seem effortless.
Freelance journalist Tom Noone is facing a financial crisis of his own. Faced with a custody fight from his ex-wife Rachel, he must prove to the courts that he earns a stable income. When Shay Govern offers him a handsome sum to ghostwrite a book about long-forgotten thriller writer Sebastian Devereaux, he sees it as the monetary solution he needs to keep seeing his young daughter Emily on a frequent basis.
However, a story is rarely as simple as it seems, and the truth isn’t always the version of the story that people want told. For Tom, what was supposed to be a story about one man takes him to Delphi Island and the site of a Nazi atrocity that took the lives of six children in 1940. But what does that have to do with Sebastian Devereaux – or Shay Govern? What really happened on Delphi Island over sixty years ago? Why is it important that the story is told now, and who is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out?
In "The Lost and the Blind," Declan Burke weaves plot twist after plot twist together to create a thriller full of mystery and intrigue. If you think you can predict endings, you won’t this time. The first few chapters keep you dizzy with questions as the story starts to unfold. If not for Burke’s ability to create a spellbinding tale, you might be tempted to put the book down. You are never quite sure what happened, who to trust, or what’s truly going on in Delphi Island until the end. The only promise is that Burke keeps you turning the page with his style of writing, deft dialogue, and cast of characters. Not many authors are capable of successfully pulling off such a complex plot, but Burke does and makes it seem effortless.
jmatkinson1's review against another edition
2.0
During the Second World War, Ireland was a neutral country but that didn't stop the Nazis from wanting to have influence. One plot was to fund the IRA to cause anti-British uprising. Seventy years later a naturalised man tells a tale of Nazi gold in Donegal and a long forgotten massacre of young children. How does this link to philanthropic investment in a small island by a Boston- American millionaire and the stories of an uncelebrated thriller writer based on that island? Tom Noone is commissioned to write a biography of the writer and finds that some secrets are still deeply hidden.
For the first 80% of this book I was engaged, it is a passable thriller with a novel premise and a pleasingly convoluted plot. The idea that the current Irish government didn't want any scandal that included the Nazis because of the financial crisis and the ket role played by the German bankers is quite plausible. The various interested parties all have something to contribute and the writing is relatively crisp. Unfortunately it them all got a bit silly - journalist Tom is suddenly capable of killing a trained professional with his bare hands, a character is killed outside the narrative with no explanation and more. This transformed an OK book into something a little less satisfying to my taste.
For the first 80% of this book I was engaged, it is a passable thriller with a novel premise and a pleasingly convoluted plot. The idea that the current Irish government didn't want any scandal that included the Nazis because of the financial crisis and the ket role played by the German bankers is quite plausible. The various interested parties all have something to contribute and the writing is relatively crisp. Unfortunately it them all got a bit silly - journalist Tom is suddenly capable of killing a trained professional with his bare hands, a character is killed outside the narrative with no explanation and more. This transformed an OK book into something a little less satisfying to my taste.
More...