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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
For the past eight years Bee Ashley has raised four of her brother’s five orphaned children in the country at the family estate, Lachetts. In order to managed the estate for its heirs and pay for the children’s upkeep, Bee rather successfully raises horses. Aunt Bee has been careful to not draw upon the legacy which will come to the now eldest son, Simon, upon his majority. Mysteriously, Simon’s elder twin Patrick disappeared at age 13 and was eventually declared as dead.
Meanwhile, in London, Alex Loding, a louch, semi-employed actor and former neighbor of the Ashley children, spots a young man who bears a striking resemblance to Simon. Enter Brat Ferrar, a drifter and an orphan, who has been kicking around the United States and Mexico breaking horses. Loding persuades Brat to impersonate Patrick, giving him the inside information he needs to be convincing to his “Aunt” and her solicitor.
Once Brat’s foot is in the door, the book hinges upon two things: will he be able to pull the impersonation off and was Patrick, as Brat is beginning to suspect, in fact murdered?
I enjoyed this mystery, even though it was evident to me whodunit about a quarter of the way through and it does get tied up a little too neatly at the end.
Meanwhile, in London, Alex Loding, a louch, semi-employed actor and former neighbor of the Ashley children, spots a young man who bears a striking resemblance to Simon. Enter Brat Ferrar, a drifter and an orphan, who has been kicking around the United States and Mexico breaking horses. Loding persuades Brat to impersonate Patrick, giving him the inside information he needs to be convincing to his “Aunt” and her solicitor.
Once Brat’s foot is in the door, the book hinges upon two things: will he be able to pull the impersonation off and was Patrick, as Brat is beginning to suspect, in fact murdered?
I enjoyed this mystery, even though it was evident to me whodunit about a quarter of the way through and it does get tied up a little too neatly at the end.
dark
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very leisurely paced and shallow "mystery" yet despite that it was a bloomin compelling read. Largely know how the plot will develop from beginning but it was still enjoyable watching it unfurl.
Not a 5 because I didn't like the ending; misding a character I would have liked included and I'm not sure it 'morally' sits right with the rest of the story.
Not a 5 because I didn't like the ending; misding a character I would have liked included and I'm not sure it 'morally' sits right with the rest of the story.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've never read Josephine Tey's work before, but apparently she has two sets of books under this particular pen name. The first set is your basic whodunit-detective series. The second is an eclectic collection of mysteries that may or may not center on a murder, but which do not focus on the "who" as much as on the "how" or "why." This novel belong to type #2.
In a nutshell: this is the story of a young man who (for reasons I won't spoil) agrees to impersonate the long-dead heir to a small countryside fortune on a British ranch. Some members of the family are relieved to see him back from the dead, others did not know him at all before his death and are therefore over-eager or overly cautious, and yet another category is none too happy at the reunion.
Tey gives us a compelling cast of characters and paints a vivid picture of each within the confines of 200-ish pages. The only thing that falls a little flat is the big "reveal" surrounding the original heir's death. After such excellent character writing, I expected Tey to delve more into the killer's (and the victim's) characters and motives. Instead, she dispatched the solution in a few pages at the end, lickety-split, and then finishes the story off without any loose ends. I don't mind the lack of loose end,s but I would have preferred a more complex villain (especially when Tey all but shouts the killer's identity at the readers about halfway through). The "who" was never the draw, but the "how" and "why" were surprisingly bare-boned.
Recommended if you like whodunits, British mysteries set in the first half of the 20th century, or (maybe a niche but I'm in it neck-deep so bear with me) stories about long-lost heirs and their numerous impostors (because this novel offers a rather interesting take on what, besides the money, would compel a person to steal another's identity).
In a nutshell: this is the story of a young man who (for reasons I won't spoil) agrees to impersonate the long-dead heir to a small countryside fortune on a British ranch. Some members of the family are relieved to see him back from the dead, others did not know him at all before his death and are therefore over-eager or overly cautious, and yet another category is none too happy at the reunion.
Tey gives us a compelling cast of characters and paints a vivid picture of each within the confines of 200-ish pages. The only thing that falls a little flat is the big "reveal" surrounding the original heir's death. After such excellent character writing, I expected Tey to delve more into the killer's (and the victim's) characters and motives. Instead, she dispatched the solution in a few pages at the end, lickety-split, and then finishes the story off without any loose ends. I don't mind the lack of loose end,s but I would have preferred a more complex villain (especially when Tey all but shouts the killer's identity at the readers about halfway through). The "who" was never the draw, but the "how" and "why" were surprisingly bare-boned.
Recommended if you like whodunits, British mysteries set in the first half of the 20th century, or (maybe a niche but I'm in it neck-deep so bear with me) stories about long-lost heirs and their numerous impostors (because this novel offers a rather interesting take on what, besides the money, would compel a person to steal another's identity).
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Originally published on my blog here in December 2001.
Tey's famous novel takes a theme common in Gothic fiction, impersonation of an heir, and creates a mystery story which more or less renders the idea unusable in the future without reference to her writing. Brat Farrar is a foundling who has been working on a ranch in the States; returning to the England where he grew up, he is accosted by a stranger. Alec Loding at first believed him to be his cousin Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family estate who had gone missing seven years earlier. Now he would be about to come of age, and once Loding believes that Brat (a corruption of Bartholemew) is not Patrick he comes up with an audacious plan to train him in every aspect of Patrick's life so that he could turn up and take the farm from his younger twin brother Simon.
While most of the Ashby family accept Brat as Patrick, Simon seems certain that he cannot be, not because of his resentment or because he has caught him out but for some other reason which seems to Brat to be not just menacing but slightly ominous, clearly connected to the reason for Patrick's disappearance. Brat's feelings about this are contrasted throughout the novel with his growing appreciation of becoming part of a family, and this is one of the reasons why Brat Farrar is so successful.
The reader knows from the start that Brat is an impostor, and so the interest of the novel lies in two areas: we want to know what happened to the real Patrick Ashby, and we want to know if Brat can carry off the deception. It is a far fetched story, but Tey makes it fascinating and believeable; and that is why this is a great thriller.
Tey's famous novel takes a theme common in Gothic fiction, impersonation of an heir, and creates a mystery story which more or less renders the idea unusable in the future without reference to her writing. Brat Farrar is a foundling who has been working on a ranch in the States; returning to the England where he grew up, he is accosted by a stranger. Alec Loding at first believed him to be his cousin Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family estate who had gone missing seven years earlier. Now he would be about to come of age, and once Loding believes that Brat (a corruption of Bartholemew) is not Patrick he comes up with an audacious plan to train him in every aspect of Patrick's life so that he could turn up and take the farm from his younger twin brother Simon.
While most of the Ashby family accept Brat as Patrick, Simon seems certain that he cannot be, not because of his resentment or because he has caught him out but for some other reason which seems to Brat to be not just menacing but slightly ominous, clearly connected to the reason for Patrick's disappearance. Brat's feelings about this are contrasted throughout the novel with his growing appreciation of becoming part of a family, and this is one of the reasons why Brat Farrar is so successful.
The reader knows from the start that Brat is an impostor, and so the interest of the novel lies in two areas: we want to know what happened to the real Patrick Ashby, and we want to know if Brat can carry off the deception. It is a far fetched story, but Tey makes it fascinating and believeable; and that is why this is a great thriller.
Although I guessed some of the plot well in advance, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. The twist at the end wasn't entirely unexpected, but I enjoyed it anyway.
In my opinion, Brat Farrar was well written and I will read it again sometime.
In my opinion, Brat Farrar was well written and I will read it again sometime.
I care nothing about horses and everything about grifters pretending to be a lost heir to a small country house, and I was thoroughly entranced by this book. What had happened to the real Patrick? How would Pretender Patrick pull it off, and what would he do with his guilt and warm feelings to his fake sisters and aunt? Was in it to the end, even if it felt a bit rushed to get there. Definitely a stayed-up-to-late-on-a-weeknight read.