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Dying Flames

by Robert Barnard

Dying Flames isn't one of Robert Barnard's best. The plot is fine, the characters just as believable and real – but it's a slow-paced story, lacking Barnard's usual energy and wit. There's none of the fun, for instance, displayed in 'Corpse in a Gilded Cage' or the tension found in some of his earlier work. I realize that no author can constantly achieve the same level of worth in everything he/she writes –the identical level of inspiration isn't always there - and the pressure of contracts to complete a book is huge. I just hope that Dying Flames isn't just an example of a famous author resting on previous laurels!

Graham Broadbent is faced with a girl outside his hotel room door who calls him 'Dad.'
From there on the plot involves long-ago teen-age liaisons, confused identities associated with a huge ego, lies and fabrications, ambition, cheating, a long lost brother, and revenge for the too-greedy conception of an individual who feels the entire world revolves solely about them.

Interspersed is Graham's taking over of two teen-age children and his growing affection for the older female on the threshold of adulthood – in spite of the marked difference in their ages.

Toward the end of the book there is murder, of course. There is also a confession – nonetheless real because it's given by a person near death. Robert Barnard doesn't fail in providing a great story. And if you're reading him for the first time, it's a good mystery. But if you've been reading the prolific number of novels he's written up until now, it's possible you might become slightly disappointed. Dying Flames simply doesn't have the same pizzazz.

Alan Paul Curtis

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