Last Post by Robert Barnard

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


"She picked up an envelope [...] When she read the inscription she realized with a shock that the writer was not one of those who wanted to pay tribute to a dead woman."

Last Post (2004) is the seventeenth Robert Barnard's novel that I am reviewing here. I am not exactly sure what draws me to this author. True, I have rated two of his novels with four stars yet most others are in the two-to-three star territory. I think it might be the simplicity of the plot, the good-natured Britishness of the prose, and - perhaps most of all - the author's tendency to offer somewhat perverse endings (as in 'strange' rather than 'surprising').

The story begins in a funeral house where Eve McNabb looks at her mother's face for the last time. At home she begins reading condolence letters; among them she finds a letter from a woman who appears to have been her mother's former lover. Gasp! From now on the "L-word" casts its shadow over the plot. Eve never had any inklings as to her mother preferences and - being a modern woman employed in PR - she does not care one way or the other but the letter gets her thinking about potential reasons of her father's early disappearance from her life. She was told that he had died but maybe he was driven away by his wife's non-traditional affair? Maybe he is still alive?

Eve begins a private investigation into her mother's past. Since she was a dedicated and successful teacher, and served as the head of a primary school, the connections in the school community seem important for understanding her past. Connections to an amateur theatre group also emerge. Everybody Eve talks to seems to lie, pretend, and hide some if not all facts. She enlists help of a Hindu policeman, who - having marital troubles due to an arranged, loveless marriage - reciprocates Eve's interest in him. Alas, the romantic thread is particularly weak and implausible, and reeks of TV soaps.

One of the characters central to the plot is murdered and Eve, conveniently on a different continent during the murder, is allowed to help the investigation. The guilty party is found, everything seems to be ending well with the characters bound to live happily ever after, but then the author drops a nasty twist at the end. That ugly twist is the only thing that I really like about the novel. Otherwise - even though the novel is moderately interesting and readable - it is quite clearly a below-the-average effort from Mr. Barnard.

Two stars.




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