Monday 18 November 2019

Sofa Spotlight - The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill: A Novel, James Charkesworth


I took a day to read this, which afterwards I regretted a little bit because it left me feeling sad. But in hindsight I don’t think stretching out the reading process would have helped that. But that’s not to say I don’t think this isn’t a good book or that I regret reading it because it is very well written and seriously intriguing.

The story is about a man who made his money as a US fast food and oil tycoon, but as much as he was successful in business he wasn’t successful with relationships and left a trail of broken people, in the form of his children, behind him. Now middle aged the four of them, scattered to different parts of the country and very different lines and heading in their father’s direction for a confrontation.

It’s all about how each of the four children have ended up where they are, and follows the thread of destruction that leads back to their father. It’s a fascinating read, but maybe not a comfortable one. I couldn’t put it down but nor could I find a character that I was rooting for. And that to me was the one downside to the book. Having said that, I think the book would have lost some of its power if it had had a likeable protagonist, so although I missed liking a character it’s not something I would change. For me it really was a window into another world and that is why I would recommend it.

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