Thursday, 30 May 2019

Victor Canning - Mr. Finchley Takes The Road


Rating: 3/5

Review
A little too much of a good thing

I enjoyed the first of this trilogy (Mr Finchley Discovers His England) but I have run into diminishing returns in the later two books.

In Mr Finchley Takes The Road, the engaging and ultimately redoubtable Mr F. has a dramatic change in domestic circumstances and tours Kent in a horse-drawn caravan. It’s fine in its way and if you’ve read Mr Finchley Discovers His England you’ll know pretty much what to expect: loving descriptions of the English countryside, amusing and eccentric characters, malfeasance vanquished...and so on. It’s enjoyable, gentle stuff and an easy read, but for me one book of it was sufficient, so while there’s nothing wrong with this one, it all felt a little familiar and it didn’t quite hold my interest.

Other readers plainly don’t agree and found Mr Finchley Takes The Road as enjoyable as the first two books so don’t let me put you off, but personally I can only give it a rather qualified recommendation.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

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