Robert Goddard writes the kind of mysteries and thrillers you can get lost in. Seriously! His novels are often so full of plot twists, interconnected events and characters that you literally risk getting lost. But just as often, you’ll find it worth the effort for the rewards offered.
LONG TIME COMING is a perfect case in point. It jumps back and forth across a span of three decades, with secondary characters showing up in almost every chapter. But once taken in, you’ll find, almost to your amazement, that it is increasingly difficult to stop reading until you learn what happens next.
The present day of the novel is 1976. Stephen Swan, an ex-Brit working for a Texas-based oil company, is stunned when his mother mentions that his Uncle Eldritch is about to be released from an Irish prison after 36 years. Stephen had always believed that Uncle Eldritch was killed during World War II, just as Stephen’s father had always insisted. Taking a long-delayed vacation from his work, Stephen travels back to his family’s small hotel on the British sea coast, hoping to learn the truth about his mysterious relative.
Almost immediately, he discovers others want to know more about Eldritch as well. There is the newspaper reporter who will pay to interview Eldritch and publish his story. Then, there is the solicitor who wants to hire Eldritch for considerably more money for a task on behalf of an unnamed client. With no way to pay for his room and board, Eldritch accepts the assignment and, realizing he is no longer a young man, enlists Stephen to do most of the legwork.
Stephen learns that his uncle has been hired to prove that a collection of Picasso paintings in a London gallery was stolen from the family of a private collector. As it is revealed, Eldritch himself was directly involved with the artworks and their original owner — an Antwerp diamond dealer — and followed the paintings to London in 1940.
But the theft of the Picassos is not why Eldritch ended up in prison. That, and several other family and even national security secrets, are eventually revealed as Eldritch, Stephen and the granddaughter of the paintings’ original owner follow the trail of the pieces over the many miles and lost years.
Goddard progressively and purposefully builds his complex and far-reaching tale through successive sections in both the 1940 past and the novel’s present. Since so much time is covered, several characters not surprisingly are introduced and play out their part for only a few pages, while others remain a little longer until their contribution is complete.
It often feels like too much to keep track of. But the author takes several opportunities, mostly through dialogue or Stephen’s interior monologues, to recapitulate the various events and pull them into a coherent whole.
It’s not a book to race through. In fact, Goddard’s prose style, though nowhere near as elliptical or long-winded as some of his mentors and contemporary practitioners, almost defies the notion of a “quick read.” But, again, if you’re willing to relax and be taken in, you find yourself thoroughly enjoying the ride with all its sights, sounds and unexpected surprises, for however long it takes. —Alan Cranis
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