Read the Reviews, not the poor publisher's summary

I hesitated so long whether to get this book.. It had relatively few reviews despite being out for 2 years and the cover artwork and publisher's summary are bland. I eventually took the plunge and glad I did! I highly recommend it.
There are 2 main characters that contribute to telling the story. A man about 30 in early 1970's is hired to find out what happened to a man who was an English Cabinet Minister (at about 1930, if I remember correctly). That sounds kind of boring, but there is quite a robust plot with a couple of unexpected revelations and some duplicitous characters. Even though there are 2 stories with a fair amt of characters, the book is not overly complex to be thoroughly entertaining. Narrator was good, not great, but I would listen to other books narrated by him. I will look for more from this author.

10 people found this helpful

The Story Lingers

Good Book.
After I had finished listening I found that I was puzzling over a decision made by one of the characters. At odd times. In the house, driving, doing normal things..the questions would pop up. It does not seem to fit the character. Then that leads on to thinking about the decisions real people make sometimes, human frailty or inconsistency.
Goddard doesn't even ask the reader to suspend disbelief. The choice, the decision is made. Then at the end of the story another dilemma. Even though the book is finished, the story goes on and "No", we the reader do not feel compelled to learn what happens next.
I think that is clever. It is at the last Goddard allows us / urges us, to use our imagination.
And just maybe we are quite content to be ignorant. In that there is a kind of dialogue between the author, the story and the reader.
Paul Shelly reads "Past Caring " well.

7 people found this helpful

Needed a good editor

This book started reasonably well but quickly became completely bogged down. It was a good premise - old mystery, modern connections - which appears to be the only type of story Robert Goddard writes, but it was clear to me from the first few chapters exactly what the "mystery" was and it seemed to take forever to have this confirmed. It was a struggle to finish and the only reason I did was because I listen when travelling and it didn't require any thought processes.

6 people found this helpful

What a tangle web we weave...

At one point of this story, the protagonist is advised “nothing is as it seems”. That is a vast understatement in this tangled web of deceit, double-dealing and revenge. As with my prior outing with Goddard, I must work at not giving away any of the plot as spoilers would be difficult to avoid. Suffice it to say that there are few truly good people involved, and they are put upon badly by the self-serving villains whose bad deeds flow into and escalate over six decades, erupting when a young history researcher is given a commission to look into a memoir found in an old villa. The narrative is liberally dotted with familiar names from Edwardian parliamentary politics, and I did have to pay attention to keep up with political issues that I had only a passing familiarity with.

I liked this story. It’s not a thriller but it is a mystery, very complex. It’s constructed like a puzzle, and Goddard gives us the pieces in a manner that we can work it out along with and sometimes ahead of the other players. The characters are well thought out and feel real to me. The history researcher at the center of the story was flawed, and proved himself slightly unscrupulous or at least pretty gullible at one point, but pulls himself together before it’s all over. The resolution was handled just right, leaving a question mark with one character in the final moments. I hope that the title of the book hints at how he will answer that question.

13 people found this helpful

Took a while to get going, but when it did...!

This is my second Goddard, which is a good thing because otherwise I might have dropped it too soon. The truth is that I thought the historical background dragged down the first half of the book. I found it boring at times. The solution to the memoir's mystery seemed almost obvious -- certainly not enough of an enigma so as to justify the characters' intense interest in solving it! Still, having read another Goddard, I knew there had to be more to the story -- and there was! A lot more! The way in which the main character in the present (a very flawed, failed historian) and the main character in the memoir (a failed politician) seem to lead parallel lives...and the ways in which those two characters are also extremely different, is at the center of a spiraling tale of deceit and consequences. Loved the second half of the book; thought the first half was wanting...ergo the three stars.

3 people found this helpful

A classic gem

Beautifully written story with characters that really come alive. The flawed nature of many of these characters gives them and the book an authenticity way beyond normal fiction. The author has an ability to lead you to guess (correctly!) at certain outcomes before they occur in the story which I found very unusual but satisfying when the tale reached that point. To find out if your guess was right makes the book unputdownable.

3 people found this helpful

Could not put it down

I really enjoyed this book. The story was well paced, with tantalizing clues promising revelations just around the corner. Even though it was long-ish, I listened though it faster than usual. Like a lot of other books by the author, there were parallel stories progressing in the past and in the present, however this one the time gap between the two stories was within the lifetime of some of the main characters, which made things interesting. At first I though the opening scene was going to be the "past" part of this story, until I realized that this was his first novel, written a couple of decades ago.
The narrator was excellent, with the local accents being recognizable but not annoying.

3 people found this helpful

great storytelling and writing

What made the experience of listening to Past Caring the most enjoyable?

The complexity of the story and it was well read. Characters engaging as was the protagonistls

2 people found this helpful

Great Characters Coupled with Excellent Narration

What a great find. Highly recommend to anyone. The story is well thought out and crafted to keep you wanting more. The narration was excellent and complemented the story line and characters. I wish Goddard had more books of this length as options at Audible. This is one of the few books I have listened to that has little to no filler. A great balance of setting the scene, the environment, the characters and always emphasizing the intricate plot contained within the book. 6 stars if I could give it.

8 people found this helpful

Great mystery!

I stumbled onto this book by reading reviews of others. I'm so glad I did give it a try. I couldn't put it down and then after finishing I purchased Goddard's "Painting the Darkness" which was just as great. The author keeps you guessing and in suspense. I'm searching now trying to choose another book by Robert Goddard.

3 people found this helpful