Always anxious to read anything I can find by John Boyne, I wonder how I could have missed NEXT OF KIN for the last 17 years. I think this might be my favorite of his books.

Historical fiction that is also a thriller, NEXT OF KIN is set in England during 1936, when Edward VIII was King of England and then abdicated the throne. At the same time as his birthright was being discussed all over the world, when he might have felt that it was being stolen from him, another man, Owen Montignac, is SURE that HIS birthright was stolen from HIM.

Owen is a member of the upper class and has lived a very palatial life with his aunt and uncle and cousins in a beautiful mansion that he feels was stolen from his father, the firstborn son. That mindset leads to so much trouble! Unlike the king, he refuses to just step aside.

Boyne is critical of the upper class and not only of the Montignacs. Another family in the story, not quite so rich but still upper class, enjoys the lifestyle because the father is a judge. The 24-year-old son, Gareth Bentley, has graduated from college where he studied law. He now sleeps in late every morning and spends the rest of every day doing pretty much nothing at his father's expense. But Judge Bentley finally gives him an ultimatum: get a job or else. Then Gareth meets Owen.

Gareth thinks Owen is his friend so is easily led into Owen's get-rich-quick scheme. As a result, the lives of two families are changed forever.

NEXT OF KIN could be the best of John Boyne. If you, too, missed reading it, grab it now. ( )

John Boyne seems to be becoming the big literary discovery of my year. I picked up A Ladder to the Sky as a chance purchase at Daunt Books last year, and thought it was wonderful, but hadn’t got around to reading anything else by him, until recently. Even then, it was largely a matter of chance, when I had the opportunity to buy the Kindle version of The Thief of Time very cheaply. I thought that was, if anything, even better than A Ladder to the Sky, which prompted me to look up his other books.

Next of Kin follows the trials of Owen Montignac. At the start of the book, in 1936, he is relatively carefree, despite owing what was then a phenomenal sum of £50,000, having run up debts in a dubious casino run by Nicholas Delfy, a gangland figure with an extensive network of connections, some more salubrious and celebrated than others. Montignac’s relative lack of concern resides in the fact that he is the nephew of Peter Montignac, an immensely wealthy man. The Montignac family has amassed its huge fortune over several centuries, and it has long been a family tradition that the estate is only ever passed on down the male line. Peter had had two children, but his son Andrew had died some years previously, leaving just his daughter Stella. Now Peter himself has died, and the family gather for his funeral, to be followed the next day by the reading of the will, expecting to hear that, after lavish provision for Stella, the estate will pass to Owen. All expectations are confounded when, contrary to generations of family tradition, Peter leaves the estate entirely to Stella. Owen does not even merit a mention. Owen’s position vis-à-vis his debts to Delfy has now become equivocal, to say the least.

As the year progresses, there is a backdrop of growing unrest occasioned by the new relationship between the new King, Edward VIII, and twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson. Meanwhile, another member of the Royal Family is occasioning media interest on his own account. Henry Domson is an unprepossessing young man, and find himself on trial for the murder of a policeman following a sordid attempted robbery that went young. In 1936, such a crime was most unusual anyway, and there is added savour for the press covering the trial as it emerges that he is a third cousin of the new king. All of this puts additional pressure on Sir Roderick Bentley QC, the judge presiding over the trial. In 1936, murder was a capital crime, and guilty verdicts generally led to a death sentence, particularly when the victim was a uniformed policeman killed in the line of duty.

As the book opens, the verdict has been given, and the judge has allowed himself a few days before passing sentence. The press is speculating whether the guilty man’s connections might lead to a reduced sentence. Bentley has much to think about, not least the fact that his own son, Gareth, is the same age as Henry Domson. Sir Roderick despairs of Gareth, who seems to have no direction in life and is perfectly happy to idle his days away without any inclination to find a career and start to make a living in his own right.

John Boyne weaves these various threads together to make a glorious tapestry of a story. He presents finely drawn characters and an engrossing and well-constructed plot that has the reader’s sympathies constantly switching from one figure to the next plot. This is a long novel, weighing in at 640 pages in the edition I read, but it seemed absolutely to fly by, and I found myself caught that in that occasional reader’s quandary of wanting to see how the various plotlines might be resolved, while simultaneously wishing the book could carry on for a few hundred more pages. ( )

This is the 4th novel I have read by John Boyne and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He is an excellent writer and his books vary in style and topic. This one takes place in England in 1936 and can be classified as historical fiction with a crime plot surrounding the whole story. The lead character Owen Montignac is a great anti-hero. Someone you love to hate. He reminded me of the talented Mr. Ripley. The story revolves around the abdication of the English throne by King Edward VIII. This is part of the story that is always in the background and Boyne uses it cleverly to develop his plot. Owen is the nephew of a wealthy man who believes he will inherit the wealth when his uncle dies. Instead it all goes to his cousin Stella and he is out in the cold. To add to this he is deeply in gambling debts that he must pay or it end up 6 feet under. Mix this story in with Boyne's less than flattering portrayal of the English upper class and you end with a story that starts slowly until the pieces begin to fit. Once it gets going it is a page turner. As with any complicated crime plot, there are some flaws but they do not take away much from this excellent book. John Boyne is an author worth checking out. ( )

A fantastic thriller about a young Brit who feels cheated out of his rightful inheritance while also hip deep in gambling debts, and a murder plot centered round the affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Boyne is fast earning a Can Do No Wrong sticker from me; his children's/middle grade/young adult stuff is so absolutely gorgeous and I was curious about his books for grownups. And I am so incredibly far from disappointed - this book is so full of seat-edgy, stay-up-late-to-read fabulousness that it's not even funny. So it's official: I super-heart John Boyne (I mean, I did before, of course - if you haven't read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket or Stay Where You Are and Then Leave or any of his other kiddo books then you should rectify that immediately - but now I'm ready to declare that love to the world.). ( )

READ IN ENGLISH

This book again is completely different from the other books by John Boyne I've read. It's a subtle crime novel as well as an intrigue novel. I think this to be one of his best books. It was just so engrossing, I couldn't stop reading.



London, 1936 That's a great start!

Owen Montignac has a great gambling debt and only six months to find himself a large amount of money. What a nice coincidence that his very wealthy uncle has just passed away. No need to be sad - until Owen finds out his uncle has cut him out of his will. Oops. What follows is Owen's increasingly psychopathic scheming and planning in order to reach his goals.



I really liked this book, and I don't get why so few people know about this book or have read it. It was really good. I also don't get why this book isn't translated into Dutch. I would recommend this book, because I think it deserves more readers! ( )