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"Having read this author's debut - a coming-of-age insight into Eton life,
something as alien to me as the Sweden-set crime thrillers of Henning Mankell - I was interested to
see he had 'edited' Lord Lucan's life story. What a journalistic coup, I naively thought. But
actually, what a great conceit - the author's prologue, tongue firmly in cheek, tells us that a
couple of years back he was invited to the offices of a London solicitor. There, he was given
access to a loosely collected bundle of sheaves that proved to be a manuscript of Lucky's memoirs.
He then 'edited' these rambling scribblings. What he has achieved is a thoroughly enjoyable - if
fantastic - account of what happened to one of the great fugitives of the 20th-century crime.
Lucan's heroin-addicted delusional obsession with Jimmy Goldsmith as the architect and
puppet-master of his misfortune is inspired. From his flight to Belgravia (true), his being
squirrelled away by John Aspinall (plausible) and his years of exile as a smackhead in Goa
(complete fantasy, and none the worse for it), this is a compelling page-turner. I read it in one
sitting. One of the highlights has to be the deluded, drug-crazed peer's flight to the hill forts
of Mysore, retracing the steps of fellow-Etonian Wellington - and it is there that one of the more
shocking and visceral passages occurs, like so many passages, fantastic, yet based on meticulous
historical research. If Lucky is still 'lying doggo' out there somewhere, please, please - one of
his friends, give him a copy. He will be spellbound, as I was. Well done."
Reader reviews
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