Changes

|title=Next of Kin

|author=John Boyne

|buy=Yes

|borrow=Yes

|pages=512

|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd

|isbn=0141018798

}}

The Montignacs have always passed their wealth down through the male members of the family and Owen Montignac confidently expects to inherit his uncle's considerable wealth. After all, the estate should have gone to his father and since his father's death when he was a young child he has been brought up as Peter Montignac's son. He has pressing gambling debts and needs the money to pay them. He's shocked to find that no provision has been made for him in the will and the estate passes to his cousin Stella. Just how far is he prepared to go to get hold of £50,000?

I must sound as though I'm very impressed with the book, but I do have a reservation and that to do with the pace of the book. The writing is good and there's a real ear for dialogue but for the first part of the book I really wondered where it was going. I could easily have put it down and left it. Sometimes I had to persuade myself to keep reading. Then I got to the second half of the book and I found it impossible to put down. It's a delicate balancing act between pace and character development and I don't think that it was entirely successful in this book. I will be looking out for John Boyne's work in future though as this was a good story and the final part of this book will stay in my mind for a long time.

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