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An Englishman's Guide to Infidelity: Love, betrayal and genteel crime Kindle Edition
by
Stuart Campbell
(Author)
Format: Kindle Edition
Stuart Campbell
(Author)
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Product description
About the Author
Stuart Campbell is a former Professor of Linguistics who nowadays writes quirky novels about betrayal, love and redemption. A Londoner by birth, he has lived in Sydney for many years.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details
- ASIN : B00R63GXW8
- Publisher : Stuart Campbell; 2 edition (17 December 2014)
- Language : English
- File size : 780 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 243 pages
-
Best Sellers Rank:
383,357 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 2,161 in Conspiracy Thrillers
- 8,656 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- 11,368 in Murder Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
15 global ratings
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Reviewed in Australia on 7 April 2015
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A page turner with complex characters and a slowly unfolding plot. It kept me intrigued to the end.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2016
People see the world through personal and often flawed lenses. A good author leads the reader into a character’s thoughts and actions. At some point, the reader is forced to question the characters take on what’s happening. In, An Englishman’s Guide to Infidelity, Stuart Campbell proves himself to be particularly deft in his ability to create unreliable narrators.
The book opens with Jack and Thea as they prepare for a dinner out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. It isn’t long before it is patently obvious that dark currents lurk beneath the surface of both these people. By the end of the first chapter any illusions of normalcy are long gone. Thea is clearly an ethics professor who lacks ethics and Jack is relating that there are ten university degrees among his fellow group of inmates awaiting trial at the Remand Center.
And so the reader enters a roller-coaster ride as the author moves deftly from Jack’s perspective, to that of a young police woman struggling with her own issues when she is pulled into a murder investigation, to Thea’s. It isn’t long before the reader comes to see that not one of these characters can be trusted.
The writing is smooth and delicious. A couple of old people move like a pair of flapping galleons; a father speaks like a piece of stainless steel medical equipment, when he speaks at all; an apartment is sparsely furnished with desperately modern pieces and abstract paintings that veered between the decorative and the sadomasochistic.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, a mystery that unfurls with just enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing right to the closing pages.
The book opens with Jack and Thea as they prepare for a dinner out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. It isn’t long before it is patently obvious that dark currents lurk beneath the surface of both these people. By the end of the first chapter any illusions of normalcy are long gone. Thea is clearly an ethics professor who lacks ethics and Jack is relating that there are ten university degrees among his fellow group of inmates awaiting trial at the Remand Center.
And so the reader enters a roller-coaster ride as the author moves deftly from Jack’s perspective, to that of a young police woman struggling with her own issues when she is pulled into a murder investigation, to Thea’s. It isn’t long before the reader comes to see that not one of these characters can be trusted.
The writing is smooth and delicious. A couple of old people move like a pair of flapping galleons; a father speaks like a piece of stainless steel medical equipment, when he speaks at all; an apartment is sparsely furnished with desperately modern pieces and abstract paintings that veered between the decorative and the sadomasochistic.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, a mystery that unfurls with just enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing right to the closing pages.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in Australia on 31 July 2016
A handful of themes, nicely threaded together: part mystery, part whodunnit, part a depiction of an interesting relationship - and not only that, but unlike so many books and plays, it knew how to end.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

KJD
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautifully crafted, off-key story of murder, mystery, misunderstanding and misdirection.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2016Verified Purchase
Told in first person by the three leading characters—Jack, the husband, Thea, the wife, and Fiona, the possibly deranged cop—this is a tour de force by Mr Campbell.
The married couple is well realised, believable, and described with all their faults and insecurities, but neither is completely likeable. Jack is weak and Thea is cold, and both have guilty secrets to hide from the authorities and from each other. I had a slight problem with the motivation of the detective, Fiona, which seems extremely suspect at first. By the end of the story, though, Mr Campbell explained her rather strange behaviour to my satisfaction. In fact, the whole story arc is extremely well handled, and, I can see this working well as a three-handed play.
By necessity, the minor characters are less well defined, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. They did what they needed to do by acting as antagonists and moving the story along rather well.
I have only one extremely minor gripe. One scene—the one with the golf clubs (no spoilers)—came as a complete surprise and should have left me shocked, shattered, and angry. Unfortunately, it didn’t, which probably had something to do with matter-of-fact way the victim reacted to it left me somewhat underwhelmed and a little disappointed. More should have been made of the outcome and the payback. In fact, I wanted more of this part of the story, but Mr Campbell preferred to leave us hanging. As I said, it is a minor gripe, but enough to cost the novel half a star on my arbitrary and rather harsh rating scale.
All that being said, I have no hesitation to recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys well-written, well-constructed, off-key, and darkly humorous stories. Nice work, Mr Campbell. Nice work indeed.
The married couple is well realised, believable, and described with all their faults and insecurities, but neither is completely likeable. Jack is weak and Thea is cold, and both have guilty secrets to hide from the authorities and from each other. I had a slight problem with the motivation of the detective, Fiona, which seems extremely suspect at first. By the end of the story, though, Mr Campbell explained her rather strange behaviour to my satisfaction. In fact, the whole story arc is extremely well handled, and, I can see this working well as a three-handed play.
By necessity, the minor characters are less well defined, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. They did what they needed to do by acting as antagonists and moving the story along rather well.
I have only one extremely minor gripe. One scene—the one with the golf clubs (no spoilers)—came as a complete surprise and should have left me shocked, shattered, and angry. Unfortunately, it didn’t, which probably had something to do with matter-of-fact way the victim reacted to it left me somewhat underwhelmed and a little disappointed. More should have been made of the outcome and the payback. In fact, I wanted more of this part of the story, but Mr Campbell preferred to leave us hanging. As I said, it is a minor gripe, but enough to cost the novel half a star on my arbitrary and rather harsh rating scale.
All that being said, I have no hesitation to recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys well-written, well-constructed, off-key, and darkly humorous stories. Nice work, Mr Campbell. Nice work indeed.
3 people found this helpful
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Moonboy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Forty Apple Trees....the place to be!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2016Verified Purchase
I find it refreshing to read a book from a different genre to the one that I am used to. The language and expressions are different, the writer's mind is working differently. Personally, I find it blows the cobwebs away from long-dormant corners of my mind.
To begin with, I wasn't impressed with the characters. They seemed smug, overprivileged, vain and selfish, cocooned in their twee world of self-satisfaction. But I persevered, and was rewarded. They started to grow on me, and within themselves, and I began to appreciate their creator's dry wit in the background. Sometimes I stopped to go back and read a sentence again and, sure enough, I had missed a throwaway line that was delivered in a matter-of-fact, almost deadpan manner, which on closer scrutiny was absolutely hilarious. So I slowed my reading speed right down. And this is the way I became used to this author's style; first tongue-in-cheek, then laugh- out-loud. Sometimes subtle, sometimes over the top. The narration of a completely fantastical chain of events, so enjoyable that it didn't matter if sometimes they were highly improbable. The reader wanted to believe that they could happen, so they became real enough. It was then that I entered the world of these characters and truly began to enjoy myself, because I began to care more about them, their myriad weaknesses gradually becoming endearing rather than off-putting.
This is Fiona;
"A keen breeze ruffled the apple trees, bringing a distant whiff of something rural and sour. I slid a few inches along the bench to find some sun. I asked for a glass of water."
And this is Jack;
"Do come in," the man said without hesitation. He was thin, shaven headed, and wearing a dressing gown. "Actually I think I've got the wrong house," I said. "I think I want next door." "Nonsense, Francis. Uncle Clive particularly wants to see you," the man said, leaning forward and clamping my elbow with a clammy hand. I could smell a nasty whiff of unwashed genitals from within the gown......"
I have to say my Kindle almost slipped from my hands as I fell about laughing.
Soon after the middle of the book the tone becomes much more that of a detective novel, and there was less humour, apart from instances such as when Thea refuses to allow Francis to use her loo and he has to go outside to his van and relieve himself into an orange squash bottle, which makes his van smell like a urinal on wheels.
The plot is well crafted, with only the occasional leap of faith required of the reader. Many intriguing but largely believable characters inhabit these pages, of whom some appear, only to entirely disappear. The author also displays an extremely keen eye for detail, which I greatly admired. There are some good mysteries at the heart of the book that draw the reader forward. Tantalising questions are posed about whether or not murder has taken place, and there are some fine studies in the effects of stress on human behaviour. The three separate viewpoints are very interesting and work very well to provide a compelling narrative.
Handled by the right publisher, this deserves to become a bestseller. And, sadly, that is the case with the work of so many indie authors who languish in hope.
To begin with, I wasn't impressed with the characters. They seemed smug, overprivileged, vain and selfish, cocooned in their twee world of self-satisfaction. But I persevered, and was rewarded. They started to grow on me, and within themselves, and I began to appreciate their creator's dry wit in the background. Sometimes I stopped to go back and read a sentence again and, sure enough, I had missed a throwaway line that was delivered in a matter-of-fact, almost deadpan manner, which on closer scrutiny was absolutely hilarious. So I slowed my reading speed right down. And this is the way I became used to this author's style; first tongue-in-cheek, then laugh- out-loud. Sometimes subtle, sometimes over the top. The narration of a completely fantastical chain of events, so enjoyable that it didn't matter if sometimes they were highly improbable. The reader wanted to believe that they could happen, so they became real enough. It was then that I entered the world of these characters and truly began to enjoy myself, because I began to care more about them, their myriad weaknesses gradually becoming endearing rather than off-putting.
This is Fiona;
"A keen breeze ruffled the apple trees, bringing a distant whiff of something rural and sour. I slid a few inches along the bench to find some sun. I asked for a glass of water."
And this is Jack;
"Do come in," the man said without hesitation. He was thin, shaven headed, and wearing a dressing gown. "Actually I think I've got the wrong house," I said. "I think I want next door." "Nonsense, Francis. Uncle Clive particularly wants to see you," the man said, leaning forward and clamping my elbow with a clammy hand. I could smell a nasty whiff of unwashed genitals from within the gown......"
I have to say my Kindle almost slipped from my hands as I fell about laughing.
Soon after the middle of the book the tone becomes much more that of a detective novel, and there was less humour, apart from instances such as when Thea refuses to allow Francis to use her loo and he has to go outside to his van and relieve himself into an orange squash bottle, which makes his van smell like a urinal on wheels.
The plot is well crafted, with only the occasional leap of faith required of the reader. Many intriguing but largely believable characters inhabit these pages, of whom some appear, only to entirely disappear. The author also displays an extremely keen eye for detail, which I greatly admired. There are some good mysteries at the heart of the book that draw the reader forward. Tantalising questions are posed about whether or not murder has taken place, and there are some fine studies in the effects of stress on human behaviour. The three separate viewpoints are very interesting and work very well to provide a compelling narrative.
Handled by the right publisher, this deserves to become a bestseller. And, sadly, that is the case with the work of so many indie authors who languish in hope.
3 people found this helpful
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John Cowan
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quirky, intriguing, but very good reading
Reviewed in Canada on 2 September 2016Verified Purchase
This book is unusual, and it took me a couple of chapters to get into it. But once I did I was absorbed. The story is unusual but fascinating, and a very good read. I recommend it.
One person found this helpful
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Johnp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Plain and simple: I liked it!
Reviewed in Canada on 18 September 2016Verified Purchase
I rarely write a review but I felt this deserved a review. It is different, intriguing, amusing, serious. I was never sure how it was going to end. I really enjoyed it and look forward to other offerings by this author.
One person found this helpful
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IvyB
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Read
Reviewed in Canada on 2 September 2016Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are well developed and the plot interesting. The humour added to the interest. Will read the author' s next book.
One person found this helpful
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