The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a great title for a book and with a unique cover design the book literally popped on the shelf and into my mitts.
The story hinges upon the disappearance of Margaret Creasy and the subsequent ripples created through the still waters of suburban England; the community the Creasy's call home. The back drop to the story is the sticky and sultry summer of 1976 with it's legendary heat wave which turned dreary and damp Britain into the blazing balearics at a time when many people were just discovering the package holiday to Spain.
Cannon's attention to detail is good, in parts, with some references to SodaStream and chintzy decoration to keep fans of the 70s happy. You can almost hear the Slade 45s spinning in the broiling sunlight.
The novel portrays a group of characters whose faith is challenged in different ways by the mysterious going ons at casa Creasley. Each of the neighbours paths cross in different, and unknown ways, and each responds differently under scrutiny.
The story hinges upon the disappearance of Margaret Creasy and the subsequent ripples created through the still waters of suburban England; the community the Creasy's call home. The back drop to the story is the sticky and sultry summer of 1976 with it's legendary heat wave which turned dreary and damp Britain into the blazing balearics at a time when many people were just discovering the package holiday to Spain.
Cannon's attention to detail is good, in parts, with some references to SodaStream and chintzy decoration to keep fans of the 70s happy. You can almost hear the Slade 45s spinning in the broiling sunlight.
The novel portrays a group of characters whose faith is challenged in different ways by the mysterious going ons at casa Creasley. Each of the neighbours paths cross in different, and unknown ways, and each responds differently under scrutiny.
The title of the book refers to the different sorts of people in the World - we are each, the book leads us to believe, either goats or sheep when is comes to matters of faith. This is ultimately borne out in the discovery, by the community, of a vision of Jesus on a drainpipe.
Kitsch 70s decor aside this novel is ultimately a suburban saga full of tea towel ideology and cardigans at dawn. For me the story is lacking in anything to really remember. It is is neither period enough to really bring seventies Suburbia to life nor raw enough to be a compelling thriller.
Kitsch 70s decor aside this novel is ultimately a suburban saga full of tea towel ideology and cardigans at dawn. For me the story is lacking in anything to really remember. It is is neither period enough to really bring seventies Suburbia to life nor raw enough to be a compelling thriller.
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