HERE COMES TOBIN
Full marks to the publisher for bothering to depict one of the girls from the story. She's scandinavian-looking and in a skimpy maids outfit. And is she gorgeous? Of course she is. We're ALL gorgeous. This is the last of the 3 books published on the Futura imprint and therefore the last book to have this cover design. I love the 70s graphic design elements, but I think the jackets suffered from not featuring the Russ Tobin character. Sadly this trend continued until the final Tobin book of the 1970s and was only rectified 26 years later when Tobin Goes Cuckoo arrived in 2005. 8/10
WILL YOU BE WANTING BED AND BREAKFAST SIR?
The story begins in Liverpool where Russ is staying the night at the Adelphi Hotel prior to his flight to Dublin (yet another iconic hotel for Russ, where many famous people have stayed - and in fact his second known visit as he ate Christmas Dinner there with Gloria at the end of 'The Sewing Machine Man'). Or at least he is checked in there - he never actually makes it back to stay the night and ends up dashing in to collect his luggage and check out the next morning before his flight to Dublin at noon! Russ tells us that he has spent a few days with his parents in Cheshire in between this and returning from Australia. This means the book is set in late January as he leaves Australia on 23rd January when his visa expires.
Cue lots more love and attention from the guests, and that's where it ends. Russ is laid up in bed for the rest of the week and planning to stay there until the Snake Falls girls have gone home. At which point Patrick informs him that the next visiting group is the Dry Gulch, Arizona Women's Lonely Hearts Club....gulp!
Page 6. Russ sees a girl struggling with her head under the bonnet of her broken down Mini. He can't HELP but notice her shapeliness!
Page 28. Russ chats up said bird, fixes her car and finds his way into her bed (hence the futility of his reservation at the Adelphi Hotel) . Turns out that she is an art student called Pauline Lorenson, and of course it's no surprise that she just happens to have an incredibly high sex drive. Yet another of Russ's seemingly perfect love matches that end up as a one night stand due to his imminent scheduled departure. It's quite a sweet recurring motif in the series that Russ always leaves the lady with a sense of deep sadness that he couldn't stay longer.
Russ's "interview" for the Ballytatty Castle job consists of him being plied with Vodka by the owner's wife - Natasha O'Shaughnessy (who Russ describes as "Mick McManus in drag") and then thoroughly seduced. She won't let him have any tonic though as she tells him that is "a girl's drink"!
The very first page as Russ stands by the Mersey reminiscing like crazy over his days working in Liverpool.
That you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. When Patrick offers Russ the job he could easily have carried on his travels elsewhere - but no! With friends like Patrick - you'll never go without...
Nothing new on the Tobin front really - it's pretty much The Courier set in Ireland instead of Majorca - but so what? Good to see the return of Patrick Holmes, which works well as a call-back after the Buzz Malone adventures. Once again, there is no real plot to speak of, just the usual sequence of set-pieces and it ends with no clue as to where Russ will end up next time - he seems quiet happy where he is! 6/10 |