If, like me, you have never read Cooper before I am sure you will finish this one wanting more - I certainly did!

I probably would read another Rutshire Chronicles book because of my dedication to the series but this one gave me nothing of my old love for the series and I’ve come away more than a little disappointed. Characters have aged, some poorly, with Rupert's father needing a homecare aid, or "carer", a reflection of Jilly's personal life with her husband. Jilly herself had hip surgery from which to recover, and two of her beloved elderly pets also passed away, leaving her with a single dog. I often find lengthy books overfacing but not Jilly's, I could have gone on reading, except of course I wanted to know the outcome!The white Zimbabweans suffering as an ethnic minority subplot is a worthy topic, which is presented unfortunately sans any racial or cultural history, and with a heavy focus on the cruelty of "the blacks". Consider, for example, her cheerful disregard for the rules of exposition-dumping: “Did you know that Gala’s hero Charles II was one of the few kings that ever rode a winner at Newmarket, and that the Rowley Mile, the demanding undulating course over which both the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas are run, was named after him, or rather after “old Rowley”, Charles II’s favourite hack who later became a prepotent sire like himself? But in Rupert's obsession with winning he is putting more important things at risk - including his relationship with his loving wife Taggie. He is now obsessed with having his favourite horse being titled 'Leading Sire' which for those of us not in horse world means having the most successful descendants.

Oh, really, who cares: there are doggies and horsies in it, and poor old Taggie stuck in the kitchen for 900 years as usual; wonderful parties, like Cosmo Rannaldini’s chess ball, where everyone turns up as a “porn”. For regular readers of Cooper's novels I am sure that many characters played major roles in previous books in the series. I also think that Jilly's extreme cleverness and powers of observation have outed themselves surreptitiously in the plot, if not the gush.If you, like me, find horses a little dull and bamboozling, simply skip the horsey bits like Linus van Pelt skips the Russian names in the Brothers Karamazov, and instead settle down with the good bits where Rupert stalks about shouting at people who haven’t had time to wash their hair and have gone all red in the face.

The characters, too many to keep track of, and more than were needed, were sketchily drawn or caricatures. I am not usually a fan drama - this reads like a soapie - but this is so fast paced that I absolutely flew through the nearly 600 pages in only a few days. Whilst I cannot deny enjoying the fuck out of this book, in all it's almost pastiche levels of Cooper glory, there are aspects I found…problematic. There are the expected outrageous and enjoyable puns, but, why bother to plough through nearly 600 pages?

I've enjoyed all of the books that I've read but Riders, Rivals and this one are most definitely my favourites.