Arnold Pratt is ... well ... lazy. By night he's a security guard, keeping watch while building owners are gone. His big nightly decision is usually whether to fit in a short nap before, or after, coffee. His clients are ... peculiar. But that's okay with Arnold, a homebody by day who's basically sleeping his way through life.
Ah, but Arnold lives in the U.K., where they have something called Sod's Law. Here in America we call it Murphy's Law: If something can go wrong, it will. Despite his best efforts to be invisible, Arnold soon finds himself on the run from different police agencies, not to mention the national government, and accused of committing a double murder he didn't even know happened. Soon everyone around him is either dying or trying to kill him, and poor Arnold gets more and more battered as he tries to figure out who he can trust.
https://www.amazon.com/Sods-Law-Roger-Lawrence-ebook/dp/B07BMGLTB5
Arnold is oddly passive as he pinballs through life, and it isn't until late in the novel that we find out there's a reason for it. At first he seems like a lazy bum with no redeeming qualities, but he does love his family, and tries his best to protect the properties he's charged with guarding. Nothing that happens to him is really his fault, but it's fun watching him try to muddle through the minor and major disasters until, deciding he's over being a punching bag, Arnold starts taking matters into his own hands.
It was a fun read, although I got confused a few times when new scenes started without a break. There didn't seem to be much about Arnold to cheer for, and I wish we'd found out earlier that his lack of emotional response had a cause. Just the same, I enjoyed puzzling out the mysteries, not to mention the sometimes bizarre people we encounter along the way. Many of these people end up being way more than they appear, and those reveals are a large part of the fun.
I should warn that there might be some head-scratching moments for people who don't live in England, but they're not hard to figure through. Although the story starts off a bit slowly, in the end Sod's Law is a fun ride.
Good review!
ReplyDeleteaaaargh!
ReplyDeletetried to comment
instead of "publish" i pushed "sign out!"
I've been there!
DeleteThanks for your review. It was very kind. I feel obliged to point out that even the British puzzled each other most of the time. We all live in perpetual bewilderment.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same way here, only we've elevated into anger.
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