The Sandpit

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Pub Date 23 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 2 Nov 2022

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Description

'A remarkable contemporary thriller – with shades of Graham Greene and Le Carré about it – but also a profound and compelling investigation of a hugely complex human predicament. Brilliantly observed, captivatingly written, grippingly narrated – a triumph' William Boyd

When John Dyer returns to Oxford from Brazil with his young son, he doesn't expect to find them both in danger. Every day is the same. He drops Leandro at his smart prep school and walks to the library to research his new book. His time living on the edge as a foreign correspondent in Rio is over.

But the rainy streets of this English city turn out to be just as treacherous as those he used to walk in the favelas. Leandro’s schoolmates are the children of influential people, among them an international banker, a Russian oligarch, an American CIA operative and a British spook. As they congregate round the sports field for the weekly football matches, the network of alliances and covert interests that spreads between these power brokers soon becomes clear to Dyer. But it is a chance conversation with an Iranian nuclear scientist, Rustum Marvar, father of a friend of Leandro, that sets him onto a truly precarious path.

When Marvar and his son disappear, several sinister factions seem acutely interested in Marvar’s groundbreaking research at the Clarendon Lab, and what he might have told Dyer about it, given Dyer was the last person to see Marvar alive.

'A remarkable contemporary thriller – with shades of Graham Greene and Le Carré about it – but also a profound and compelling investigation of a hugely complex human predicament. Brilliantly...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781787301764
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 448

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Average rating from 71 members


Featured Reviews

Nicholas Shakespeare: The Sandpit, Vintage (Penguin Random House UK) 9781787301771, C Format Paperback, May2020
German Edition: “Boomerang”, Hoffmann & Campe, Hardback, Mai 2020,
Vintage who publish Nicholas Shakespeare’s “The Sandpit” compare his novel with Graham Greene and John Le Carre, there is definitely a likeness. In my view the element of a thriller was not the dominating red string running through the book; it is the captivating narration told in the present of a journalist, John Dyer, who has recently returned from Rio de Janeiro to Oxford where he is leading a quiet life, writing a book about a Brazilian tribe, and getting himself involuntarily mixed up in the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear physicist, Rustum Marvar, the father of one of his son Leonardo’s friends who is attending his old posh prep school. Dyer seems to be the last person who saw him before his disappeared without a trace. Suddenly some people, parents he knows from watching his son’s weekly football games, start inviting and questioning him about his friendship with Marvar displaying great interest in his knowledge of what appears to be a groundbreaking breakthrough Rustum is rumored to have made at his lab. Soon Dyer finds himself in a dangerous situation facing an impossible dilemma: how to guard his and his son’s life and how not to betray the trust Marvar had placed in him.
“The Sandpit” is a very clever story without using heart-throbbing thriller effects but keeping you hooked just the same. I particularly liked how neatly Nicholas Shakespeare tied it all up in the end.

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This is a brilliant book. Shakespeare is a wordsmith, apparent in every carefully chosen word. The words paint a picture that start off gently, then pull you in to the tight plot. John Dyer, recently returned to Oxford from Brazil, leads a quiet life and looking after his young son. However, a supposedly chance meeting on the sidelines of a football pitch, drags him into a taut game of cat and mouse. Rustam Marvar, an Iranian scientist, tells Dyer about an earth shattering scientific discovery and then disappears. This leads to a story which intrigued and excites in breathtaking measure. The characters are complex and beautifully written, each with their own diverse personalities. I felt as if I knew them personally. In a couple of places there are some scientific explanations which could slow the plot down. However, these are handled well and were interesting. Would I read another book by this author? Very definitely. Would I recommend this one? Unreservedly. A beautifully written book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book.

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Nicholas Shakespeare's spy novel is both subtle & sophisticated but still packs a powerful punch. It has the style & elegance of vintage John le Carre & the evocative passion of a Graham Greene classic.
Imagine our world on the verge of destruction. Now the holy grail of challenges for scientists is to find out how to replicate the processes of the sun & stars on earth - forever solving our energy problems.
Anyone who has read Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse novels will know the Jericho area of Oxford well. Amidst the libraries & posh schools a father tries to protect himself & his son but he has something that every nation in the world wants.
In a singularly beautiful & moving novel fear & tension permeates throughout.

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This is an elegantly written piece of literature. The context, storyline and characters are all convincing. It takes a little time to put the lot together but it soon all gels. John Dyer is a single parent back with his young son in Oxford from Brazil. He is a former journalist. His boy goes to the same posh school he went to and through that he meets influential parents at the football matches as well as some he went to school with. One is Rustin Marvar, a research scientist from Teheran where he knows his wife and daughter are in captivity. Why? He is known to have made a potentially powerful discovery in nuclear fusion and most countries and many businesses want access to it. There are many interesting and perceptive observations such as “...in the cause of religion, the Ayatollahs has created a fascist state”. Marvar confides only in Dyer whom he has met casually at the football matches but whom he trusts. He gives him a post-it note with the clue to his discovery. Dyer finds himself and his son in danger. Meeting an old school friend helps him decide what to do. This book should be on the shelves with the best spy stories. I strongly recommend it.

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I absolutely loved this book. The characters, the locations were very true to life.
I read it over 3 evenings so I would definitely say it is a good read.
The beautifully written prose and the intelligence of this book was wonderful. I shall be re-reading it at a later date, not something I do very often, but I felt that it was good.

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I was completely drawn into this book, and felt quite bereft when I had finished it. It was a joy to read such an intelligent, well-written book, and I thought the author's evocation of Oxford was spot on. I worked in Oxford for many years (although I am not rich or clever enough to move in the circles described in the book) and I enjoyed reading about places I know very well. The story is gripping, and the characters (even the completely awful ones) are compelling. I will definitely read more of Nicholas Shakespeare's books.

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John Dyer is a former foreign correspondent who returns to Oxford from Brazil with his young son to carry out research about a little-known Brazilian indigenous tribe. He meets and befriends an Iranian nuclear scientist, Rustum Marvar, whose son is at the same prep school as Dyer's (Dyer was also once a pupil there). Marvar and his son then mysteriously go missing.

Dyer becomes a person of interest as he was possibly the last person to see Marvar before he disappeared. The scientist had made a potentially world-changing discovery and he entrusted the secret and details of this to Dyer.

The sandpit of the title is a location that proves central to the plot. It can also be viewed in a metaphorical sense, as a lot of things are buried beneath the surface in this story and not just physically.

I found this an absorbing and well-written story, weaving espionage, counter-intelligence, and internal psychology with international affairs, as Dyer found inventive ways of keeping the various people who wanted Marvar's discovery off the scent.

The people who want the knowledge that Dyer has acquired are playing their own games, desirous of getting to the truth as they perceive it and all convinced in one way or another that Dyer is the key to solving the riddle of what Marvar was working on. In an intricately plotted game of cat and mouse, Dyer's journalistic ability to read people's intentions and body language work in his favour.

I particularly enjoyed the ending, which very neatly tied up many of the loose ends and still managed to leave something hanging in the ether that might form the basis for a further story.

Nicholas Shakespeare isn't an author I had come across before, but I enjoyed his writing style and use of language and will certainly be reading more of his books.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Vintage Publishing, in return for an honest appraisal.

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The Sandpit
This book drew me in with a slow fuse . The story was interesting and came together like a jigsaw puzzle . The book was exciting in a gentle way. All the main characters were well drawn and it was easy for me to go along with the thinking of the protagonist .I really liked this book

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John Dyer an ex journalist and author moves back to the UK from Brazil following the breakup of his marriage bringing with him his young son who he wants to attend his former prep school in Oxford with an inheritance to cover the fees .He finds himself surrounded by the new wealthy elite but strikes up an aquaintance with an Iranian physicist and father of his friends son when the boys become targets for an older Russian boys bullying.

Despite the fleeting nature of their friendship the Iranian turns to Dyer when he makes a startling discovery working alone in one of the college labs.Overcome with excitement he sends a message to his wife back in Iran ,deliberately vague but still indicating the enormity of his discovery he unwittingly causes suspicions to rise at home and his wife and bay are taken into custody to ensure his loyalty.He subsequently receives an audio message which sounds like his wife being raped and tortured by her guards .This serves to confirm his misgivings about handing over his discovery and the power which it would release to the Ayatollahs,but who else not the Americans who he sees as being just as bad,the British ? they would give it to the Americans .Overwhelmed by the consequences of any decision and convinced he is being watched he disappears with his son leaving a clue for Dyer as to where he has left the details of his discovery.

Dyer himself then becomes the focus of all the interested parties despite strenuously denying any knowledge he is attacked robbed followed threatened bribed as those wanting power money or both search for the formula.
Well written with well drawn characters and with clearly and well expresses and explained views on the possible reprecussions of any of the contenders getting their hands on the discovery..Dyers integrity and courage is sorely tested..Shades of Le Carres' later works here in an suspensful story that does make you think what such a discovery could mean in the wrong hands and indeed is there such a thing as the right ones

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Whoever would have thought that nuclear fusion research by an Iranian scientist could be the interesting basis of a novel would probably not believe this wonderful story. An ex journalist living in Oxford at his son’s school football match finds himself talking to various other parents all seemingly either better off or connected than himself. . He finds a friendship with the Iranian. who tells him of his dangerous discovery and after he suddenly vanished the discovery of the formula left in the journalist’s flat forms a dark race from various interested parties to find it. Oxford itself provides a wonderful setting as dreaming spires are replaced by intrigue. Wonderful!

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