In the Cold Light of Day



Published in Kindle and paperback

Bertie Costain has worked hard all his life in the building trade and now owns his own London-based company. In 1967, approaching fifty and still unmarried he enjoys a playboy lifestyle, but when he meets Kitty, an attractive, wealthy widow ten years his senior, he swiftly proposes.

Swept off her feet, Kitty adores him. The happy couple seem to have it all, but Bertie has a secret. Kitty has no idea their home is mortgaged to the hilt, or that the many expensive gifts he brings her come out of his winnings at roulette.  Proud of his apparent success and ignorant of his gambling addiction, she happily loans him large sums of money, ostensibly for his business.

Convinced with each spin of the wheel that his run of bad luck will change, Bertie gambles for increasingly high stakes, falling deeper and deeper into debt until, facing financial ruin and with nowhere to turn, he resorts to fraud. As their lives begin to unravel, Kitty learns the horrifying truth.


In the cold light of day can their love survive the pain and destruction Bertie’s addiction has wrought?

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              Amazon co uk (£1.99)

REVIEWS found on Amazon co uk


Well written, good story

A great read about kitty and Bertie, their troublesome marriage, deceit and age gap relationship. I was gripped from fairly early on in this book. It easily kept me turning the pages when I should have stopped to do other chores! I needed to find out how it all played out. The book has believable characters, the story feels authentic in its time, 1960's, and in the plot, which is well thought out. Great stuff!!

A super novel. I really enjoyed the story, and I loved the characters. I've read other books by this author and it's evident in all of them that she knows the characters she writes about really well. She also understands the complexity of their relationships. A great read.

The only thing wrong with Pauline Barclay's novels is that they end. I fall in love with her intense characters and want to move in with them and love them, scold them, support them and live with them forever..then the story ends. It's not that IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY ends poorly, all plot lines are nicely wrapped up. It's just that Barclay always promises her characters a future and...I want to be there with them. This is a wonderful story about a gambling addiction and the effect it has on the gambler and his loved ones. If you've ever wondered how someone could risk it all for the thrill, here's how. I recommend this novel to all those who love stories centred around the human heart and mind.

Pauline Barclay’s characterisation and descriptive location is so skilful you feel as if you’ve stepped back in history, in this book, to the sixties and could reach out and shake hands with Bertie and Kitty and the wonderful secondary characters who serve to make the story even more believable and rounded. Meeting Bertie sweating under the ‘deceptively amiable gaze’ of one of the two owners of Raffles, you’re right there, behind the oversized mahogany desk, realising alongside Bertie that your luck might have finally run out.

Bertie, despite his habit, is likeable. He’s a gambler through and through, and you want to scream at him to stop!!, knowing that he can’t, knowing that he’s surely heading for catastrophe, that he’s likely to end up losing his hard-won business as well as the woman he loves, despite people’s assumptions he could have only married Kitty – ten years his senior, for her considerable fortune. We do wonder, did he? Will his habit drive him to temptation, to use her as well as deceive her? And deceive her he does. Kitty is sharply intelligent and independently minded within the constraints of the sixties, but her love for him and her belief in him is unshakeable – at the beginning. Sadly, Bertie we know can only learn the lesson, that gambling is a fool’s game, the hard way. So does he lose all he’s worked so hard for? Can their marriage possibly survive when Bertie is playing with such high stakes? You simply have to read the book. Even if Bertie has finally overcome his addiction, as Kitty says, ‘deceit is a hard lesson to unlearn’. And gambling is a hard habit to kick. Will he always be a chancer? Do we want him to take one final chance? As with previous books of Pauline Barclay’s, In The Cold Light of Day, is one I would highly recommend you pick up and lose yourself in. Loved it.

When Kitty met and married a much younger man Bertie Costain after a whirlwind romance, some would judge their union as rather convenient, after all Kitty was wealthy and independent in her own right, and what else could possibly attract a younger man to an older woman?

When Bertie begins to behave odd and different and distance towards Kitty after he had always displayed only kindness and affection. Bertie also seemed to be happy with the life they were making together. Kitty starts to feel their life unravelling and spiralling out of control.

What is going on? Is their luck about to run out? Is Bertie prepared to put the love of his life at risk by taking a huge chance and not laying all his cards on the table and let Kitty know what is deepest darkest secret is?

This story had me gripped and intrigued from the very start. I was hanging on every word due to the excellent way the story is written it really pulls you in emotionally, and you feel like the story is so real that you are actually in the room with the characters, a silent and invisible observer of a compelling drama, watching all the event of the story unravel before your eyes, and powerless to reach out and stop what you know Bertie is heading for, as both the leading characters in this book are extremely likeable and I so willed on for this story to have a happy- ever after.

This is my first read of 2015 and it is going straight to the top of my top ten reads. This is a remarkable book well worth reading. If your New Year resolution is to read, then this is a great book to get you back into books.

Once again Pauline's characters are real and believable, her descriptive writing gets better and better with each book. Although you shouldn't really warm to Bertie you can't help liking him when his vulnerable side shows through. The storyline is not one that is tackled often and although set in the 1960s it could just as easily be the present day.

I would recommend this book, it's thought provoking (do we really always know our partners as well as we think?) and at the same time an easy and comfortable read - a bit like pulling on a favourite jumper and relaxing (with a good story of course). In fact, all of Pauline's books are to be recommended and as each one is completely different you will enjoy a variety of locations and characters.

The latest book offering from Pauline Barclay is once again a joy to read!! Her characters and storylines are always are so plausible..you feel as though you are watching the story's unfold from the corner of the room rather than on the page... as though you know the characters and everything about them.
If your looking for a good book to curl up with on these long dark evenings then look no further. Try any of Pauline's books...I'm sure you won't be disappointed !!

Pauline Barclay weaves original, compelling stories and this one is no exception.
Bertie is not a run-of-the-mill character. Mature in age and with a gambling habit, the plot centres around the gradual destruction of his marriage to Kitty, and the intricate web of deceit which eventually destroys him. Or does it?
Set in London during the sixties, the novel has an authentic feel for those times and Barclay digs deep into her characters; their motivations and emotions are always clear, and understood.

I love Pauline Barclay's books, they offer so much variety and give the reader much to think about. This one was no exception, hence the five star review. Such a great story that I imagine is very true in many lives. Main character, Bertie, is a very frustrating, yet somewhat lovable rogue and you can't help but root for him. Whilst Kitty, his wife who is desperately in love with him, is completely unaware of her husband's other life. I find Kitty a particularly likeable character. It is very easy to imagine scenes and emotions in this book because the author has done a wonderful job with her descriptions. Another really enjoyable read from Pauline Barclay.


1 comment:

Helen Hollick said...

Sounds interesting - and maybe might help a few people who share this problem take a good look at there situation