Thank you for providing a review copt of this book. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped and did not finish. I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. Enjoyed reading, would recommend....

As a reader with English as a 2nd language, this book is almost impossible to read. The language, tone, and pace all took a prize in the reading experience.


Not mine...

Having recently read 'Where's Sailor Jack?' I know that John Uttley can write - and write well. Most of the characters from that book return in this one and the author explores what makes them tick with further black humour. Personal events are set against the political backdrop of our government in turmoil (no worries about lack of credibility there!) as Theresa May lurches from one disaster to another as Brexit divides parliament.
I highly recommend this book to all and sundry. It was an absolute pleasure to read.

Sorry I just didn't get on with this book. I found it quite hard to get into it. I don't think that it was my sort of reading, so I am not going to publish my review, as I think that I just chose wrong.

I found this book on NetGalley and requested it - when I got it I realised there was a book before it - called Where's Sailor Jack - so I bought and read it and really enjoyed it. The reader finds out about the lives and loves of Bob and his Friend Richard and asks lots of moral questions along the way. I then moved on to reading No Precedent however it took me a while to get into it and a lot longer to read than the previous book. I am glad that I persevered and read about their continuing lives and that of their friends and family.
Thanks for the free read NetGalley

Not for me. Cliched characters, leaden plot, I simply could not get into this at all. I struggled to finish it

I received this ARC after publication date and have only just got around to reading it. I didn't enjoy it as much as Where's Captain Jack and wonder if that is because Brexit and coronavirus are still too raw. Similar writing to Jack but just didn't hit the spot with me.

This book was a real struggle for me to connect with unfortunately. I found it very hard going, and was reluctant to go back to it when I put it down.
I feel the fault lies with me, rather than the book, as the current situation we are all living through means I am looking for escapism and some joy from my reading. This book harks back to the recent traumatic time of Brexit, and I really did not want to revisit that.
The writing is excellent, and I admire the author’s work, but this one is just not for me.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this title.

From the outset I found this a difficult read. I had to restart three times before i eventually got a hang on the language, tone and pace. The author himself says " so if the prose reads a little jerkily" i blame it on the sciatica. Ir tread more than a little jerkily at times it was impossible to pick out the cadence of the narrative.

The book itself is like a review of political history and belief systems. There are some part thay really gel with me but they are too few and far between There are far too many couples who last only 2 paragraphs but return later in the narrative. I found it hard to decide who was who. It was a disjointed and at times unreadable narrative

for me it was far from a powerful voice in politics and religion and more of a ramble through privilege and proselytising. He isn't an author i will return to

This is my first book by John Uttley and was not sure what to expect. The story concerns the main character, Bob Smarbrick, 69 and his younger partner Wendy and their family. Also, Paul Eckersley, an old school friend of Bob's, which he meets after 50 years, while visiting his daughter. I found the writing full of humour, suggestive sentences without being smutty, political chatter, which was not for me and funny banter between the characters. This novel was not for me but other readers may find his style of writing to their liking.

I gave the book 3 star rating.

On seeing the cover for this novel, I had anticipated I would be reading a historical fiction. The age old adage “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” certainly holds true here as I found myself reading a story of a modern day British family dealing with Brexit. I hadn’t realised that this was the 2nd book in a series and feel I would have enjoyed this more had I read the first and got to know the characters. Not my usual sort of novel and I’m not sure I’ll read anymore in the series but I have no doubt it will appeal to many, particularly in the current climate.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre,  however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for  opening up my mind to something totally different. Characters were so well developed that I felt as though I knew them. I love when a book draws you into the story and it feels like you are living it with them.

No Precedent by John Uttley’s is the second novel he’s written that discusses Bob Swarbrick and Richard Shackleton’s lives, in a family heritage preservation style similar to the first. The book is not a direct continuation of the first, instead this one is written by Bob and his second wife Wendy, whereas Where’s Sailor Jack? was written by Bob’s son years after his fathers’ death. Following the first book, it discusses the lives of 60 to 70-year olds dealing with retirement, raising children during their 60s, finding faith amongst other issues.
Going into this book, I will openly admit I was wary, as you can imagine if you’ve read my review for Where’s Sailor Jack? Which I found boring, confusing, and out of place in literary culture. While I do think this book has some improvements over the first, I still feel like these two books are slightly purposeless, lacking a direction and drive to them. It is likely this review will be short because my problems and grievances with the first book are often repeated for this one.

Firstly, the sheer amount of characters present is unnatural in a book that is of average length. Because of the infidelities discussed in the first book, as well as Bob and Wendy having children much later in their lives, it creates a family tree with many branches, which are often irrelevant to the overall book. Not only is having too many characters confusing, but it distracts the reader from the very important themes that the book discusses of religions place in the modern world, and dealing with politics; whether we should retrospectively shame a group for actions they did 50 years ago, such as engineers damaging the planet. The blur of the characters phasing in and out of the story minimises the focus of the books core.

Following on from this, something I discusses heavily in Where’s Sailor Jack? Is the conflict the author goes through of dealing with mundane and interesting. Initially, I thought this book would be a lot more calm, theological, and philosophical in nature, because nothing could top the first books scandals, right? I was so wrong. In No Precedent, the reader very early on is presented with a new ‘family’ (if you can call it that) which centres Paul, an old classmate of Bob’s from back in the day. Paul has recently moved back to the north after being in London most of his life, with a wish of wanting to die in the place where he was born. The scandal and drama that follows, with Paul at the centre and Bob as the peacemaker and fairy godfather figure, is the crisis the entire book centres around (and I would definitely call what followed a crisis). Not only does this ‘family’ involve themselves in infidelity, endless pregnancies, wavering sexualities, and cunning and sly characters clearly just manipulating people, it is all, once again, happening with a religious background and sanctimonious undertones. These two extremes that is presented in both Where’s Sailor Jack? And No Precedent is unnecessary and extremely contradicting, yet modern. The dilemmas these families go through, from random mood swings to sleeping with stepdaughters, to a minister-in-training sleeping with her colleague who is married, is exhausting and overdone, now that I’m on his second book. The author seems to be wanting to write an action novel despite his characters being in the comfort of their little northern, quiet village.

This only adds to the importance of my next point – how did Where’s Sailor Jack? not mention any of this? Bob describes the events of the Paul scandal as ‘quite interesting’ and it clearly occupies much of his last years in Fylde, the setting of the book. The event of bumping into Paul that day shapes the entire narrative, and is presented only a couple of pages into the book, making me wonder if the sole purpose of this book is to carry on the fictional lives of these characters. If perhaps Paul was a character mentioned in passing in the first book and then this book developed from that, I think I’d understand, but even towards the end of the book, Bob acknowledges the importance of seeing Paul that day, believing it shaped many of his remaining days on earth. Bob’s acknowledgement doesn’t seem to be in line with the authors.

Despite these weaknesses, in my view the book ranks higher than the first purely because Uttley created much more lucrative conversations and discussions, I felt. Lengthier dialogue between Bob and Sophie, or with Wendy and Richard, regarding moral law, where their faith fitted into their lives and others, topics of abortion and what the loss of a loved one meant, created a stronger bond from reader to character. Ultimately, I felt myself enjoying some of the characters a lot more than I did the first-time round. This book presented people as being more rounded and complete, as opposed to pieces of an infidelity puzzle Uttley was creating with the first. By the end of the book, I was left emotional at some of the characters deaths as well as feeling like I knew them personally.

Overall, I did think this book was often forgettable, adding nothing to literary culture. Most of the time the characters were unlikable, sucked into the central scandals that Uttley felt he needed to add to give excitement to his novel. However, this book is a vast improvement from the first, both of because of greater character depth, as well as Uttley’s writing being raw and beautiful, as always. I hope to eventually read a Uttley novel that suits me a little more and will continue to support his upcoming work. If you wish to buy Uttley’s newest book, click here.

JOHN UTTLEY – NO PRECEDENT

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a clever, densely written, insightful and very funny novel, the first half written by main character Bob, the second by his wife. It is a delight. It explores the years leading up to Brexit, lampooning our leaders on both sides of the House of Commons as well as the Atlantic, with religion thrown in for good measure. The humour is a total delight and I found myself admiring the intelligence of the author’s agile brain as much as his very humorous slant on life.

It is told in a meandering way, deceptively simple, almost like a journal, with messages from him to his wife, who reads what he has written. It starts with the words, ‘I’d better introduce myself, in case anyone ever gets to read this.’

In my opinion, anyone with an interest in politics, religion, family, the absurdities of life, should.

I had not read Where's Sailor Jack? so I wasn’t sure whether to read this book or not as I like to read books in order. However I decided to try it and enjoyed the ongoing lives of Bob and Richard. I found the way he talked about the politicians, Brexit etc really amusing. I don’t really follow politics or religion and realised quite early in the book that these would play a fundamental part but I found myself interested in his views. I found the whole story thought provoking. The way the families were weaved into the story was lovely and I loved the thought of Bob having older children with children and then met Wendy and then had two little ones who he adored. Bob meets Paul, an old friend, in the local graveyard on a trip back to his home village and it was obvious they did not get on but tried to get to know each other Paul is at odds with the world and started to change when he met Lucy but that did not last. Things get complicated and the characters intertwine and I liked the dynamics of the story. One minute it made me smile and another I was upset with the drama but all in all it was a lovely story of a family generally happy in their world.

I found the writing style a little pedestrian for my tastes, and some of the characters a little stereotypical and/or unbelievable. However, it takes an intelligent look at modern mores and the Brexit debacle, which I enjoyed.

I really struggled with this book. I'm sure it will appeal to a lot of people, but I just couldn't relate to any of the characters, and I found reading it more of a chore than a pleasure.

Bob Swarbrick and Richard Shackleton are facing an era of Brexit, Momentum, Coronavirus and Donald Trump. Bob and Richard struggle to see the meaning of it all. In a world where faith and politics have .over beyond their sphere of influence and they feel increasingly cut off from their roots. Bob and Wendy must reconcile new memories and new children. Richard must save his family from themselves.

This is not usually my type of book but I'm glad I've read it. I don't read follow politics or religion. But it's not really about politics and religion, it covers much more. It's also more about when extended families get together to celebrate at Christmas, Easter, etc. The story is told from multiple points if view and set around Brexit. I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and sad. The ending made my heartbreak.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK and the author John Uttley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bob and Richard are back!
This is the age of Brexit and Trump and they feel life is moving on leaving them behind. Bob is now with Wendy, with a new young family and Richard needs to save his.
Lucy and Maddie, mad as bats, attach themselves along the way. Can they all survive?