Mount!: The fast-paced, riotous new adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Jilly Cooper
£5.70
Rupert Campbell-Black takes centre stage once more, this time in the cut-throat world of flat racing.
Rupert is consumed by one obsession: that Love Rat, his adored grey horse, be proclaimed champion stallion. He longs to trounce Roberto’s Revenge, the stallion owned by his detested rival Cosmo Rannaldini, which means abandoning his racing empire at Penscombe and his darling wife Taggie, and chasing winners in the richest races worldwide, from Dubai to Los Angeles to Melbourne.
Luckily, the fort at home is held by Rupert’s assistant Gav, a genius with horses, fancied by every stable lass, but damaged by alcoholism and a vile wife. When Gala, a grieving but ravishing Zimbabwean widow moves to Penscombe as carer for Rupert’s wayward father, it is not just Gav who is attracted to her: a returning Rupert finds himself dangerously tempted.
Gala adores horses, and when she switches to working in the yard, her carer’s job is taken by a devastatingly handsome South African man who claims to be gay but seems far keener on caring for the angelic Taggie. And as increasingly sinister acts of sabotage strike at Penscombe, the game of musical loose boxes gathers apace . . .
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‘Packed with warmth, wit, and unforgettable characters, this is an utterly joyous read’ Daily Express
‘Pure, unadulterated joy’ Sophie Kinsella
‘It’s Cooper doing what she does best … it’s a thoroughly enjoyable roll in the hay’ The Times
‘Witty and wonderful, as always’ Trisha Ashley
‘This endlessly fun humdinger of a novel is an absolute riot’ Heat
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Additional information
| Publisher | Transworld Digital (8 Sept. 2016) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 5400 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 729 pages |
by Alijay
Totally unputdownable as with all the Campbell-Black stories let’s hope the ending is the start of a new book
With Rupert branching out into the world of football
by Libby
Great book, both to read and listen.
by Barbara Reed
Reading it now.
by J Colquhoun
To be honest, I think this book was unnecessary and JC should have hung up Rupert’s riding boots. There is a big difference between what you can get away with in your 30’s and 40’s to what you can at 60, however handsome you are, and Rupert comes across for much of the book as rather pathetically sleazy, and who really by now should have known better. Even when he comes to his senses, he still appears to be a liar and a hypocrite. I suppose some things never change.. Several of the numerous storylines are ridiculous in places, notably Jan’s, which is worthy of a Barbara Cartland novel. Gala’s storyline is unconvincing and she makes a particularly unlikeable main heroine. What was JC thinking of ?? Overall, 3.5 stars.
by Maggie
Having read other reviews, and finally made it to the end of the book, I have to say some of the comments are fair – the first half is a bit of an obstacle race between new names, some confusingly similar to each other, and horses, horses, horses. Stick with it though, because the second half will reward anyone who’s been with The Rutshire Chronicles since Riders.
Yes, a lot of familiar old friends, but few in any real depth – personally I’d have loved more of the joyless Helen v. Sluttish Janey, a better update on the syndicate, the gloriously ghastly Martin and Romy, and kept thinking “Gav? Who’s Gav? What’s happened to Lysander and Kitty?” I had to be content with a slightly contrived ‘bringing all the loose ends together’ surprise birthday bash.
The ‘twists’ are fairly well trailed in advance, but the second half does begin to concentrate far more on people and plot rather than scattergun names. Yes, the whole thing is unbelievable, but we are in Rupert Campbell-Black land, and let’s be fair, that’s never been believable. But it’s been fun, and Jilly’s books always improve immeasurably on 2nd reading. I remember my confused frustration when Score, with it’s cast of thousands, was first published. Now it’s one of my favourites.
If, like me, you’ve been reading Jilly since her Times column, you aren’t that young. Neither’s Jilly. Yet at 79 she’s still writing and they still make you laugh. Good on her. What’s always set these books apart from the Jackie Collins (read one once, never again) and the turgid 50 Shades (OK, never read, just the reviews) is that Rutshire doesn’t take itself seriously and has a sense of humour – plus of course the worst puns ever; if anything they are getting worse.
I reckon that, like all the others, on a 2nd reading in a couple of months the mass of confusing new characters will fall into place and it will fit in nicely to the rest of the chronicles. Give it a go…
by corvinna
had heard some less than good reviews about this book so i’ll admit I was expecting carnage and reluctant to read it in case it totally ruined characters I’ve loved for years. It wasn’t as bad as expected and is still an enjoyable read but I can agree with other comments about cast of thousands and not as much depth as usual. Not too impressed with Rupert sleeping around with such abandon after years of unquestioned fidelity to Taggie, also not impressed with Taggie turning into such a doormat domestic slave. No, Gala is not a very sympathetic character and the complete about turn of love life at the end of the book in the space of a page was a bit of a shocker and deeply unlikely. Jan was just repulsive and suddenly turned into Mad Rozzy from Score with no warning in the space of ten minutes, then vanished. It was still a good read and an update on the lives of my favourite cast members but an editor should definitely have looked at this as there were some glaring errors. As any jilly fan knows
1) Mrs Wilkinson’s dam was not usurper, that was her previous name
2) Isa Lovell is blonde and could not have possibly had a son old enough to race ride with Marty in the space of time since Score.
3) Luke Alderton is not Texan
4) Neither Priceless or Gwennie belongs to Etta, Priceless belongs to Seth Bainton and Gwennie belongs to Pocock the gardener.
and that’s just for starters.
Usually Jilly is a master of writing animal characters that are as rounded as the humans and notable that she does this so well that when she kills one off you are left in tears – Sailor, Arthur and Tero are perfect examples. In this one Love Rat pegs it with barely a murmur from either characters or readers. Its a shame. I know Jilly’s getting older but someone should have pointed things out to her so she could have corrected it.
It’s still a good book and nice to revisit old friends even if it’s briefly but hope they don’t deteriorate further. I leave this book with a sense of unease for future instalments.
As a footnote, I’ve also got the audio and it’s the first one that’s got the characters voices right – Jump and Wicked have made Taggie upper class English when she’s Irish. That’s a definite improvement.
by Graham Duncanson
The author has cleverly brought in all the original characters and added several more for good measure. The reader has to keep an agile mind to remember all the animal’s names.
by Miss Justina
Absolutely super cooper!!! Loved this book…..the links back to old friends and foes….New friends and foes….it’s all here and the gorgeous RCB is wonderful!!! Recomnend!