Gonzo Davies Caught in Possession

Gonzo Davies stands on the brink of retirement from rugby. New life is stirring in his home village and he needs to work rather than play. It is time to settle down. But can he resist one last invitation, one final fling? The sequel to The Head of Gonzo Davies by rugby commentator, Eddie Butler.

About the Author :
Former Cambridge Blue Eddie Butler, an ex-Wales captain and British Lions No. 8 forward, is one of the most highly respected rugby correspondents currently working in the British and international media. Knowledgeable, witty and erudite, he is The Observer's chief rugby writer, and BBC 1's international rugby commentator, whilst he also makes regular appearances on BBC Wales' rugby program Scrum V.

Review :
Things are looking up in the village where ex Wales No. 8 Gonzo Davies continues to graft and inspire. The local club are on a roll and the landscape of industrial decay is lending itself to new and profitable pursuits. On the other side of the world, however, a violent tremor triggers a sequence of events, a chain reaction that causes the ground beneath Gonzo’s feet to shift decisively. Gradually, ever darker caverns of human experience are exposed, where revenge and redemption are forever a rock and a hard place. Taking in the rugby worlds of New Zealand, Dubai and Paris, Gonzo Davies, Caught in Possession is a thriller where camaraderie and brutality are constant companions. Eddie Butler certainly knows his subject through and through. As a young man he was captain of the Welsh rugby team, and he was also Number 8 for the British Lions. Nowadays he is well known as 'the man with the golden voice', as a sports broadcaster and columnist for the Observer. Having found success as a writer with The Greatest Welsh XV Ever, he then turned his hand to his first novel, The Head of Gonzo Davies. His eponymous protagonist is a former rugby player for Wales who still enjoys a game and turns out for his home village. The book hit the mark and acquired something of a cult following, and it was a natural progression for Butler to write a sequel. What a sequel it is too – certainly not for the timorous. The book starts with Gonzo, 'Our Marnie', Capper and Grace on a ridge on the edge of a South Wales coal face. Gonzo is all eyes for Grace, and there is little doubt that the two are deeply attracted to each other despite the lapse of many years. The men are playing truant from training, and it is not the time for accidents to occur ... In the first chapter, we jump to New Zealand, to the Kakanui Club, where the current captain and Number 8 of the New Zealand All Blacks faces disaster. Readers need to concentrate hard as more characters move into the novel with their own flashbacks and mini-biographies, all in the rugby worlds of Dubai, New Zealand, Paris and the UK, and they feature strongly within the threads of the novel. Elegant Kitty Vernon-Evans, married to Horace, a member of the National Assembly of Wales, discovers through tragedy that her boring husband has had an affair with her best friend’s daughter, while the girl was still under age, and a lot more besides. The Craig Cycling Club enters the scene to cause more disruption and, as the story unfolds, Gonzo's life takes a sinister turn – just when he was content to inspire his local club to greater achievements. However, despite all that the subterranean worlds of sport and politics have to hit them with, they survive. Butler writes with considerable detail, and his appreciation of the beauty of his homeland is very apparent, as is his humour. Gonzo Davies Caught in Possession is a seductive sequel that his devoted followers will applaud, while calling for more.