Mount!: The fast-paced, riotous new adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Jilly Cooper

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He is determined to beat his detested rival Cosmo which means abandoning his racing empire and his darling wife Taggie and chasing winners worldwide.

So when I realised there was a newer book (okay, seven years after the fact I realised this), I had to get a copy. The Taggie we knew in Rivals was principled - telling Rupert Declan was right to refuse to read the Corinium application and standing up for animal rights etc. Commenting on the lack of government investment in horse-racing jars with scenes of gigantic individual bets, the sums of prize money involved in racing, and private helicopters dotting down on birthday parties.

Frankly this would have worked fine if it wasn’t for the rushed in ending which ended up being beyond ridiculous. Giving her cancer meant she didn't have to actually do anything - she never did learn to assert herself. 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. In my late teens/early twenties I made a point of finding all the other books in the Rutshire Chronicles and reading them.

Perhaps she should have walked out, which would have devastated Rupert and he would have dropped everything to get her back. 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.If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit ipso. 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. Even those fans of subtlety might be disappointed only by how much they enjoy the whole mad confection. We are meant to be worried about the (negligible) risks he took, boo and hiss at the evilness of his enemies, and shout "hoorah for Rupert" when he wins at life. They are long and complex with lots of characters with all the books in the series having characters from earlier books.

There were snatches of dialogue that were extremely stilted and I don't know if Cooper thinks her readers have lost their attention span but when she told me Sheik Mohammed was the ruler of Dubai three time in three paragraphs I was starting to wonder if she was struggling to hit her word count.The Blacks’ is a frequently used phrase and then softened by highlighting the fact that Rupert and Taggie adopted black children. I often find lengthy books overfacing but not Jilly's, I could have gone on reading, except of course I wanted to know the outcome! The 'chemistry' between him and Gala is non-existent, the sex is gross (I'll be attempting to wash "buttercunt" out of my mind for a good while) and no one really suffers as a result of the gross breech of trust except poor ol' Taggie…who suffers and suffers and suffers and then gets cancer FFS.

I'm hoping the old boy is retired now, and will likely only revisit the original trilogy in the future. It was only by chance watching the hotel programme of the launch of Mount that I knew about this one but I'm so glad I saw it! She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. I also think that Jilly's extreme cleverness and powers of observation have outed themselves surreptitiously in the plot, if not the gush. 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.Some years ago when I was in my mid-teens, I picked up a copy of Polo, which is the third of this series where every book can be read as a standalone, and really enjoyed it. Jilly could have written about the ups and downs of a long marriage but she really didn't need there to be butterc**t. Did that sound a wee bit emotionally abusive to anyone else - I can't help it, I'm just possessive like Daddy? I like learning more about the world of horse racing and the sort of ‘how the other half live’ insight which we as readers get in these books.