---
product_id: 320532492
title: "The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré"
brand: "nicholas shakespeare"
price: "¥3485"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 6
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/320532492-the-sandpit-a-sophisticated-literary-thriller-for-fans-william-boyd
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré

**Brand:** nicholas shakespeare
**Price:** ¥3485
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré by nicholas shakespeare
- **How much does it cost?** ¥3485 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/320532492-the-sandpit-a-sophisticated-literary-thriller-for-fans-william-boyd)

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- nicholas shakespeare enthusiasts

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## Description

The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré

## Images

![The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51s8u6Hy8zL.jpg)
![The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Z4QTPTPFL.jpg)
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![The Sandpit: A sophisticated literary thriller for fans William Boyd and John Le Carré - Image 4](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/419-ZngXLlL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Weak, a triumph of style over substance – which this book lacks.
  

*by B***E on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2020*

Book has just arrived so this is a review before I've read it. What smacks you in the-face immediately is that it looks like a book made for people who are partially sighted. The margins are 20mm all round with 40mm at the bottom. The text is set in 13.25/18.5pt. Which means this 400 page book would be more like 200 is it had been typeset as most other books are. More a novella than a novel. I'll amend this review once I've read the book.----8<----Which I have done now.It takes a quarter of the book to get going, then the remaining three quarters about dinner parties, a Post-it Note  and where to hide it. Any resemblance to Le Carré passed me by, also I question which part was well written. I got so bored that at times I fast-read pages to move the story on. If you accept the many flaws in the book and story and enjoy watching Transformers or Marvel films, this book is probably aimed at you. If you like tight, well-written prose with climaxes and tension, full of description and well-researched situations, look elsewhere.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A very English tale.
  

*by L***N on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 July 2020*

Set amidst the dreaming spires of Oxford, The Sandpit captures a corner of the country that in so many ways typifies England. Dyer, a lapsed journalist and now a struggling writer is barely able to meet the fees to keep his son at a private prep school. Being himself, the product of a private education, it’s a matter of pride that standards must be maintained. Naturally, among the parents that Dyer rubs up against, there is snobbery, one-upmanship and bitchiness but when a junior scientist at a local laboratory takes Dyer into his confidence, Dyer finds himself everyone’s best friend, or, a liability that needs to be quashed.From that point on, Dyer must determine what he should do with the explosive knowledge he now reluctantly holds. The scientist, an Iranian by birth, is missing and, given the appalling human rights record of Iran, who knows what fate may have befell him.Not a spy novel, rather a beautifully written book showing human fallibility and greed. Well worth your time.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    An Interesting and Involving Read
  

*by S***B on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2020*

Ex-journalist John Dyer, who is divorced from his beautiful but unfaithful second wife, leaves Brazil and returns to Oxford, England, bringing with him his eleven-year-old son, Leandro, who he has enrolled at his old private prep school, the Phoenix (which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Dragon School). He rents a small house in Jericho and spends his days researching material for his next book at the Taylorian Library and taking time out to watch Leandro, a talented footballer, play on the school sports field - where Dyer meets several of the parents of the other boys, most of whom are financially very well-off. Short of money himself (Leandro’s fees are funded by a legacy from an aunt), Dyer moves loosely within the group of wealthy and successful parents, but it is with the Iranian nuclear scientist, Rostrum Marvar, that he strikes up a friendship of sorts.  When a very alarmed and agitated Marvar confides in Dyer that he has made an exciting, yet potentially dangerous scientific discovery and then disappears without a trace, Dyer is left with Marvar’s formula and also with the knowledge that the unwelcome possession of this information could be putting his own life and, more worryingly, the life of his young son in extreme danger…Beautifully written and absorbing to read, Mr Shakespeare’s ‘The Sandpit’ is one that I enjoyed from beginning to end and although I won’t pretend to fully understand the scientific or political aspects to the story, I was gripped throughout. And anyway, this is not just a novel about scientific discoveries and the political situation between the major powers, it’s also about love, loyalty, integrity, moral dilemmas, power and the misuse of power, so although the presentation of the book and a reference on the cover to John le Care might suggest this is a spy novel, it’s more nuanced than that and I found this an interesting and involving read. I particularly enjoyed the way the author wrote about the close relationship Dyer had with his son and of Dyer’s dilemma about what to do with the potentially explosive information he unwillingly found himself landed with.  So, a book I read in practically one long sitting, and would certainly recommend.4 Stars.

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*Product available on Desertcart Japan*
*Store origin: JP*
*Last updated: 2026-02-11*