Tackle! is British author Jilly Cooper’s latest “bonkbuster” in her Rutshire Chronicles series. This time set in the world of football, it brings back a slew old characters – notably Rupert Campbell-Black – from former stories. I would recommend reading (or re-reading) her school novel, Wicked, before tackling Tackle as many of the young footballers come from this book.

Tackle! is enjoyable. Jilly Cooper is always enjoyable. But you’ll probably find yourself wishing she’d stuck to more familiar subject matter. Even cricket or rugby might have been more aligned with her world than football. The “football chants” are irritatingly implausible. But the most unforgettable thing – rivalling that word in Mount! – is:

His latest invention was Glitteris, a sweet-tasting silver liquid which a girl painted over her clitoris to enable her suitor to locate it.

The main problem with Tackle! is that there are too many characters and there’s no one we get really close to. There’s no new main heroine. No one to really emotionally engage with and root for. Poor Taggie is a wreck (endless references to her “grey curls” – she’s only about forty, hair dye is a thing) and Rupert doesn’t sizzle with anyone. And if you’re not into football – and I’m not – you’ll probably be skimming the match-action scenes.

So I’d recommend Tackle! for hardcore Jilly fans, but absolutely not for any new readers. If you’d like to try Jilly Cooper, start with Riders and then Rivals, which now have added vintage 1980s charm and are truly rip-roaring reads. Or for a quicker introduction, her 1970s novels (each titled with the respective heroine’s name) which are now almost historic romance in a wonderfully retro way.

The three phases of Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles:

First, there’s the Golden Age: Riders, Rivals, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous. Set in the Cotswolds and mostly featuring horses, they have fabulous characters and fabulous plots.

Then we move on to the Cultural Age: Appassionata (orchestra), Score! (opera) and Pandora (art). Score! is the best of these with the ending reminding me of a Victoria Holt.

Finally we have the Nostalgia Age: with Wicked! (schools), Jump! (horses/jump racing), Mount! (horses/flat racing) and now Tackle! (football) where many characters are older, even elderly, Rupert is getting on and Taggie, as mentioned, is a downtrodden drudge.

For me, the best of the Rutshire Chronicles by far is Rivals, with Rupert finally finding true love in a sexy, age-gap relationship – and there’s soon to be a new TV series based on it. I also love The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous which has one of the sweetest central romances ever, plus some really raunchy forbidden escapades around the edges.