A
Flavour of the Book: “How different – how very different – the course of my
life would have been if I hadn’t immediately gone running towards that garage…
I see myself now as if in a movie, or perhaps, more aptly, in one of those
filmed reconstructions on a TV crime show: the victim skipping unknowingly towards
his fate, as ominous chords underscore the portentousness of the scene…”
The
Authortrek View: This is an exquisitely timed thriller from the pen of Robert
Harris, as an anonymous ghostwriter finds out certain unpalatable and dangerous
truths about a former British Prime Minister…
There are a few minor bum notes – although this is a very topical novel
featuring a ghostwriter who has written the biographies of sporting
personalities, there is a curious reticence to ascribe the outburst of “You
cannot be serious!” to the still famous John McEnroe. Still, it gives a positive indication of Harris’s ambitions if he
wants to omit anything that might date the novel in future years, despite the
prominence of its current topicality.
In addition to this, the quotations from Andrew Crofts’ Ghostwriting
tome that start off every chapter aren’t always that relevant or pithy. It’s also irritating that Adam Lang
continually addresses the ghostwriter as “Man”, although this anonymity is
necessary to the plot, and indeed, could be seen as evidence that Harris wants
his narrator to be regarded as an “everyman”.
These are just minor quibbles however.
The plot is fantastic, but also very authentic, as befits an author who
has had many friends in the corridors of power, while still retaining the
detachment required of a political journalist.
Robert Harris’s pastiches are indeed fun and delicious, but he never
lets the satire get in the way of his story, and his characters are very well
drawn. According to Milan Kundera, the
modern novel is all about the exploration of self and the quest for
identity. In this instance, the
identity in question is that of Adam Lang, who, despite his international
renown as a recent British Prime Minister, and many hours of conversation, still
remains something of a mystery to his ghostwriter, until the latter
investigates his predecessor’s mysterious death… The Ghost is a very exciting thriller, and as the above passage
would suggest, it would make an excellent film.
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