The Ghost by Robert Harris

"The moment I heard how McAra died, I should have walked away. I can see that now."

Thus begins a wonderful, paranoid political thriller by Robert Harris, narrated by a cynical, mercenary professional ghost writer, whose name we never learn. The ghost is between assignments creating saleable memories for burned out rock stars and minor celebrities, when his agent calls him up and offers him a high-paying assignment finishing the memoirs of the ex British Prime Minister, Adam Lang. Lang's career ended in tatters when he sided with America in the unpopular war on terror. His tell-all book purports to reveal all the potentially explosive background to the ant-terrorist campaign, but remains unfinished, with the publisher's deadline approaching, following the mysterious death of the PM's first ghost writer McAra. Lang is holed up in a remote estate in the bleakest of wintry landscapes on Martha's Vineyard, together with a small staff of personal assistant, secretaries and bodyguards. He is accompanied by his wife, who wants to go home but dares not leave him because she says he is not acting like himself. The ghost writer is an interloper in a group all trying to protect the PM from something, but who knows what? He is tolerated only because he has a job to get done. He prides himself on his special technique of interviewing that quickly enables him to get to know his subject. He can lead his subject into telling a story and creating memory which perhaps was never there before; but once told the story gains its own veracity. Despite his expertise, the ghost finds he cannot get to know the man behind the surface charm, and that he cannot even construct any "memories" that he feels ring true. Obviously, the tortured ex-PM has some very dark secrets that various unseen powers are doing their best to hush up - are even willing to kill for. Following various clues, including a series of photographs found in his predecessor's closet, the ghost tries to find out just what is going on. He himself may be in danger from forces he does not understand and he makes several wrong moves and trusts the wrong people. Right from the beginning the reader is swept in and keeps going willy nilly through every twist and turn. The narrator's voice is so compelling - he is the consummate story-teller.

The reader suspects that Adam Lang and his wife are modeled very closely on Tony and Cherie Blair. Blair's surface charm, boyish energy, and bonhommie are all there, as is Cherie's storied ruthlessness and her love of the political circus. When you read that Robert Harris is a former friend of the ex-PM, you can feel fairly certain that the similarities are not accidental. The book contains a barely disguised attack on Blair's policies and collusion with the US on the Middle east. The political background is fascinating. USA Today said that that Harris has produced "one of the most politically informed novels of the year."

Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer

This evening the Joppa Evening Discussion Group will be discussing Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer. Joppa Group, I would love for you to leave a comment on this blog on how your discussion went and what you thought of the book!

Sons of Fortune was published in 2003

Find this book in our catalog.

This is what Publisher's Weekly 01/13/2003 said about it:
"Veteran novelist and British politician Archer (Kane and Abel) is currently serving a prison sentence for perjury, so readers can perhaps forgive him if this latest effort falls short of his usual standard. The implausibly plotted novel follows fraternal twin boys separated at birth by a bizarre set of circumstances. Nat Cartwright and Fletcher Davenport are born in Hartford, Conn., in the early 1950s. A meddlesome nurse sends them home with different families. Nat is raised in a lower-middle-class household, attends the University of Connecticut, serves heroically in Vietnam and goes into banking. Fletcher, the wealthy Yalie, becomes a lawyer and a politician. The men are repeatedly thrown into competition with each other, whether for admission to college or in their professional lives, their rivalry culminating when they both run for governor of their home state. The characters are too thin, and their respective worlds too littered with cliches, to offer a satisfying portrait of the baby boomer generation. Contrived plot twists offer little distraction, while the dialogue sometimes reads like a set of photo captions-information without emotion. "When you think about it, they are the obvious predator," says Nat about a takeover threat. "Fairchild's is the largest bank in the state; seventy-one branches with almost no serious rivals." Archer is usually a skillful storyteller, but he drops the ball here. Forecast: Archer, who has had to resign from political office three times because of financial and sexual scandals, usually draws reliable sales, but this weak offering may break the mold."

Conversation Starters:

"Much of Archer's popularity stems from his skill as a storyteller."

Would you agree that Archer drops the ball on this one?

Was the story weak? Were you, perhaps, drawn in by the rivalry of the twins, despite what the reviewer said?

"Though plot trumps characterization, Archer has created compelling and memorable characters.."

"Details fill all his novels."

What do you think of the portrait of the baby boomer generation that Archer draws?

"Complex tales, filled with plot twists galore, fuel his novels."

Is there an element of inevitability in the story despite the plot twists. Do you think this is deliberate or just weak storytelling?

"...action-packed tales of good versus evil, in which virtue is inevitably rewarded."

About Jeffrey Archer: Official website, Preview the book

Other books about twins:

Blood Lies by Daniel Kalla Find this book in our catalog.

When drug addict Emily Kenmore is found with her neck slashed in her Seattle condo, Ben Dafoe, a doctor at a local hospital who's worked as a police consultant, chooses not to tell the cops that he was once secretly engaged to Emily or that he had threatened the unidentified dead man found with her for supplying her habit. The discovery of Dafoe's rare blood type at the scene of the double homicide prompts him to flee to Canada, in search of his twin brother, Aaron, a chronic drug user who shares the same blood type. Dafoe had believed Aaron had been dead for two years, but now suspects he's still alive.

Twice Kissed by Lisa Jackson Find this book in our catalog.

The thrilling tale of a woman plunged into a world of scandal and shocking secrets as she searches for her missing twin sister.

Envy, a Novel by Kathryn Harrison Find this book in our catalog.

William Moreland, the 47-year-old New York psychoanalyst at the center of Harrison's sixth novel, has a family that's awash in betrayals. Will's father, a retired veterinarian turned photographer, is having an affair with the owner of his gallery. Will's brother, Mitchell, a long-distance swimmer with "a name as recognizable as that of, say, Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods," is estranged from the family. And ever since Will's 12-year-old son died three years ago in a boating accident, his wife, Carole, has been emotionally and sexually distant. All these wounds pucker open when Will attends his college reunion and runs into a statuesque ex-girlfriend who left him 25 years ago when she may or may not have been pregnant with his child. That past betrayal becomes entangled with the others in Will's life and leads to further transgressions and revelations.