The Ghost
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous, in my view - but make up your own mind,
By
This review is from: The Ghost (Hardcover)
Rarely these days does one come across a really good book that is also really well edited. "The Ghost" is just right: as in a good whodunnit there is almost nothing that is extraneous to the plot, but it is so page-turningly readable that you don't have time to put the pieces together before the last page hits you like a pick-axe. All you can do is sit dumbstruck and admire the writer's skill in taking you on such a ride.
The reviews of "The Ghost" seem to be split down the middle, with some readers sorely disappointed by Harris failing to live up to past efforts and other reviewers ecstatic at one of the best political thrillers in years. I'm firmly in the latter camp. I could hardly put it down, was riveted throughout and found the ending chilling. It's up there with John Le Carre's best, in my opinion. But what really makes this story a masterpiece is the stylistic perfection that Harris has achieved. I cannot explain further without spoiling the book, so I will just say that this is an intelligent thriller that left me satisfied on several levels, and one of them was an appreciation for a piece of writing that really works. I do wonder if some of the disappointed reviewers didn't quite "get" the book. I confess to having approached "The Ghost" rather warily. I'd heard that it was a thinly veiled attack on Tony Blair, who seemed a tediously easy target and in danger of becoming out of date. Also, I'd read two of Robert Harris' others (Fatherland and Archangel) and although I enjoyed them, I found the ending a tiny bit lame in both. But "The Ghost" knocked my fears for six. It's true that the prime minister in this has some rather obvious similarities with Blair, who Harris apparently used to be pretty close to, but the book in no way relies on the Blair parallel for its success. And you certainly don't need to have a particular view of Blair to enjoy the story. And my prejudice about Harris' ability to finish well was unjustified. This ties up the loose ends with a flourish and signs off with a touch of genius. It is surely the mark of a really top-notch thriller that you think you can sort of see how it will all fall into place but then the author pulls a rabbit from the hat at the very last moment.
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ghost,
By
This review is from: The Ghost (Paperback)
I thought Tony Blair believed the war in Iraq was a right and just thing. I had this notion because of the unpopularity of the invasion, the millions of protesters against it, and my belief politicians care only for their image and the votes a positive image can offer. In short: if he was willing to lose votes he must believe it was right. I didn't hold this view for long, and my support of the invasion of Iraq didn't last. But I still wondered why, if the policy was unpopular, did a voracious popularity junkie like Blair go along?
Alex Salmond of the SNP made a comment which painted Bush and Blair as a couple of cowboys with their "thumbs in the jeans" as they necked a few cold Budweisers "down on the ranch". I don't accept that sort of absurd cartoon (but one can hardly blame Salmond for making it; after all, the less relevant the politician, the more noise they make, like sulky children, throwing tantrums for attention.) But there had to be a reason for Blair's complicity, so what could it be? Robert Harris offers his entertaining theory in The Ghost, and takes a swipe at the wispy façade of Blairism. Adam Lang, Harris's fictional Blair, is using the house of a billionaire publisher to write the manuscript for his memoirs, and he's been using a party aide as his ghost writer until that particular fellow goes overboard into the drink while on the Martha's Vineyard ferry. His replacement, the novel's nameless narrator, flies to the US to take on the assignment. The story is the discovery of what lay behind Blair's blind support of Bush over Iraq and Afghanistan and his head-bowed obedience to any requests from our American friends, from public support of Israel to the use of UK military bases for the CIA planes on "extraordinary rendition" flights. This is a gentle thriller; the plot opens out slowly, and never offers the absurd level of conspiratorial revelations and shenanigans of The Da Vinci Code; this is much smarter and better tailored, with one foot planted firmly in the possible. The urge to create a conspiracy of which Dan Brown would be proud must have been hard to resist for Harris, but resist he does. His lead stumbles across the secret by accident, and digs himself in deeper, it seems, because of the tedium of the task of writing the memoir, and never senses the danger that is walking alongside him with every step, like an assassin on a different plan of reality; (of course, because the narrator fails to sense it, so do we, and even when we do, the threat is not taken seriously until the final page.) This is a fair example of how to do a large conspiracy but still keep it simple and plausible.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing overall,
By
This review is from: The Ghost (Paperback)
you'll have the gist of the story from the other reviews so I won't bother too much with that and give you a brief asessment of the book as a novel . Its not the most exciting read you'll ever have although it is quite atmospheric in a sort of Shipping News type of way ( althoughy just as plodding ! ) . Its quite evocative of Marthas Vineyard in winter and how rough the weather can be with its portrayal of windswept and rainy beaches and hamlets .
I though the Adam Lang character portrayal of a former British Prime Minister was quite weak and unconvincing . The character didn't quite seem to fit the role , particularly when using the word " man " at the end of a sentence ! Not a particularly gripping novel by any means but was quite easy on the eye and the plot wasn't taxing either . Which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your individual point of view . I thought the ending wasn't particularly climatic either and one was left wondering " was that it ?? " when the last page was reached . Not a page turning blockbuster by any means but one to peacefully pass the time . And then throw away .
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