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A Scandalous Man (Hardcover)

by Gavin Esler (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Price: £17.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 397 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (6 May 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007276222
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007276226
  • Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 322,635 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'A Scandalous Man is a compelling book, its political sophistication made luminous with wisdom, sympathy and brilliant story-telling' Bernard Cornwell '!the suspense never slackens.' The Times 'What enlivens A Scandalous Man is its undoubted sympathy for the human condition!' Guardian "While Esler's story is sweeping in scope and complex both politically and emotional, it's always accessible and fast-paced" Daily Mirror "This is a cracking story, well told, with a conclusion that is as shocking as it is inevitable!Can't wait for the next one." Daily Express "!tautly plotted and thoroughly entertaining narrative which neatly dovetails fictional characters with historical events." Daily Mail "!an acute and poignant account of the impact politics has on flesh and blood." Arena '!a taughtly plotted and throughly entertaining narrative!' Irish Daily Mail '!a page turning political pot boiler!' Belfast Herald '!a powerful thought-provoking book that is excellently written, and one which falls into the "must-read" category.' Aberdeen Press and Journal 'Esler!understands the political beast better than anyone.' Financial Times 'After years in the business Elsler still believes that politics matter, which makes it a knowing book written without cynicism. I can't wait for the next one.' International Express '!the suspense never slackens' The Times 'Esler has a knack for creating vivid, attractive and repellent characters, and he understands the political beast better than anyone.' Financial Times 'What enlivens A Scandalous Man is its worldliness, its undoubted sympathy for the human contidition and a burning anger. Elser has some acute obeservations. Yet the scenes that linger most in the mind do not involve high politics. I sense he has more to offer as a writer: a genuine lyricism, a quick sensitivity, a real understanding of other people.' Melissa Benn, Guardian '!brilliantly entertaining debut novel!Esler's story is sweeping in scope and complex bot politically and emotionally but always accessible and fast--paced.' Mirror 'This is a powerful, thought provoking book that is excellently written and one which falls into the "must--read" category.' Aberdeen Press and Journal

Review

'While Esler's story is sweeping in scope and complex both politically and emotional, it's always accessible and fast-paced' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disgraced for bedroom indiscretions, not for complicity in the death of millions, 25 Mar 2009
By Ralph Blumenau (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: A Scandalous Man (Paperback)
First thought in the first few pages: Gavin Esler is having fun with this political novel. He is mixing up a lot of real politicians with colleagues he has invented. Mrs Thatcher (`the Lady') makes frequent and vivid appearances, but her first Home Secretary is Michael Armstrong (not a bit like William Whitelaw); Reagan's Director of Central Intelligence is David Hicocks (not William Casey) and later becomes Vice-President to George W. Bush; and so on. Robin Burnett, the Scandalous Man of the title and supposedly successively Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Defence Secretary, has some of the characteristics of the late Alan Clark. He is besotted, after a mere glance exchanged, with a glamorous woman who is entering the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square just as he is leaving it. The way this is described is so utterly corny that I thought it must be written with tongue in cheek.

But I fear that kind of corniness continues for much of the book, and I no longer felt he was doing it tongue in cheek. Along with the novelettish development of a love story (two, actually), Esler crams in as many incidents during the Thatcher-Blair era as possible. (There was of course a prime minister between these two - Esler calls him Jack Heriot, but in his brief appearance he is not a bit like John Major.) Esler ticks all the boxes, each with the appropriate little history lesson giving the background: the Falklands War; Sleaze and its exploitation by those sleazy `investigative journalists' who `are interested in the bedroom and only rarely venture into the boardroom or the Cabinet room'; the Miners' Strike; Britain as America's poodle; the Iran-Iraq war and the fatal backing of Saddam Hussein against Iran; the double-dealing in the Iran-Contra affair, the Gulf War and the Iraq War; the London bombers. There are the sort of discussions between the characters you hear on current affairs television programmes: about democracy, about violence, about what it means to be British and/or Muslim and/or European. There is also the toll that political ambition, unsavoury - indeed plainly immoral - dealings, and the need for continual lying takes of the conscience on any half-decent politician.

Whether you enjoy all this depends on whether you are waiting for something original or whether you are satisfied with a readable rehash of recent history and issues of the day. Often the characters are mere vehicles for expressing different points of view.

The plot which plays out against all this background? The private lives of Robin Burnett and of his son Harry; the women they love and who love them; a dash of mystery here and there, to be resolved of course eventually; a climactic end. In the second half of the book the personal dilemmas of Robin Burnett evoked some sympathy in me, even if I can't believe in the dramatic way he initially tried to resolve them.

It is an easy read, fluently written but without any real subtleties.
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7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Cracking read, 10 May 2008
By Charles (Kent, England) - See all my reviews
A cracking read that takes you right back to the Thatcher and Parkinson era - a real 'un puttable down' book.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Faction, 29 Mar 2009
By Andy (Berkshire, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Scandalous Man (Paperback)
This novel will surely delight the great majority of its readers. It is a flight of political fancy set against a background of real events, faithfully retold except where deviation is necessary to the fiction.

The story follows the key events in the lives of several quite distinct characters between the years of 1979 and 2005. Some are strongly related, others more subtly so. It's told very well and you'll want to get to the end.

The author's day job is political journalism for the BBC, which is a strictly unbiased calling. This work allows him to get some matters "off his chest", as they say, and may constitute the "one novel" that some say we all have within us. I wonder whether there will be a sequel?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating background, writing standard not so hot.
I really enjoyed this book for the political insight it provided, and could understand why it had to be made into a fiction novel to attract readers. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lynn Phillips

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait for the next one!
Perhaps in places it makes clumsy references and allusions which are hilarious; yet they are forgivable for a small "novel", if not a piece of semi-satirical "faction" but is... Read more
Published 10 months ago by pinegun

5.0 out of 5 stars A Scandalous man
Gavin Esler is an excellent (if occasional) writer.

On this occasion he draws upon his journalistic experience to create a very plausable storyline
Published 11 months ago by F. Deigman

4.0 out of 5 stars 2 Stories - 1 Book
Although very well written ( a little slow for me in areas, but a book has to be highly engaging to keep my interest :)) I thought that the book contained 2 stories, that were... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. T. Harris

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