Lee Coller is a successful young graphic designer with a strong political conscience. He is sickened with the politics of the Iraq war and by the no-regrets position of Tony Blair, but feels impotent. His boss happens to be a millionaire friend of Blair's and has successfully created an online company: anything@all.com in which Lee manages to work in exchange for a good salary with which he rents a nice flat and leads a comfortable lifestyle. One night when he and his colleagues are out in a bar, he hears that Tony Blair might be visiting to the company soon in an official capacity. Immediately, an obsession takes hold in Lee's mind about what he could say or do to the PM during that visit. As the obsession builds, fuelled by sleepless nights, drugs and alcohol, Lee unexpectedly meets and falls in love with Rosa, an attractive Spanish temp at his office. He also realizes how much he stands to lose now if he goes through with his unavowable plan: to assault the PM using a sharp, knifelike letter-opener he has in his desk. He is prepared to lose everything for the sake of his beliefs, but as the day approaches an unexpected twist occurs. Is it Blair who's visiting after all? And if it is, will Lee be able to do what he's planned? Scenes of him in a prison cell make us believe he does. But can one act of pointless violence make up for another? Does it? Should it? This page-turner helps us find out...
Virtual Assassin
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Book Description
A young professional plans to take his revenge on Tony Blair for the Iraq war.
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Review
"A pacy read... indicative of the shallow heyday of New Labour" --Time Out, London
"The book is genuinely subversive" --Booksquawk.com
"A good and very intense read...if you're into politics and often think that you'd like to take a stand for the sake of mankind, this book is definately for you".
--Catch 22 Magazine
"The book is genuinely subversive" --Booksquawk.com
"A good and very intense read...if you're into politics and often think that you'd like to take a stand for the sake of mankind, this book is definately for you".
--Catch 22 Magazine
About the Author
Simon Kearns was born in London in 1972, and raised in Northern Ireland. In 1991 he returned to London to study philosophy. He has written a number of novellas, short stories, and two novels previous to Virtual Assassin. He is fascinated by Neolithic cultures, etymology, and the workings of the news media. Music is very important to his writing process and he often makes his own, distorting samples, soundscapes, and repetitive beats to create trance-inducing tracks. In his writing he is particularly concerned with exploring the multiple versions of reality presented in the 21st Century, and the effect of these constructs upon the mind. He currently lives in a medieval village in southern France with his partner and their two children.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have often wondered what would happen, what I would do, if I saw Thatcher approaching me from a distance. The fantasy involves an egg whisk and a Bunsen burner, but what would I REALLY do ?
This book addresses such a question. The pangs of conscience are less Jiminy Cricket, more John Berger on acid. An entertaining, thought provoking but not comfortable read.
This book addresses such a question. The pangs of conscience are less Jiminy Cricket, more John Berger on acid. An entertaining, thought provoking but not comfortable read.
7 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Simon Maginn
Format:Paperback
Tony Blair is coming to Lee's workplace. Lee has become obsessed with the idea of doing something to him. Merely saying something isn't enough, he has to act. But can he do it? Will he do it?
This is a clever and twisty story, unpredictable and much more substantial than the plot outline would suggest. Lee is a fully fleshed character, part Hamlet part Taxi Driver, a self-absorbed and rather self-regarding narrator, fuelled by his own self-righteous rage and sense of moral superiority. Kearns cleverly throws the reader off track, wrong footing you with imagined scenes, alternative scenes, scenes where the imagined and the real become indistinguishable, against the background noise of Lee's moral grandstanding and his interminable wrestle with his self-imposed mission. I'm sure a great many people will empathise with the central premise: what would you do? I read it all in go and found it hugely entertaining.
This is a clever and twisty story, unpredictable and much more substantial than the plot outline would suggest. Lee is a fully fleshed character, part Hamlet part Taxi Driver, a self-absorbed and rather self-regarding narrator, fuelled by his own self-righteous rage and sense of moral superiority. Kearns cleverly throws the reader off track, wrong footing you with imagined scenes, alternative scenes, scenes where the imagined and the real become indistinguishable, against the background noise of Lee's moral grandstanding and his interminable wrestle with his self-imposed mission. I'm sure a great many people will empathise with the central premise: what would you do? I read it all in go and found it hugely entertaining.
6 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Lou Galvin
Format:Paperback
It's a curiously, cleverly structured one this. Around the plot flicker alternative iterations. We're wrong-footed by a multiple choice of realities. The latter part is all double takes and I turned the pages fast to find the version that sticks. Those iterations leave behind questions, but this structure isn't unsatisfying.
We spend most of the book in Lee's head, and even when the perspective is external we're always looking at him in close-up. Though Lee twists himself in self-regarding circles and, in so doing, rejects the familiar, he remains empathetic. I cared whether he went ahead with the contemplated action. (As a London dropout, I wanted to shout at him to get chickens and to learn to work a lathe). Those iterations do include a positive alternative for Lee and I willed him to take it. But we're close-up enough that an incredible action becomes credible and I asked myself what I would do.
The subject matter might imply a sense of humourless worthiness, another bleating Blair book. This isn't. Yes, this book made me think but it's also pacy, entertaining and likeable. There's enough that's engaging and empathetic here to make it an enjoyable read and also one that stays in your head.
We spend most of the book in Lee's head, and even when the perspective is external we're always looking at him in close-up. Though Lee twists himself in self-regarding circles and, in so doing, rejects the familiar, he remains empathetic. I cared whether he went ahead with the contemplated action. (As a London dropout, I wanted to shout at him to get chickens and to learn to work a lathe). Those iterations do include a positive alternative for Lee and I willed him to take it. But we're close-up enough that an incredible action becomes credible and I asked myself what I would do.
The subject matter might imply a sense of humourless worthiness, another bleating Blair book. This isn't. Yes, this book made me think but it's also pacy, entertaining and likeable. There's enough that's engaging and empathetic here to make it an enjoyable read and also one that stays in your head.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Existential challenge
When a book or article poses questions that challenge your morality, then the author has succeeded in entering in to your world, just as we enter in to their world when we read... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2010 by Slim Salocin
5.0 out of 5 stars
complex story
I found this story fascinating and even though I had read the story years ago when Simon was putting the plot on paper, it still held me on the edge of my seat. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2010 by Gabrielle
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