Best in Books July 2010

The Ghost by Robert Harris

The Ghost is the 2008 Thriller Award for Best Novel sponsored by the International Thriller Writers (ITW). The story's narrator has been hired to ghost write former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang's memoirs after the first collaborator's body is mysteriously found on the shore of Martha’s Vineyard. Lang’s character is a thinly veiled version of Tony Blair and his term in office. The astronomical offer to clean up the first draft is too attractive not to accept even with a tight completion deadline. The anonymous ghost writer has to quickly learn the voice of his subject creating a fast-paced rhythm. As the writer interviews and studies his subject, he is faced with research that points to a man with a questionable background full of dark and evil secrets.

Robert Harris's background as a BBC television correspondent and newspaper columnist add to the authenticity of this political thriller.


Booklist Review
Best-selling author Harris scores again with this intriguing political thriller. On the heels of historical blockbusters Pompeii (2003) and Imperium (2006), Harris now turns his attention to more timely issues. When a celebrity ghostwriter is tapped to be the pen behind the man for the controversial former prime minister of Britain, he gets much more than he bargained for. Although his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances, the anonymous ghostwriter finds the lucrative offer to assist the infamous Adam Lang in cobbling together his memoirs even if it means staying on a desolate Martha's Vineyard in the dead of winter too hard to resist. Not unexpectedly, Lang harbors more dangerous secrets than it is safe for any one person to possess, and the ghostwriter finds himself increasingly enmeshed in a tangled web of treachery, deceit, and international espionage as he unravels a political cover-up that will resonate with contemporary readers. As it turns out, there is more than one ghost, and the fast-paced narrative concludes with an unexpected twist. Expect considerable demand.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2007 Booklist