Sean Randall reviewed The Ghost by Robert Harris
Review of 'The Ghost' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
"If only Hitler had known he didn't need a whole air force to paralyse London, I thought: just a revved-up teenager with a bottle of bleach and a bag of weedkiller."
I can't quite say what about this book gripped me so, but I took it to bed after a movie (so we're talking fairly late anyway) and still read it in a single sitting.
"Everybody voted for him. He wasn't a politician; he was a craze."
The former PM is a very charismatic character indeed, which makes the revelations throughout the book sting all the more. I wasn't surprised by them, I'm saddened to have to report; they were fairly readily apparent quite early on. But knowing how a book will end, and seeing how that ending impacts the players, are two very different things indeed.
"She made an explosive noise which somehow managed to combine hilarity, fury, contempt …
"If only Hitler had known he didn't need a whole air force to paralyse London, I thought: just a revved-up teenager with a bottle of bleach and a bag of weedkiller."
I can't quite say what about this book gripped me so, but I took it to bed after a movie (so we're talking fairly late anyway) and still read it in a single sitting.
"Everybody voted for him. He wasn't a politician; he was a craze."
The former PM is a very charismatic character indeed, which makes the revelations throughout the book sting all the more. I wasn't surprised by them, I'm saddened to have to report; they were fairly readily apparent quite early on. But knowing how a book will end, and seeing how that ending impacts the players, are two very different things indeed.
"She made an explosive noise which somehow managed to combine hilarity, fury, contempt and disbelief."
The spymanship was, naturally, quite amateur in execution,. The voice of the narrator really, really worked; I got into his head: "found his voice", as it were. I utterly enjoyed the story, was compelled to read on even knowing how things were going to turn out and can say without a doubt that I haven't been gripped this well in months.