How often can you blame the heir apparent for providing you literature? Not very, I suppose: and yet that is precisely what happened in this instance. The Radio Times produced an article about Charles, Prince of Wales, and the unlikely places he pops up. One of those places linked to a clip of The 1990 British House of Cards television series and that, in turn, lead me to the novel.

I found it a captivating political read. The sheer ruthlesness of Urquhart juxtaposed with the vivid detail (right down to the deep leather chairs in the upper gallery of Pall Mall's Reform Club), layered with the political acumen of the era and very British flavour of the work as a whole combine to produce an astoundingly riviting read.