Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5528 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Released on: 2007-09-26
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

The Times
`A master of the intelligent thriller... The Ghost is Harris back on sparkling form'

Sunday Times
`Truly thrilling'

Sunday Telegraph
`Harris has written a remarkable thriller'

Customer Reviews

Terrific
I believed in the worlds I was being shown - politics, publishing - and in the characters populating them. I was totally gripped by the plot (which is well outlined in other reviews...), and found the final twists immensely satisfying.

The Ghost of Prime Minister Past
"The Ghost" by Robert Harris is the first-person account of an anonymous ghostwriter assigned to the memoirs of former P.M. Adam Lang following the mysterious death of the original ghostwriter and former long-time Downing St aide Mike McAra.

The book opens as a roman-a-clef. Adam Lang, now in retirement following his alliance with the U.S. in the War on Terror, is Tony Blair; his politically active lawyer wife is Cherie; and honest but bumbling McAra seems like John Prescott! For those who know the publishing world, there are also references to Transworld, Katie Price, Andy Macnab and so on, but when the narrator begins work on the prime ministerial memoirs the thriller begins to kick in.

I won't give away the plot, but it contains two good twists, the last of which, on the final page, atones for the deus ex machina that befalls one of the principal characters.

Some critics have called "The Ghost" a highbrow thriller, but I imagine, since Harris was once a journalist, these are just his mates bigging him up out of loyalty. "The Ghost" is actually that much more commercial vehicle - the middlebrow thriller.

However, it's wrong to be cynical about this book, because it's an enthralling read, with some good scenes and thought-provoking observations on the War on Terror.

Departure for Richard Harris but enjoyed all the same
This was very different to the other Richard Harris books which tend to be heavily researched thillers based in a moment in time. This book seems to have been written straight from his head almost in a fit of pique with the previous Labour regime.
I know that the author has been very evasive in interviews about parallels with Tony and Cherie Blair but they are very obvious and amusing when they occur. Although many times the similarities are stretched a little too far.
It is quite an insight into the job of a ghost writer and there are interesting snippets about the role at the beginning of each chapter.
I enjoyed the style of the story telling - lots of "if I had known", "that was the last time I saw...." although giving you the feeling that the narrator knows so much more than the reader and is not telling you yet - good suspense!