I came to this book as a fan of Piers Torday. I adored his Last Wild trilogy and then read that he had completed his father's unfinished manuscript. The story (of writing the book) and the story (contained within the book) were too intriguing to ignore. In case you don't know, when Paul Torday died, his family found that the first two-thirds of the book he had been working on but the last act had not been written. Paul Torday had left a short synopsis and some notes and so Piers was asked by his father's publisher if he wanted to try and finish the story. Happily he did and the result is an electrifying and delicious examination of political power, spin and the awkward and difficult alliances that politicians make. A man with ambitions to lead the Conservative party accidentally runs over an owl (a protected species) and lies about it. Unfortunately his political advisor is a man compelled to tell the truth. I loved it and commend it to the house.