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À l’enterrement de David Eyam, les cloches sonnent à toute volée et non doucement, comme il sied pour les morts. Kate Lockhart, une ancienne du SIS, y assiste avec des grands patrons, des ministres et des chefs de l’espionnage pour pleurer la mort de son meilleur ami, le plus brillant serviteur du gouvernement britannique de sa génération. De Eyam ne subsistent que les restes calcinés d’un homme tué loin de chez lui lors d’une explosion. Mais il laisse derrière lui des questions qu’un certain nombre de personnes haut placées aimeraient oublier.
Car c’est bien de complot qu’il s’agit. Un complot qui s’est mis en place sans difficulté tant les lois prises en Angleterre après les attentats de septembre 2001 et de juillet 2005 étaient potentiellement liberticides. Kate Lockhart le découvre vite et, avec l’aide de mystérieux carillonneurs, met tout en œuvre pour empêcher que la Grande-Bretagne ne sombre dans un univers auquel George Orwell n’aurait rien trouvé à redire.
Car c’est bien de complot qu’il s’agit. Un complot qui s’est mis en place sans difficulté tant les lois prises en Angleterre après les attentats de septembre 2001 et de juillet 2005 étaient potentiellement liberticides. Kate Lockhart le découvre vite et, avec l’aide de mystérieux carillonneurs, met tout en œuvre pour empêcher que la Grande-Bretagne ne sombre dans un univers auquel George Orwell n’aurait rien trouvé à redire.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
53 people are currently reading
477 people want to read
About the author
Henry Porter
51 books245 followersHenry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He contributes commentary and reportage to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of Vanity Fair, and lives in London with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
December 8, 2025
England, the near future. Things seem like they are largely unchanged, people going on about their lives, the press is feisty, there's a threat of terrorism in the air, and the prime minister is leaning into announcing a general election.
But things aren't what they appear.
Because beneath the surface, behind the scenes and the backs of the citizens, the prime minister alongside a intelligent yet ruthless international businessman are working on creating the most vast, sophisticated, intrusive surveillance system ever to be conceived: cameras with license plate recognition software record every car’s movements; a sophisticated top-secret data-mining system known as Deep Truth combs through personal records and identifies petty criminals as well as those disposed to “antigovernment” beliefs. The excuse is the rise of terrorism, but they plan to use this system, called DEEP TRUTH to control everyone's lives, essentially taking everyone's freedoms away, and turning democracy into a cold, frightening Orwellian surveillance state.
But they didn't count on David Eyam. He suffered a fall from grace, seemingly died in a terrorist attack, just as the government was about to frame him in a horrible conspiracy to darken his character. But he left behind him a plan- one that involves his former lover and best friend, a lawyer who works in New-York, now the heir of his estate. A plan, dangerous and impossible, but if successful it will offer the citizens a glimmer of hope of rescuing themselves from a nightmare conceived by a madman with deadly ambitions of seizing complete control and power.
The novel was published in 2009 (and it has a lot in common with two amazing works, "1984" and the "Fourth Realm" trilogy), but the things the novel portrays isn't far at all from we're living now. It's actually very scary how things have progressed and become even worse.
But what makes this novel work is not only the tight plotting and absorbing, gripping narrative, but the fact that it's centered on its characters. It's a very character driven story that pushes the plot forward.
But don't expect a fast-pace action thriller. "The Dying Light" (AKA "The Bell Ringers") is a slow-burner. It's stars slow, building the world and characters, immersing you in a world that feels and behaves as if its on the brink of falling into something frightening. Then, slowly but very surely, page by page, you're plunge into the main plot and the all the puzzle pieces are starting to come together brilliantly. It's also a very cerebral novel, as it relies less on action and more on dialogues, thinking, urging the characters to think their way our of the tight corner they find themselves in.
The only thing that prevented me from giving this a 5 star rating instead of 4 is the pace. It can be very uneven at times. There are times when the plot really flies, then suddenly we're crawling, then we're flying again, then we're crawling... It can be a bit annoying and disorienting at times, because you want to move forward. But I also, at the same time, understand why the author chose to slow down at those particular moment, to allow the reader to understand the complexities and grasp them fully. But still, I wonder if there wasn't a better way to do it then pushing hard on the accelerator and then pushing hard on the breaks.
But, all in all, it's just a small problem that doesn't really interfere with the enjoyment of the novel and doesn't take away from the novel its intelligence, brilliant writing and well-fleshed, three-dimensional characters... And, much like "1984" and "The Fourth Realm", it's also a warning... A warning we seem to keep ignoring...
4 stars.
Highly recommended political/spy/somewhat-of-a-futuristic thriller. It was a pleasant surprise, and I definitely will check more from this author in the future.
But things aren't what they appear.
Because beneath the surface, behind the scenes and the backs of the citizens, the prime minister alongside a intelligent yet ruthless international businessman are working on creating the most vast, sophisticated, intrusive surveillance system ever to be conceived: cameras with license plate recognition software record every car’s movements; a sophisticated top-secret data-mining system known as Deep Truth combs through personal records and identifies petty criminals as well as those disposed to “antigovernment” beliefs. The excuse is the rise of terrorism, but they plan to use this system, called DEEP TRUTH to control everyone's lives, essentially taking everyone's freedoms away, and turning democracy into a cold, frightening Orwellian surveillance state.
But they didn't count on David Eyam. He suffered a fall from grace, seemingly died in a terrorist attack, just as the government was about to frame him in a horrible conspiracy to darken his character. But he left behind him a plan- one that involves his former lover and best friend, a lawyer who works in New-York, now the heir of his estate. A plan, dangerous and impossible, but if successful it will offer the citizens a glimmer of hope of rescuing themselves from a nightmare conceived by a madman with deadly ambitions of seizing complete control and power.
The novel was published in 2009 (and it has a lot in common with two amazing works, "1984" and the "Fourth Realm" trilogy), but the things the novel portrays isn't far at all from we're living now. It's actually very scary how things have progressed and become even worse.
But what makes this novel work is not only the tight plotting and absorbing, gripping narrative, but the fact that it's centered on its characters. It's a very character driven story that pushes the plot forward.
But don't expect a fast-pace action thriller. "The Dying Light" (AKA "The Bell Ringers") is a slow-burner. It's stars slow, building the world and characters, immersing you in a world that feels and behaves as if its on the brink of falling into something frightening. Then, slowly but very surely, page by page, you're plunge into the main plot and the all the puzzle pieces are starting to come together brilliantly. It's also a very cerebral novel, as it relies less on action and more on dialogues, thinking, urging the characters to think their way our of the tight corner they find themselves in.
The only thing that prevented me from giving this a 5 star rating instead of 4 is the pace. It can be very uneven at times. There are times when the plot really flies, then suddenly we're crawling, then we're flying again, then we're crawling... It can be a bit annoying and disorienting at times, because you want to move forward. But I also, at the same time, understand why the author chose to slow down at those particular moment, to allow the reader to understand the complexities and grasp them fully. But still, I wonder if there wasn't a better way to do it then pushing hard on the accelerator and then pushing hard on the breaks.
But, all in all, it's just a small problem that doesn't really interfere with the enjoyment of the novel and doesn't take away from the novel its intelligence, brilliant writing and well-fleshed, three-dimensional characters... And, much like "1984" and "The Fourth Realm", it's also a warning... A warning we seem to keep ignoring...
4 stars.
Highly recommended political/spy/somewhat-of-a-futuristic thriller. It was a pleasant surprise, and I definitely will check more from this author in the future.
March 15, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in October 2010.
Henry Porter's fifth novel is intended, so the author tells us in the afterword, to fulfil three purposes. It is obviously a thriller readable as a standalone story, but is additionally intended as a contrast to his previous novel Brandenburg and as something of a political call to arms. It is set in a near future Britain, where high-powered lawyer (and former spy) Kate Lockhart returns to the country after several years working in the States for college friend David Eyam's funeral. Eyam, was a civil servant involved in security at the highest levels, but he resigned and hid himself in a tiny town on the Welsh borders before making a sudden trip to South America to be killed in a terrorist bomb attack. Kate is told that she is Eyam's heir, completely unexpectedly; and when Eyam's lawyer is killed by a sniper driving down an English country lane and she discovers that child pornography has been planted on Eyam's computer to discredit him, she realises that she has inherited not just his possessions but a dangerous secret worth many deaths to those who wish to keep it hidden.
From this point on, The Dying Light is a political thriller with a conspiracy theory at its centre, set in a dystopian Britain in which every move is watched by the authorities. The development of the systems which allow this and the accompanying erosion of civil liberties are Porter's main concern.He mentions the way in that events he was describing as he wrote the novel turned out to be true as he was writing, not a comforting prospect for someone writing a dystopia. Most of Porter's work has made me think him the natural heir to Len Deighton; but the campaigning nature of The Dying Light is more akin to John le Carré's recent novels, such as A Most Wanted Man. The agenda may be different, but a similar sense of outrage comes through. The comparisons to le Carré and Deighton are not just thematic, too. Porter is one of the best thriller writers to emerge in the last decade.
The theme is personal freedom, and the way in which the British public have allowed their politicians to whittle away at personal rights to an unprecedented degree: the United Kingdom is now the most heavily surveiled nation in the world, so that our rulers know more about what we do (theoretically) than those of North Korea or China. As with the curtailment of liberty elsewhere in the Western world, the excuse used is the fight against terrorism, which is at first sight a reasonable idea but is less so when the possibility of emergency powers being abused (as has happened on a small scale with local councils using anti-terrorism powers to track down benefit fraud) or when it fails to halt attacks. The inquests into the deaths of those killed in the 7/7 bomb attack on the London underground are happening as I type: clearly the new powers and surveillance, almost all in place in 2005, were unable to save these lives. The bombers were identified on CCTV footage, but only after the attack itself took place. At the same time, the Guardian has reported that counter-terrorism would be kept safe from the government's massive programme of cuts: the UK will still be spending billions on surveillance of its citizens. (Most of the links in this post come from the Guardian not because of its political leanings, but because of its interest in civil liberties beyond that of much of the UK press.)
One legislative move which particularly concerns Porter is the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (official description / critical assessment).This gives wide ranging powers over a thirty day period to the government in the event of a disaster (natural or otherwise), removing the right to assembly, allowing movement to be restricted to and from "sealed areas" and mobilising the armed services. It didn't originally define the emergencies in which it could be used very stringently, leading to accusations that events dealt with by the emergency services as part of their normal working would be possible triggers for the act; this has since been amended. It still doesn't provide any sanction for misuse (if the "emergency" turns out not to be one). It has been described as making it possible that "at a stroke democracy could be replaced by totalitarianism".
I have gone into detail about this partly because, as Porter points out, it is important and yet ignored by those it affects. I was already aware of the surveillance, but had never heard of the Civil Contingencies Act: this is a novel which made me want to write to my MP.
The relationship with Brandenburg is that the earlier novel is about the fall of the Soviet bloc communism, so is about the gaining of rights, while The Dying Light is about the extinction of rights. To me, the title and theme suggest Dylan Thomas' famous lines (about death):
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
To give away our rights without protest is to gently acquiesce in the dying of the light of our civilisation.
Henry Porter's fifth novel is intended, so the author tells us in the afterword, to fulfil three purposes. It is obviously a thriller readable as a standalone story, but is additionally intended as a contrast to his previous novel Brandenburg and as something of a political call to arms. It is set in a near future Britain, where high-powered lawyer (and former spy) Kate Lockhart returns to the country after several years working in the States for college friend David Eyam's funeral. Eyam, was a civil servant involved in security at the highest levels, but he resigned and hid himself in a tiny town on the Welsh borders before making a sudden trip to South America to be killed in a terrorist bomb attack. Kate is told that she is Eyam's heir, completely unexpectedly; and when Eyam's lawyer is killed by a sniper driving down an English country lane and she discovers that child pornography has been planted on Eyam's computer to discredit him, she realises that she has inherited not just his possessions but a dangerous secret worth many deaths to those who wish to keep it hidden.
From this point on, The Dying Light is a political thriller with a conspiracy theory at its centre, set in a dystopian Britain in which every move is watched by the authorities. The development of the systems which allow this and the accompanying erosion of civil liberties are Porter's main concern.He mentions the way in that events he was describing as he wrote the novel turned out to be true as he was writing, not a comforting prospect for someone writing a dystopia. Most of Porter's work has made me think him the natural heir to Len Deighton; but the campaigning nature of The Dying Light is more akin to John le Carré's recent novels, such as A Most Wanted Man. The agenda may be different, but a similar sense of outrage comes through. The comparisons to le Carré and Deighton are not just thematic, too. Porter is one of the best thriller writers to emerge in the last decade.
The theme is personal freedom, and the way in which the British public have allowed their politicians to whittle away at personal rights to an unprecedented degree: the United Kingdom is now the most heavily surveiled nation in the world, so that our rulers know more about what we do (theoretically) than those of North Korea or China. As with the curtailment of liberty elsewhere in the Western world, the excuse used is the fight against terrorism, which is at first sight a reasonable idea but is less so when the possibility of emergency powers being abused (as has happened on a small scale with local councils using anti-terrorism powers to track down benefit fraud) or when it fails to halt attacks. The inquests into the deaths of those killed in the 7/7 bomb attack on the London underground are happening as I type: clearly the new powers and surveillance, almost all in place in 2005, were unable to save these lives. The bombers were identified on CCTV footage, but only after the attack itself took place. At the same time, the Guardian has reported that counter-terrorism would be kept safe from the government's massive programme of cuts: the UK will still be spending billions on surveillance of its citizens. (Most of the links in this post come from the Guardian not because of its political leanings, but because of its interest in civil liberties beyond that of much of the UK press.)
One legislative move which particularly concerns Porter is the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (official description / critical assessment).This gives wide ranging powers over a thirty day period to the government in the event of a disaster (natural or otherwise), removing the right to assembly, allowing movement to be restricted to and from "sealed areas" and mobilising the armed services. It didn't originally define the emergencies in which it could be used very stringently, leading to accusations that events dealt with by the emergency services as part of their normal working would be possible triggers for the act; this has since been amended. It still doesn't provide any sanction for misuse (if the "emergency" turns out not to be one). It has been described as making it possible that "at a stroke democracy could be replaced by totalitarianism".
I have gone into detail about this partly because, as Porter points out, it is important and yet ignored by those it affects. I was already aware of the surveillance, but had never heard of the Civil Contingencies Act: this is a novel which made me want to write to my MP.
The relationship with Brandenburg is that the earlier novel is about the fall of the Soviet bloc communism, so is about the gaining of rights, while The Dying Light is about the extinction of rights. To me, the title and theme suggest Dylan Thomas' famous lines (about death):
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
To give away our rights without protest is to gently acquiesce in the dying of the light of our civilisation.
June 19, 2018
A very disturbing political thriller which describes a bid to introduce an unprecedented level of state surveillance of the British people. An unscrupulous Prime Minister, funded by a decidedly shady businessman, has increased the level of electronic surveillance of the population by having secret software programs installed in all Government department computers. All this has been carried out without the knowledge of the country's Parliament. But, as we know, computers can get things wrong.
There follows a somewhat labyrinthine tale which mixes political chicanery, violence and murder with descriptions of how, in reality, Britain is gradually losing long-held freedoms. For example, it is a fact that the UK has 1% of the world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras. But, the author suggests that, far from panicking about this and other restrictions on freedom of movement, people have welcomed these changes, believing their Government's sole reason for them is to prevent increased criminality and terrorism.
As citizens' rights are gradually whittled away, a group of activists, known as "The Bell Ringers" join forces with a disgraced former member of the intelligence service and an American lawyer to bring this scary secret plot to the attention of politicians. Others within and without the corridors of power must choose sides. But who to trust? In this story, no one is as they seem.
Whether they are successful or not is overshadowed by the author's determination to show that, despite this book being fiction, at its heart are facts which should concern everyone who doesn't wish their country to become a police state.
There follows a somewhat labyrinthine tale which mixes political chicanery, violence and murder with descriptions of how, in reality, Britain is gradually losing long-held freedoms. For example, it is a fact that the UK has 1% of the world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras. But, the author suggests that, far from panicking about this and other restrictions on freedom of movement, people have welcomed these changes, believing their Government's sole reason for them is to prevent increased criminality and terrorism.
As citizens' rights are gradually whittled away, a group of activists, known as "The Bell Ringers" join forces with a disgraced former member of the intelligence service and an American lawyer to bring this scary secret plot to the attention of politicians. Others within and without the corridors of power must choose sides. But who to trust? In this story, no one is as they seem.
Whether they are successful or not is overshadowed by the author's determination to show that, despite this book being fiction, at its heart are facts which should concern everyone who doesn't wish their country to become a police state.
June 24, 2020
In the near future Kate Lockhart, British born New Yorker lawyer, returns to the UK to attend the funeral of a former friend who dies in a bomb attack. She finds herself the heir to much of his fortune and begins to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death, an investigation that leads to her becoming a person of interest by the shadowy figures behind Britain's all encompassing surveillance operations.
Took me a while to read, but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. At its heart it is a fairly standard mystery novel, but with the addition of a Britain that is now managed by a government who is fairly all knowing (think modern day China-level surveillance and tracking), it becomes very interesting.
Took me a while to read, but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. At its heart it is a fairly standard mystery novel, but with the addition of a Britain that is now managed by a government who is fairly all knowing (think modern day China-level surveillance and tracking), it becomes very interesting.
December 15, 2010
"He killed himself, you know, and that leaves the average emotionally retarded Brit rather stuck for things to chat about at a funeral."
This book didn't grip me from the outset, rather it wormed its way into my thoughts at odd times. There's something quintessentially British about it - something of Le Carréor Deighton, and that compels me to carry on reading it without any of the clinging nature or dashing, headlong pace of a work by an American. the story is powerful and worryingly so and like all good stories it makes you think.
This book didn't grip me from the outset, rather it wormed its way into my thoughts at odd times. There's something quintessentially British about it - something of Le Carréor Deighton, and that compels me to carry on reading it without any of the clinging nature or dashing, headlong pace of a work by an American. the story is powerful and worryingly so and like all good stories it makes you think.
August 23, 2025
I didn't enjoy this book. It is a political thriller which is not my favourite genre but it is sometimes good to try something you wouldn't normally read. It was a mistake this time!! However the ultimate message of the book is quite chilling and definitely gives the reader something to think about.
Read
July 29, 2011Kate Lockhart attends the coroner's inquiry into the death of her former lover and close friend David Eyam, which includes video footage of the explosion in Colombia that caused his death. Eyam, a former head of intelligence in the prime minister's goverment had mysteriously fallen from grace and left England amidst a burgeoning scandal. What follows is Lockhart's quest to solve the mystery of Eyam's death and clear his name. It is also a metticulously detailed tale of high powered government figures manipulating and commandeering a democracy. Though Porter's characterizations are not fullbodied, is plot line is. The intrigue quietly builds throughout the novel and by the last one hundred pages, one is so thoroughly engaged and the reader finds the book unputdownable. The overreaching of government surveillance is one of the predominant themes explored in the novel as Lockhard discovers an electronic system that pervades and mistaken exploits innocent people and their voice mail, email and electronic financial transactions. An absorbing read throughout though not at breakneck speeds that can typically cause confusion in trying to figure out entangling intrigues in this genre of espionage or espionage-like fictions.
August 2, 2013
This is one fantastic political thriller! It is as timely as today's news. It is about the growth of the "surveillance state" that has come to characterize western democracies in the past twenty years or so. From tracking cars with license plate scanners, to hacking personal e-mails, to identity theft, to CCTV in our cities, in our subways, at traffic intersections, in shopping malls to digital health records, municipal and national governments know a lot about us, and can easily learn more. This book takes these facts of modern life and asks what if a government in the name of national security were to use advanced data collection software to spy on its own citizens and use that information...but wait, isn't that what the Edward Snowden revelations are all about? This book is set in Great Britain where these techniques have already been in place and the prime minister is about to take the final steps to insure absolute control. Can he be stopped? Read it and find out. This well written and carefully plotted novel will definitely make you think twice before you give any information to anyone in any format.
February 8, 2010
Porter's "The Bell Ringers" first appeared in Great Britain as "The Dying Light." His earlier "Brandenburg Gate" ended with the people of East Berlin streaming into the light (both literal and figurative) of West Berlin with the opening of the wall. This novel examines a turn toward darkness by a British government intent on strengthening the control of the state at the expense of traditional civil liberties. The mechanism used by that government is a combination of wholesale data mining and behavioral prediction based on a growing intrusive knowledge of all aspects of people's lives. The 'bell ringers" of the American edition's title are a nonviolent resistance group dedicated to preventing the governmental actions. The book is very well written, its characters are compelling (even ones caught in the middle), its pace is suspenseful, and its stakes are enormous. (Read it along with Jonathan Raban's "Surveillance' for a double literary jolt of true danger.)
December 2, 2012
An excellent book by an author who never fails to please. I simply couldn't put it down and finished it in one day. It was an amazing read!
The concept of citizens trading freedom for safety is not restricted to Great Britain. It frequently seems as if this disease has infected the entire Western World... although here in Canada we seem to have been spared the worst of these excesses, there is no question that we heading in that direction.
As a political science teacher I just wish I had the budget to order a class set of this novel because I would love to make it a part of my curriculum.
The concept of citizens trading freedom for safety is not restricted to Great Britain. It frequently seems as if this disease has infected the entire Western World... although here in Canada we seem to have been spared the worst of these excesses, there is no question that we heading in that direction.
As a political science teacher I just wish I had the budget to order a class set of this novel because I would love to make it a part of my curriculum.
March 11, 2010
Published in the UK as Dying Light inAugust 2009.
An engrossing and thoughtful tale set in England of the near future. How much freedom will individuals surrender to the state to "feel safe, have food on the table and watch TV?" A political thriller of the highest order. By the author of Brandenburg Gate (2006).
Loved this and highly recommend it.
An engrossing and thoughtful tale set in England of the near future. How much freedom will individuals surrender to the state to "feel safe, have food on the table and watch TV?" A political thriller of the highest order. By the author of Brandenburg Gate (2006).
Loved this and highly recommend it.
Want to read
August 13, 2009I just read a review of this book that makes it sound like a 21st Century update to 1984, with more account of how the road to tyranny is paved with good intentions, and perhaps some redeeming cracks in the dystopia.
http://www.economist.com/books/displa...
http://www.economist.com/books/displa...
November 22, 2010
A good book for a long plane ride. Interesting characters, and a ripping plot that grabs you and keeps your attention throughout. If you aren't already worried about the expanded powers of surveillance many governments have establihsed in the past few years, you will be after reading this.
July 6, 2013
In this age of technology I think this book should be on everyone's reading list.
This book is a detailed modern version of 1984. I found it enlightening that the laws. are in place in the UK
This book is a detailed modern version of 1984. I found it enlightening that the laws. are in place in the UK
Read
December 15, 2010Gave up on this one, hate to admit it. Just couldn't muster up enough interest in the story.
January 4, 2015
Amazing and frightening
March 23, 2017
A must read!
April 7, 2018
Read it under the title “the dying light”
Didn’t like it as much as his other books
Didn’t like it as much as his other books
May 24, 2014
Brilliant, must-read!
May 19, 2022
It is believed that Henry Porter had Tony Blair (and his 2004 Civil Contingency Act) in mind when he wrote The Bell Ringers, aka The Dying Light. Imagine what would have come out of his pen had he written his book under Boris Johnson's (and Donald Trump's) tenure...
Most reviews focus on the Orwellian-Big Brother-Total Surveillance aspect of the book; I think this is just a manifestation of the root problem but not the problem itself. In my view, the key notion the book refers to is that of "elected dictatorship"; not that this is a new one (we find it already among the ancient Greeks and Romans up to Hitler), but it's still very a contemporary and relevant one. It is in fact a consensus viewpoint among the demagogue populists of our days that being elected gives you the right to act with total discretionality, as if it was a holy ointment. Actually, being elected is, in the genuine liberal democracies, only the first step - necessary but not sufficient - for the exercise of power. After that, many other elements come in play: separation of powers, system of checks and balances, good governance, starting from some basic decency principles such as "no one is above the law".
The risk and the consequences of reducing the exercise of democracy to just the election moment is what this book illustrates quite effecively.
I think this is the main merit of the book, above and beyond its literary qualities and flaws.
Most reviews focus on the Orwellian-Big Brother-Total Surveillance aspect of the book; I think this is just a manifestation of the root problem but not the problem itself. In my view, the key notion the book refers to is that of "elected dictatorship"; not that this is a new one (we find it already among the ancient Greeks and Romans up to Hitler), but it's still very a contemporary and relevant one. It is in fact a consensus viewpoint among the demagogue populists of our days that being elected gives you the right to act with total discretionality, as if it was a holy ointment. Actually, being elected is, in the genuine liberal democracies, only the first step - necessary but not sufficient - for the exercise of power. After that, many other elements come in play: separation of powers, system of checks and balances, good governance, starting from some basic decency principles such as "no one is above the law".
The risk and the consequences of reducing the exercise of democracy to just the election moment is what this book illustrates quite effecively.
I think this is the main merit of the book, above and beyond its literary qualities and flaws.
February 2, 2020
Henry Porter writes thrillers. In The Dying Light he tells the story through the eyes of Kate Lockhart, a character he says (in the bookclub notes at the end) based on a woman he saw in an airline terminal. She is smart, successful, and good looking and she was in love with David Eyam, who has been killed in a blast at a Columbian restaurant. But when Kate looks at the film of the blast she begins to ask questions. In addition, Eyam has bequeathed to her nearly all of his possessions and money. The problem with this thriller is that it's much too long. It could have been 200 pages less! 200 pages! Because as it is it is over 500 pages. Needless to say I scanned that last 200 paqes and personally don't feel I missed anything. I will read other books by Henry Porter but hopefully none of them are this long.
September 14, 2022
Despite an entertaining plot, what makes ‘The Dying Light’ memorable is its casual racism.
Right from the start (page 5) we are punched with, ‘a beautiful mulatto couple’.
What makes this particularly revolting, is that it is just a component of a general scene; the only purpose in using such an offensive and archaic term seems to be a desire to echo colonial writers of the past.
Another red flag is the use of ‘aquiline nose’ as a physical description, not only was this phrase exhausted and redundant many decades ago, it gives off the stench of phrenology and eugenics.
On page 147, the main character says: “and the photograph? I look retarded”
And this book is lauded with praise?! More like ‘Midsomer Murders’ than Le Carré.
There are no excuses for feebly copying mannerisms that were repulsive in the last century and publishing them in this one.
The fact that the racist attitude in this book has not been called out is disturbing.
September 26, 2021
An interesting spy novel, which became a bit distressing when reading the afterword and discovering that a lot of it is actually based on the current situation in the UK. The privacy debate is not new, but I feel like it often focuses on social media and Big Data from Google etc, whereas this book is more about the government infringement upon privacy.
The story was a little convoluted at times, but pretty compelling nonetheless. Which was good, because usually I connect more to characters, but I found that quite difficult here. None of the characters are particularly likeable or unlikeable, they're described very matter-of-factly and without much emotion. So for me, the story line saved the book.
Read for the book club.
The story was a little convoluted at times, but pretty compelling nonetheless. Which was good, because usually I connect more to characters, but I found that quite difficult here. None of the characters are particularly likeable or unlikeable, they're described very matter-of-factly and without much emotion. So for me, the story line saved the book.
Read for the book club.
February 8, 2020
A rather sluggishly paced political thriller build around demystification of all-knowing citizens monitoring system put in place by corrupt government without Parliament consent (spoiler, yes, media and Parliament comission are going to save us all). Narrative is rather irritating leaving almost nothing to imagination, Englishness rings strong, neither is there unexpected plot twist, nor character facing dramatic choices, allowing them to develop a bit etc. The only thing that works here is the plot itself and like a junkie I really wanted to see the story to the (not so) grand finale.
Perfect for a long flight, rainy day in 2nd class holiday destination, otherwise safe to skip or skim.
Perfect for a long flight, rainy day in 2nd class holiday destination, otherwise safe to skip or skim.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2024
This is a novel. In fact it is a very well written thriller. It is wide ranging in its scope and almost Orwellian in its content. All well and good until you reach the end and read the author's afternote. Therein you will find that the subject of the book is frightening . Why? Because the subject is alive today in what purports itself to be the most democratic of countries. The very things written about are actually official today. I will not go into detail as that would give away the plot of the book but suffice to say it could equally have been a fiction-based-on-fact treatise rather than just a novel. My recommendation is "Read it!"
July 29, 2025
In near future Britain, the PM and his sycophants, funded by a wealthy American businessman, introduce a computer system that can track virtually everything each citizen engages in. Installed under the guise of tracking terrorists, its real purpose is altogether quite a bit darker. A former intelligence officer who helped develop the program can foresee the end game here and tries to put an end to it before the PM can be re-elected. A bit of a sluggish build-up to the book, but it concludes with some well-earned zest. Another decent reminder of our threatened privacy at the hands of politicians and rich ass holes who think they know better than us.
December 1, 2019
An absorbing and quite distressing novel - set in the near future when Britain has become a surveillance state and about to become even more so, with legislation currently in place being used to destroy democratic opposition to an increasingly unscrupulous and amoral/immoral government. This was written ten years ago, and maybe we're well on the way to becoming this kind of society. Quite disturbing to read in our present political climate. Sometimes a bit wordy however, and personally I find the ending unlikely.
March 24, 2019
A good read that rattles along and persuades the reader to hang on until the end, but the plot stretches one's credulity. Having given evidence to parliamentary committees, I find it difficult to believe that one could play the key role in tackling a crisis in which the UK is on the brink of dictatorship. I also wondered about the author's command of facts, given that he thinks Colombia is in Central America!
April 15, 2019
Great Read
I read this book thinking what a far fetched idea that any government of our democracy would do this.
When I read the Afterword I knew I was wrong and that there has been a slow creeping of government interference in our lives.
How can there be a public outcry when we did not know!!
I read this book thinking what a far fetched idea that any government of our democracy would do this.
When I read the Afterword I knew I was wrong and that there has been a slow creeping of government interference in our lives.
How can there be a public outcry when we did not know!!
July 21, 2021
Excellent read. Written in 2005 with an afterword dated 2009. Now twelve years on the actions of the government in the book seem remarkably familiar to the clamp down on civil liberties and the surveillance culture this country has seen increasing year by year since the unadulterated piece of dog's excrement known as Blair was lying and cheating his way through his period as Prime Minister.
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