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Acts of Omission
In 1998 the gilt is starting to come off a new era.
Mark Lucas, the recently appointed foreign minister, is in a dilemma. A disk containing the names of British informants to the Stasi has ended up in the hands of the government. Elected on a platform of transparency, he faces resistance from the diplomatic service who don't want him to return it to the Germans, despite their entreaties.
Alex Rutherford, a young man working for the intelligence services, wakes up one morning with a hangover and a dawning realisation that his computer is lost and, with it, the only copy of that disk.
When the disk is delivered to the newspaper where journalist Anna Travers works, she finds herself unravelling not just a mystery, but many people's lives . . .
Acts of Omission plunges the reader into a virtuoso recreation of late-nineties Britain. Suspenseful, exquisitely constructed and thought-provokingly topical, it is a novel about what happens when state secrets become public, and the human cost of those secrets.
Mark Lucas, the recently appointed foreign minister, is in a dilemma. A disk containing the names of British informants to the Stasi has ended up in the hands of the government. Elected on a platform of transparency, he faces resistance from the diplomatic service who don't want him to return it to the Germans, despite their entreaties.
Alex Rutherford, a young man working for the intelligence services, wakes up one morning with a hangover and a dawning realisation that his computer is lost and, with it, the only copy of that disk.
When the disk is delivered to the newspaper where journalist Anna Travers works, she finds herself unravelling not just a mystery, but many people's lives . . .
Acts of Omission plunges the reader into a virtuoso recreation of late-nineties Britain. Suspenseful, exquisitely constructed and thought-provokingly topical, it is a novel about what happens when state secrets become public, and the human cost of those secrets.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published July 17, 2014
2 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 29, 2025
around 3.5/5
November 20, 2017
I liked this one. Focusing on our secrets and those of our family, and the effect on politics, it steams along at a decent pace and attempts to ask questions about whether history should be left alone. There are a few places where people don't act in quite the way their natures and roles might dictate (the Foreign Secretary seems to be an unsupported, freewheeling free agent and political naif who has no idea what he is doing - a possibility for a junior minister but not really credible for a holder of one of the three Great Offices of State - and the people from the intelligence agencies seem not to be very good either at keeping or analysing secrets) which makes it three stars rather than four or five. I'm not sure it is quite as profound as it may think it is, but as a political thriller it works.
August 27, 2017
Great book, solid plot, well written and held my interest till the surprising ending. The first part of the book set out all the characters enabling the reader to see exactly where they fitted within the story and the rest was the resolution of the plot. Recommended for spy buffs.
May 28, 2014
Review: 'Acts of Omission' by Terry Stiastny
This debut novel is a firework whose fuse fizzes and crackles quietly for half the story and then explodes at it's midpoint.
If you enjoyed reading Graham Greene's 'The Human Factor', and watching TV's 'The Newsroom', I would recommend this novel.
'Acts of Omission' is one of the first few novels I picked up after a long hiatus from reading fiction (10 years), and it happily brought back the same feelings I got when reading 'The Human Factor' at university.
Like Greene, Terry Stiastny creates an atmosphere of secrets and political intrigue, mixed skilfully together with the personal and family affairs that those same characters must juggle.
Also like Greene, the author has a real-life connection to the world she writes about, which I think gives 'Acts of Omission' a degree of verisimilitude that makes the story even more compelling.
Set primarily in London (and also featuring Berlin), I could really picture in my mind the novel's interesting characters as they navigated the city, thanks to the author's vivid descriptions.
After the midpoint, when the story crosses a threshhold from which there is no going back, the plot begins to dance. And the characters - whose stories we initially follow relatively independently - begin to interact in intriguing ways. It's really well-written and very convincing.
One thing I did wonder was why the novel is set in 1998 - at first it seemed arbitrary. Part of the book's blurb is: 'In 1998 the gilt is starting to come off a new era'. I don't know what 'era' it's referring to - just leaving high school at the time, I still feel too connected to 1998 on a continuum.
This undoubtedly shows ignorance on my part about real world events / political climates. Or maybe this novel is the first one that I've read that crystallises Europe in the 90's as an era in the same way that I imagine 'The 60s' or 'The Victorians'.
But in any case, my questions didn't detract from the the story, which works both in context and as a generally modern tale.
Overall, a really great read. Buy it, read it, love it. I can't wait to see what Terry Stiastny comes up with next.
Acts of Omission
Terry Stiastny
This debut novel is a firework whose fuse fizzes and crackles quietly for half the story and then explodes at it's midpoint.
If you enjoyed reading Graham Greene's 'The Human Factor', and watching TV's 'The Newsroom', I would recommend this novel.
'Acts of Omission' is one of the first few novels I picked up after a long hiatus from reading fiction (10 years), and it happily brought back the same feelings I got when reading 'The Human Factor' at university.
Like Greene, Terry Stiastny creates an atmosphere of secrets and political intrigue, mixed skilfully together with the personal and family affairs that those same characters must juggle.
Also like Greene, the author has a real-life connection to the world she writes about, which I think gives 'Acts of Omission' a degree of verisimilitude that makes the story even more compelling.
Set primarily in London (and also featuring Berlin), I could really picture in my mind the novel's interesting characters as they navigated the city, thanks to the author's vivid descriptions.
After the midpoint, when the story crosses a threshhold from which there is no going back, the plot begins to dance. And the characters - whose stories we initially follow relatively independently - begin to interact in intriguing ways. It's really well-written and very convincing.
One thing I did wonder was why the novel is set in 1998 - at first it seemed arbitrary. Part of the book's blurb is: 'In 1998 the gilt is starting to come off a new era'. I don't know what 'era' it's referring to - just leaving high school at the time, I still feel too connected to 1998 on a continuum.
This undoubtedly shows ignorance on my part about real world events / political climates. Or maybe this novel is the first one that I've read that crystallises Europe in the 90's as an era in the same way that I imagine 'The 60s' or 'The Victorians'.
But in any case, my questions didn't detract from the the story, which works both in context and as a generally modern tale.
Overall, a really great read. Buy it, read it, love it. I can't wait to see what Terry Stiastny comes up with next.
Acts of Omission
Terry Stiastny
February 9, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought it was very well written with well-drawn and believable characters and a thorough and fascinating insight into the world of politics and the media when a "scandal" arises.
The first thing to say is that this isn't really a thriller, so don't expect a fast-paced espionage nail-biter. It is a study of the effects of a security leak (the now familiar "lost disc") and subsequent scandal on those involved. This includes the civil servant who was responsible for the loss, the newly appointed junior minister whose "responsibility" it is, how the press and Government (and some individuals within them) work in such times, and so on. There are a couple of unexpected developments but no Shocking Twists, Conspiracies Which Go Right To The Top or the like. It is just a very believable and - to me, anyway - gripping close-up account of the unfolding of the sort of thing we might read and hear about on the news from time to time.
Terry Stiastny is very well placed to know about all this, having been a distinguished political reporter for the BBC for many years. Ex-journalists don't always make good novelists by any means, but I think Stiasny has produced a very good novel here. She writes readable, unsensational prose and creates very plausible characters whom she views realistically but generally with a refreshingly unjaundiced eye. As a result, I found this as involving as a good many thrillers I have read.
A number of other reviewers have lamented the lack of plot, but for me that's not the point, and I recommend this warmly as an intelligent and engrossing read.
The first thing to say is that this isn't really a thriller, so don't expect a fast-paced espionage nail-biter. It is a study of the effects of a security leak (the now familiar "lost disc") and subsequent scandal on those involved. This includes the civil servant who was responsible for the loss, the newly appointed junior minister whose "responsibility" it is, how the press and Government (and some individuals within them) work in such times, and so on. There are a couple of unexpected developments but no Shocking Twists, Conspiracies Which Go Right To The Top or the like. It is just a very believable and - to me, anyway - gripping close-up account of the unfolding of the sort of thing we might read and hear about on the news from time to time.
Terry Stiastny is very well placed to know about all this, having been a distinguished political reporter for the BBC for many years. Ex-journalists don't always make good novelists by any means, but I think Stiasny has produced a very good novel here. She writes readable, unsensational prose and creates very plausible characters whom she views realistically but generally with a refreshingly unjaundiced eye. As a result, I found this as involving as a good many thrillers I have read.
A number of other reviewers have lamented the lack of plot, but for me that's not the point, and I recommend this warmly as an intelligent and engrossing read.
June 2, 2014
Received this book from First Reads and read at first opportunity.
Finished in under a week (I am a fast reader though) yet it has taken me a week to come up with the words with which to review the book which is very unlike me.
Lets start with the positive (and it is a huge positive) it is a good read. I enjoyed the book in the main and liked the characters. I thought the story was well plotted (ever decreasing circles) and the voices worked for the characters. If you like political intrigue books and “peaks behind the Whitehall curtain I am sure you will enjoy the book.
My problem was whilst I enjoyed the book I didn't love it. I think this was because I didn't truly buy the story and I certainly didn't buy that the London "action" was happening in 1998. I don't know anything about Berlin in 1998 so cant say how realistic that part of the book is but the London 1998 scenes were wrong. They were too modern and worldly wise. I am sure to many this wont be a problem but sometimes it would just jolt me out of the story.
Having said that if this is your type of book then I would encourage you to read it as the writing is good. I look forward to reading more by Terry Stiastny.
I do hope however when the book is published the publishers remove the stupid blurb about the gilt coming off an era - it doesnt fit with the book and is hindsight hype for the sake of hype. Stick with the bye line on the front of the book and the credentials of the author which are a better guide to the story.
Finished in under a week (I am a fast reader though) yet it has taken me a week to come up with the words with which to review the book which is very unlike me.
Lets start with the positive (and it is a huge positive) it is a good read. I enjoyed the book in the main and liked the characters. I thought the story was well plotted (ever decreasing circles) and the voices worked for the characters. If you like political intrigue books and “peaks behind the Whitehall curtain I am sure you will enjoy the book.
My problem was whilst I enjoyed the book I didn't love it. I think this was because I didn't truly buy the story and I certainly didn't buy that the London "action" was happening in 1998. I don't know anything about Berlin in 1998 so cant say how realistic that part of the book is but the London 1998 scenes were wrong. They were too modern and worldly wise. I am sure to many this wont be a problem but sometimes it would just jolt me out of the story.
Having said that if this is your type of book then I would encourage you to read it as the writing is good. I look forward to reading more by Terry Stiastny.
I do hope however when the book is published the publishers remove the stupid blurb about the gilt coming off an era - it doesnt fit with the book and is hindsight hype for the sake of hype. Stick with the bye line on the front of the book and the credentials of the author which are a better guide to the story.
March 2, 2017
The author of this was a political journalist and it shows. It mostly reads like a fly-on-the-wall, documentary account of a particular period of someone's time in government, right down to boring details about a visit an old Embassy in Berlin. That particular section goes on for a few pages and has nothing to do with plot; it's sole purpose is to give background to the political state of affairs in East Berlin at the end of the Cold War and therefore paints a picture. However, it could've been done much more deftly, by weaving the landscape into the paragraphs/chapters.
The whole novel is packed with pages and pages of pointlessness that serves only to describe characters, locations and politics, rather than actually getting on with the story, what little there is of it. It's like the author was using fiction to document a particular period of someone's life in government, and all the people he comes into contact with and the things he does, and then realised she needed an actual story and shoved in some stuff about a missing disc containing a list of Stasi agents. With the exception of the disc going missing in the first few pages and then a few pages clustered together about the person who lost it getting into trouble, the lost/missing disc doesn't make an appearance in the story for about 100 pages.
This could've been an excellent political-cum-spy story, but what it actually is, is a novel of rambling journalistic observations about a political period that shaped nearly half a century.
The whole novel is packed with pages and pages of pointlessness that serves only to describe characters, locations and politics, rather than actually getting on with the story, what little there is of it. It's like the author was using fiction to document a particular period of someone's life in government, and all the people he comes into contact with and the things he does, and then realised she needed an actual story and shoved in some stuff about a missing disc containing a list of Stasi agents. With the exception of the disc going missing in the first few pages and then a few pages clustered together about the person who lost it getting into trouble, the lost/missing disc doesn't make an appearance in the story for about 100 pages.
This could've been an excellent political-cum-spy story, but what it actually is, is a novel of rambling journalistic observations about a political period that shaped nearly half a century.
May 9, 2015
I finished this book just as final results were coming in from the UK general election and senior politicians were resigning, just as they do in Terry Stiastny's first novel. It starts slowly but builds into a plausible drama centred both around Westminster and Berlin, with a nice contrast between modern power-politics and the communist past in Eastern Germany. Stiastny has the experience to write about the inside of the Westminster/Whitehall machinery and we can look forward to more books in this vein: she's made an excellent start.
November 5, 2015
This is a pacy and very enjoyable thriller with well-rounded characters and plenty of heart. I felt for every single one of the protagonists - the ambitious young female journalist, the promising civil servant at the beginning of his career, the politician and his family, the elderly academic who turns out to be so much more than he seems. Their lives collide when a top secret disc goes missing and secrets begin to come out. It is intelligently written and exciting. I loved it.
June 19, 2016
This is a good book. If you were a fan of the TV show Spooks you will certainly like the story. I loved the descriptions of London. It did take a while for the story to get going but once it did it was gripping. The ending could have been stronger. Well worth a read though.
April 16, 2015
A really taut political spy thriller here. The combination of journalism, new labour politics and a nice dash of cold war espionage reminded me of the original State of Play tv series. It's extremely well done and holds together right to the final page.
March 19, 2016
A disk containing sensitive data is mislaid.
I found the story slim and the characters / plot were flat / didn't grab me – it read like a long newspaper article.
Real rating 2.5
I found the story slim and the characters / plot were flat / didn't grab me – it read like a long newspaper article.
Real rating 2.5
December 10, 2014
Review to follow.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews