Fox

by Anthony Gardner

A virulent disease carried by foxes is spreading across Europe. In London an urgent cull is underway, led by Frank Smith, the young master of the Hyde Park Hunt. But for Britain’s paranoid Prime Minister, fox flu is a chance to foist the ultimate in surveillance technology on an unsuspecting population: the Mulberry Tree system, secretly bought from the Chinese.

When biochemist Christophe Hardy discovers the conspiracy, he finds himself caught up in a chase which starts in Beijing and ends in Northumbria, involving animal-rights activists, a beautiful female missionary, high-society Chinese assassins, and the world’s most innovative catering venture, the Pu Dong Pudding Company.

Fox is a highly topical satire on the surveillance society and British-Chinese relations. It will make you laugh, make you cry, make you think.

313 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2016

About the author

Anthony Gardner spent his early life between in England and Ireland, but has lived in London for most of his adult life. As soon as he started reading books, he wanted to write them - but, realising that this would be a difficult way to earn a living, he embarked on a career in journalism, with his weekends set aside for what he regarded as his real writing. As a magazine journalist he has been deputy editor of Harpers & Queen and editor of the Royal Society of Literature Review, and has written for the Sunday Times Magazine, the Irish Times Magazine and Architectural Digest among many others. His first novel, The Rivers of Heaven, was partly inspired by Wordsworth's Immortality Ode, and involves a newborn child remembering its existence before it arrived on earth. His second, Fox, is very different - a fast-moving satirical thriller about the surveillance society involving unscrupulous politicians and urban foxes

Reviews

[Simon Gosden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whimsical thriller and not really my cup of tea. It's a bit like reading P G Wodehouse writing The 39 Steps. It's light and fluffy but the whole thing doesn't stir the blood. The plot is ludicrous and the characters are fairly one dimensional. I finished it though.

[Steven Pemberton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but it doesn't quite know whether it wants to be farcical or serious. A sign of the times we live in is that the thing that seems most implausible is the British Prime Minister resigning over his part in the scandal.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting, but an interesting, funny and tightly-plotted read.

[Derek Winterburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fox is an fast-paced novel with some imaginative and satirical ideas. There's a bewildering range of strong characters - their paths gradually converge in the course of the story.

I was initially interesting interested in the premise that the UK government to win a contract with the Chinese government would undertake to strong arm the C of E by threatening the Archbishop of Canterbury with 'Health and Safety' measures. However this element of the plot falls away as the narrative moves on. Still the chief protagonist, Christophe Hardy is both a scientist and a Christian keen to support the persecuted church in China. At various moments the challenges and comforts of his faith are reflected upon.

The second part of the book does degenerate into a wild chase across the country (reminiscent of the The 39 Steps) and while a good storyline for a film let down the creativity of the first half. I was puzzled why the author felt that every main character had to couple up in a sexual relationship before the final page.

In the end a good read with some wry humour, with a slice of Christian interest.