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The Knives
'The knives are out for you, always. But that is the mission you accepted, David. So you have to face the knives, with fortitude. Just as we ask of the great British public...'
As Home Secretary in Her Majesty's Government, David Blaylock's daily work involves the control of Britain's borders, the oversight of her police force, and the struggle against domestic terror threats. Some say the job is impossible; Blaylock insists he is tough enough. But around Westminster the gossip-mongers say his fiery temper is a liability.
An ex-soldier from a modest background, Blaylock has a life-story that the public respects. Privately, though, he carries pain and remorse - over some grievous things he saw in the army, and his estrangement from an ex-wife and three children for whom he still cares. A solitary figure in a high-pressure world, with no place to call home, Blaylock is never sure whom he can trust or whether his decisions are the right ones. Constantly in his mind is the danger of an attack on Britain's streets. But over the course of one fraught autumn Blaylock finds that danger moving menacingly closer to his own person.
As Home Secretary in Her Majesty's Government, David Blaylock's daily work involves the control of Britain's borders, the oversight of her police force, and the struggle against domestic terror threats. Some say the job is impossible; Blaylock insists he is tough enough. But around Westminster the gossip-mongers say his fiery temper is a liability.
An ex-soldier from a modest background, Blaylock has a life-story that the public respects. Privately, though, he carries pain and remorse - over some grievous things he saw in the army, and his estrangement from an ex-wife and three children for whom he still cares. A solitary figure in a high-pressure world, with no place to call home, Blaylock is never sure whom he can trust or whether his decisions are the right ones. Constantly in his mind is the danger of an attack on Britain's streets. But over the course of one fraught autumn Blaylock finds that danger moving menacingly closer to his own person.
496 pages, Paperback
First published April 8, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 4, 2019
[3.5]
Most stories about politics and politicians fall into one of three categories: The corrupt evil genius manipulator (see for example, Francis Urquhart); the comic buffoon (television is ahead here, in particular, The Thick of It; and lastly, the Mary Sue brave defender of the people out to rid the world of the first two categories of politician.
The Knives is, in a way, something more interesting than that: it's a reasonably convincing stab at a depiction of what life as a senior Minister in government is actually like, and the kind of person who one actually finds in such roles: neither the superhero with the cape, the clown nor the knave. We are introduced to David Blaylock as an officer encountering an ugly incident during that small, ugly war in the Balkans in the mid-1990s, something I remember being on the news throughout my teenage years, but which has since been almost entirely overshadowed by Afghanistan, Iraq et cetera.
The story proper gets going some twenty-odd years later and Blaylock is a Conservative Home Secretary in a Government that is not David Cameron's 2015 administration, but equally appears not a million miles removed from it. Blaylock is not obviously based on any single individual, but equally, it's possible to see echoes of a number of different real-life characters in him if one is inclined to do so.
Much of the book is taken up with an account of the day-to-day life of someone in high political office, and as someone who has worked on the other side of the fence, as it were, in criminal justice policy for Ministers of three different political stripes over the last fifteen years, I thought the description of the kind of dilemmas and issues that a Minister faces was remarkably accurate. Not just the issues themselves: a terror attack, a person appealing a decision to deport her back to the country from which she was seeking political asylum, issues around the roll-out, or not, of ID cards, applications to sign warrants under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (actually, I can't remember if they referred to the Act in the book), an appearance on Question Time and various visits to community projects in the aid of a counter-extremism strategy – but the way that a Minister is forced constantly to jump from one decision or engagement to the next without any chance to reflect or think about the bigger picture. The decisions he makes, and the reasoning behind them seems like a plausible account of how a centre-right politician of a certain kind might see the world, as opposed to what I so often see which is a kind of left-wing caricature of what drives such people. He's neither a hero nor a villain, but a politician.
I thought that the sub-plot involving Blaylock's relationship with his ex-wife, a prominent human rights lawyer and sort-of politcal opponent was mostly well-judged too and as well as going some way to illustrate Blaylock's character flaws, does a good job of showing how the intensity of political office must be hard to balance with anything resembling a normal home life, even if one leaves to one side the sheer strangeness of having a security detail constantly follow your every move, a kind of human shadow.
The problem I had with the book was that I didn't think it could quite make up its mind what it was. At times, it adopts many of the tropes and techniques of the thriller: from the flash-back to his time in the Bosnian war to the way in which much of what happens towards the end of the story is foreshadowed (slightly clumsily, I thought) earlier on. But if Kelly had intended simply to write a thriller, I couldn't help thinking that he would have done well to focus more on the plot, and a little less on the minutiae of everyday political life. If, on the other hand, his primary intent had always been to write about what life as the holder of one of the four 'great offices of state' in the early 21st Century is like, then the 'thriller' element that begins to dominate the book in the final third feels like an unnecessary distraction – something that has been tagged on in an attempt to give the book appeal beyond political anoraks like myself.
Most stories about politics and politicians fall into one of three categories: The corrupt evil genius manipulator (see for example, Francis Urquhart); the comic buffoon (television is ahead here, in particular, The Thick of It; and lastly, the Mary Sue brave defender of the people out to rid the world of the first two categories of politician.
The Knives is, in a way, something more interesting than that: it's a reasonably convincing stab at a depiction of what life as a senior Minister in government is actually like, and the kind of person who one actually finds in such roles: neither the superhero with the cape, the clown nor the knave. We are introduced to David Blaylock as an officer encountering an ugly incident during that small, ugly war in the Balkans in the mid-1990s, something I remember being on the news throughout my teenage years, but which has since been almost entirely overshadowed by Afghanistan, Iraq et cetera.
The story proper gets going some twenty-odd years later and Blaylock is a Conservative Home Secretary in a Government that is not David Cameron's 2015 administration, but equally appears not a million miles removed from it. Blaylock is not obviously based on any single individual, but equally, it's possible to see echoes of a number of different real-life characters in him if one is inclined to do so.
Much of the book is taken up with an account of the day-to-day life of someone in high political office, and as someone who has worked on the other side of the fence, as it were, in criminal justice policy for Ministers of three different political stripes over the last fifteen years, I thought the description of the kind of dilemmas and issues that a Minister faces was remarkably accurate. Not just the issues themselves: a terror attack, a person appealing a decision to deport her back to the country from which she was seeking political asylum, issues around the roll-out, or not, of ID cards, applications to sign warrants under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (actually, I can't remember if they referred to the Act in the book), an appearance on Question Time and various visits to community projects in the aid of a counter-extremism strategy – but the way that a Minister is forced constantly to jump from one decision or engagement to the next without any chance to reflect or think about the bigger picture. The decisions he makes, and the reasoning behind them seems like a plausible account of how a centre-right politician of a certain kind might see the world, as opposed to what I so often see which is a kind of left-wing caricature of what drives such people. He's neither a hero nor a villain, but a politician.
I thought that the sub-plot involving Blaylock's relationship with his ex-wife, a prominent human rights lawyer and sort-of politcal opponent was mostly well-judged too and as well as going some way to illustrate Blaylock's character flaws, does a good job of showing how the intensity of political office must be hard to balance with anything resembling a normal home life, even if one leaves to one side the sheer strangeness of having a security detail constantly follow your every move, a kind of human shadow.
The problem I had with the book was that I didn't think it could quite make up its mind what it was. At times, it adopts many of the tropes and techniques of the thriller: from the flash-back to his time in the Bosnian war to the way in which much of what happens towards the end of the story is foreshadowed (slightly clumsily, I thought) earlier on. But if Kelly had intended simply to write a thriller, I couldn't help thinking that he would have done well to focus more on the plot, and a little less on the minutiae of everyday political life. If, on the other hand, his primary intent had always been to write about what life as the holder of one of the four 'great offices of state' in the early 21st Century is like, then the 'thriller' element that begins to dominate the book in the final third feels like an unnecessary distraction – something that has been tagged on in an attempt to give the book appeal beyond political anoraks like myself.
July 18, 2017
I picked this up in the Heathrow bookstore before boarding a long flight home. The book jacket looked intriguing and who doesn't like a "pacy, prescient political thriller"?
OK, let's deal with "pacy". This book is the story of a modern day Tory Home Secretary, ex Army, who comes from the North and doesn't quite fit in with his Oxbridge colleagues. But that isn't really the story. In fact, there really isn't much of a story at all. If the book is pacy at all, it is the pace at which the main character goes to meetings, has bad press coverage, and goes to more meetings. Heavy dollops of Tory manifesto lace the narrative including bits on national identity cards. Makes one long for serial killer novels again.
Here's another blurb - "Kelly makes lives the reader can believe in" - Yep, I'm sure a real life minister goes to lots of meetings, is pilloried on TV, and disseminates government policy even when his heart isn't in it. But is this an interesting narrative?
"An exciting novel ...it grips from the off" - well, yes, the first chapter was pretty good - set in Bosnia when the main character was a young Army officer. But then he gets older and joins the government and goes to meetings. It may have gripped from the "off" but then just went 'off'.
Woven throughout is the obligatory broken marriage, a teen son who is openly hostile, a love interest, a UKIP-type antagonist, a few disaffected and possibly dangerous British Muslims, some cariactured human rights types, and of course, a security guard to go on jogs with. No dog though.
I'm not sure why I finished this book except perhaps hoping that all the threads would tie togther in a final 50 pages of "gripping" action. No such luck.
Give this one a pass.
OK, let's deal with "pacy". This book is the story of a modern day Tory Home Secretary, ex Army, who comes from the North and doesn't quite fit in with his Oxbridge colleagues. But that isn't really the story. In fact, there really isn't much of a story at all. If the book is pacy at all, it is the pace at which the main character goes to meetings, has bad press coverage, and goes to more meetings. Heavy dollops of Tory manifesto lace the narrative including bits on national identity cards. Makes one long for serial killer novels again.
Here's another blurb - "Kelly makes lives the reader can believe in" - Yep, I'm sure a real life minister goes to lots of meetings, is pilloried on TV, and disseminates government policy even when his heart isn't in it. But is this an interesting narrative?
"An exciting novel ...it grips from the off" - well, yes, the first chapter was pretty good - set in Bosnia when the main character was a young Army officer. But then he gets older and joins the government and goes to meetings. It may have gripped from the "off" but then just went 'off'.
Woven throughout is the obligatory broken marriage, a teen son who is openly hostile, a love interest, a UKIP-type antagonist, a few disaffected and possibly dangerous British Muslims, some cariactured human rights types, and of course, a security guard to go on jogs with. No dog though.
I'm not sure why I finished this book except perhaps hoping that all the threads would tie togther in a final 50 pages of "gripping" action. No such luck.
Give this one a pass.
June 17, 2017
There are some brilliant bits in this slow burning thriller, actually slow burning is perhaps too kind. The central character warts and all with his all too convincing inner demons had me gripped.
April 29, 2020
This is in no way, shape, or form, a thriller, political or otherwise, and it is unfair that it has been sold as such. Unfair to the reader, and unfair to the author. I spent almost the first half of the book waiting for a plot, any plot, to materialize. I then began hate-reading the book out of spite just to see what might actually happen, thinking to myself those who had blurbed the book had obviously done a favour for a friend and had not themselves read the thing. However. Approaching this book as a thriller is going to of course be disappointing. This is a novel more in the vein of Thomas Hardy, an examination of a man conflicted and tormented by the gulf between his ideas of principle and his actions, and his anger. It's slow paced, tedious in parts because of its political nature - politics via civil service bureacracy as opposed to the thrills of conspiracy, ambitious in some regards. It does capture the frustrations and frustrating character of its hero Blaylock. If you are looking for a character study of a middle-aged man coming to terms with his life choices, mistakes, and missed opportunites, who takes tentative steps towards growth, via a background of the tedium of polititcal expediency and its cost to the soul, this is your book. For that I have given it a few stars and this review. If you are looking for 'a cracking political thriller with an ex-Army Home Secretary who has to deal with all manner of threats', this is not that book, at all, unless all manner of threats are existential.
October 15, 2016
Best read of the year so far. Really interesting situation, sounds very plausible and a good insight into how frustration can lead to anger. Nice to have a plot that does not descend into unreality but creates interest without needing to develop an overly dramatic situation.
looking forward to reading Crusaders
looking forward to reading Crusaders
February 4, 2017
Way too long! Not enough in the tale to last that long. And too little plot. Most chararcters were not fleshed out so that it was harfd to emphaise with anyone, even the central character.
January 29, 2021
The Knives was sold to me as a kind of thriller, and while there are thriller elements and subplots, the main focus is on the protagonist, David Blaylock, and his attempts at holding onto some semblance of a regular life while in an incredibly busy and high pressure job, Home Secretary in the British government. To that end, the first half/two thirds of the story flits between him attending social gatherings with his partially estranged family, his ex-wife and their three children, and Blaylock attending work meetings and charity and speaking events, all the while shadowed by his personal bodyguard. The thriller aspect takes quite a backseat for around the first half of the novel, but comes into full prominence much later around the two-thirds mark.
Which may bamboozle you a little if you felt taken in by the promise of politics, intrigue, and danger based on the cover and blurb. Instead, The Knives reads more like a character study with the politics as a vehicle through which to explore Blaylock's deteriorating stability and social life. And in that aspect, it's very good; you get a sense early on that Blaylock is a powder keg waiting to blow which does, indeed, happen.
The Knives reads like a story from a slightly different time, despite its modern politics. It reminds me of an F. Scott Fitzgerald, or a John Cheever, with its dry style and unsettling portrayal of a man close to the edge. And it was that element that hooked me and kept me reading, which I was grateful for, because the actual story is on a slow boil.
As I said earlier, much of the earlier stages of the novel are back-to-back social and work engagements and they're interesting to watch, but you may occasionally find yourself wondering what the point of them all is and which ones are going to be relevant or reoccur later as a lot of them feel like setup. There are also a great number of characters present in The Knives (the Dramatis Personae lists 60!), and a lot of them are initially introduced in the first 100 pages, so it can be easy to slip into a groove of nodding along as new characters are introduced, even if you don't fully take in their name, personality, or role in the British cabinet. Which can make a lot of them feel very samey, despite attempts to give them unique phrases and mannerisms, and maybe that's kind of the point, but it begs the question of why they're present in the story at all if they're not really relevant by the end?
Overall, treat The Knives as more of a study with some well-crafted prose and you'll have a good time.
Which may bamboozle you a little if you felt taken in by the promise of politics, intrigue, and danger based on the cover and blurb. Instead, The Knives reads more like a character study with the politics as a vehicle through which to explore Blaylock's deteriorating stability and social life. And in that aspect, it's very good; you get a sense early on that Blaylock is a powder keg waiting to blow which does, indeed, happen.
The Knives reads like a story from a slightly different time, despite its modern politics. It reminds me of an F. Scott Fitzgerald, or a John Cheever, with its dry style and unsettling portrayal of a man close to the edge. And it was that element that hooked me and kept me reading, which I was grateful for, because the actual story is on a slow boil.
As I said earlier, much of the earlier stages of the novel are back-to-back social and work engagements and they're interesting to watch, but you may occasionally find yourself wondering what the point of them all is and which ones are going to be relevant or reoccur later as a lot of them feel like setup. There are also a great number of characters present in The Knives (the Dramatis Personae lists 60!), and a lot of them are initially introduced in the first 100 pages, so it can be easy to slip into a groove of nodding along as new characters are introduced, even if you don't fully take in their name, personality, or role in the British cabinet. Which can make a lot of them feel very samey, despite attempts to give them unique phrases and mannerisms, and maybe that's kind of the point, but it begs the question of why they're present in the story at all if they're not really relevant by the end?
Overall, treat The Knives as more of a study with some well-crafted prose and you'll have a good time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2017
A book which has confused me mightily. As a political thriller set in modern Britain it read like a tick box of issues, indeed there were events lifted directly from newspapers of recent years and inserted into the tale.
For me there was a lack of nuance. In the political intriguing events occurred with little/no/or far-too-subtle foreshadowing. For the terror/protest sections there wa a linear, by the numbers feel to things, right down to the attempt at mis-direction later on in the book.
While the MC is written as a sufferer for his ideals, and tormented by inner demons and past mistakes, he never resonated fully for me. The colloquialisms felt like forced adjuncts to speech that otherwise could have been delivered by anyone from anywhere. The continual frustration and anger displayed left me wondering how the MC got selected for MP, never mind elected, and then chosen for high office.
All the above being said, I read to the end. Maybe it was the on-point nature of the story, maybe it was wondering if there would be a worthwhile resolution. Either way, if you are a fan of politics, and current UK politics at that, it's not the worst read available.
For me there was a lack of nuance. In the political intriguing events occurred with little/no/or far-too-subtle foreshadowing. For the terror/protest sections there wa a linear, by the numbers feel to things, right down to the attempt at mis-direction later on in the book.
While the MC is written as a sufferer for his ideals, and tormented by inner demons and past mistakes, he never resonated fully for me. The colloquialisms felt like forced adjuncts to speech that otherwise could have been delivered by anyone from anywhere. The continual frustration and anger displayed left me wondering how the MC got selected for MP, never mind elected, and then chosen for high office.
All the above being said, I read to the end. Maybe it was the on-point nature of the story, maybe it was wondering if there would be a worthwhile resolution. Either way, if you are a fan of politics, and current UK politics at that, it's not the worst read available.
October 5, 2017
I really enjoyed this. The flawed (tragic?) hero of the story is David Blaylock, a Conservative Home Secretary, former military. From the north he doesn't fit in to the blue-blood establishment, but his tough-minded defend the realm and get the job done attitude make him an attractive political asset. The deep flaws are shown in his ruptured family.
The difficulties I had with the book were that it was a bit over-complicated. One or two too many enemies and issues. Mind you the world's even more complicated so don't let that put you off. The political and bureaucratic talk seemed quite realistic though of course boiled down.
In addition, I thought that the sources of Blaylock's personal issues weren't really resolved or explained in the book, despite helpful scenes of discussions with a therapist. Somehow he seemed punished for his sense of duty and honor.
The finale comes in the last few pages and I can't think how to write about it without spoilers. In contrast to my comments about character development, here I would have liked something more open ended.
The difficulties I had with the book were that it was a bit over-complicated. One or two too many enemies and issues. Mind you the world's even more complicated so don't let that put you off. The political and bureaucratic talk seemed quite realistic though of course boiled down.
In addition, I thought that the sources of Blaylock's personal issues weren't really resolved or explained in the book, despite helpful scenes of discussions with a therapist. Somehow he seemed punished for his sense of duty and honor.
The finale comes in the last few pages and I can't think how to write about it without spoilers. In contrast to my comments about character development, here I would have liked something more open ended.
May 28, 2022
This book should never have been promoted as a political thriller because it has more in common with the thoughtful sagas of an early Joanna Trollope than Henry Porter & Frederick Forsyth. It left me wondering when the thrill was going to occur and sadly that point was never reached. It definitely shouldn’t have been billed as pacy either! Lots of meetings, bad press headlines & wrestling with past demons but no big plot line to get your teeth into.
There is a bewildering cast of characters with similar sounding names who get introduced in rapid succession leaving you flicking back to the cast list to recall who they are.
I rather hoped the disparate threads might be pulled together after the best part of 500 pages but the book ends with something of an anti climax as though the author himself got bored and needed an easy way out!
There is a bewildering cast of characters with similar sounding names who get introduced in rapid succession leaving you flicking back to the cast list to recall who they are.
I rather hoped the disparate threads might be pulled together after the best part of 500 pages but the book ends with something of an anti climax as though the author himself got bored and needed an easy way out!
March 16, 2019
The depiction of life as a Conservative Home Secretary is sometimes interesting, but the engagement with political issues (especially surrounding identity cards) feels tacked on and hollow - the reader is subjected to pages and pages of different characters rehearsing the basic arguments for and against identity cards for example, with scant pay-off. Blaylock is the only character here that is portrayed in and depth, and even he isn't quite convincing - his emotional issues which the novel places so much emphasis on just don't come through in an organic way.
This is a shame because you can see the outline of a better book here, especially as an of examination of political decision-making.
This is a shame because you can see the outline of a better book here, especially as an of examination of political decision-making.
August 15, 2019
An excellent political novel, an impressive picture of the life of a beleaguered Home Secretary, so credible that it must surely be grounded in thorough research. David Blaylock is a Conservative politician trying to do a very difficult job while constrained by the political ambitions of others rather than his own and struggling with the psychological impact of his past experiences as a serving soldier. He is intelligent and politically astute but troubled by the criticism of his Left leaning family who find it difficult to believe that as a Conservative he is motivated by care for others. The story paints a bleak picture of the political elite and of the threat of terrorism. Thought provoking but certainly not a cheerful read.
December 22, 2019
This is a good political thriller with a believable plot. It's a good story, with a nasty twist at the end, helped by excellent characterisation of the Home Secretary, David Blaylock, and realistic descriptions of the policy challenges he faces. It shows that, to be convincing, not only the plot has to be plausible but also the key personalities and what drives them. Kelly nicely builds the key protagonist as a loving but misguided husband/father, a strongly motivated politician who can get to grips with detail, and at the same time a man whose volatility has disastrous consequences. Despite his faults, we can't help sympathising with him.
October 21, 2022
An authentic description of the pressures of high level politics. Not particularly a crime novel or thriller as it is mainly the day to day ratcheting up of problems for the fictitious Home Secretary. The policy debates are realistic.
There is the gradual build up of the personal story alongside the politics, and it draws out the psychological impact his various experiences have had. It shows his uncontrollable behaviours worsening and how at every turn his lack of control makes matters worse. The reader wishes him to be calm but he is in the grip of powerful forces that erupt in his life outside politics.
There is the gradual build up of the personal story alongside the politics, and it draws out the psychological impact his various experiences have had. It shows his uncontrollable behaviours worsening and how at every turn his lack of control makes matters worse. The reader wishes him to be calm but he is in the grip of powerful forces that erupt in his life outside politics.
January 7, 2024
I struggled to get through this book.
I can imagine that the book is very true to life in terms of its politics - in that most of it is a series of pedestrian meetings, dinners and policy decisions with the occasional back stabbing and political crisis.
The pace of the story was slow and the events in the story were spaced out far too much for my liking. For people used to the political thrillers this is unlikely to keep you interested.
I think that perhaps it is a novel of its time - written as it was in March 2016 before politics and the UK went through the monumental shifts of COVID and Brexit. One for the hard core fans of the author maybe...
I can imagine that the book is very true to life in terms of its politics - in that most of it is a series of pedestrian meetings, dinners and policy decisions with the occasional back stabbing and political crisis.
The pace of the story was slow and the events in the story were spaced out far too much for my liking. For people used to the political thrillers this is unlikely to keep you interested.
I think that perhaps it is a novel of its time - written as it was in March 2016 before politics and the UK went through the monumental shifts of COVID and Brexit. One for the hard core fans of the author maybe...
August 3, 2025
Started and finished date - 31.07.25 to 02.08.25.
My rating - Two Stars.
I really didn't is book and I fond it really boring also state of terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton or Chasing the Lion by A.J. Tata may like is book. The cover of plot was okay. The writing was fine but it took some time to get used to also the ending of book was okay. The atmosphere was okay suspense was fine. The paced of plot was really slow and the paced of plot was unsteady. I have mixed feeling about the characters and I found them to be dull also they needed to be flash out bit more.
My rating - Two Stars.
I really didn't is book and I fond it really boring also state of terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton or Chasing the Lion by A.J. Tata may like is book. The cover of plot was okay. The writing was fine but it took some time to get used to also the ending of book was okay. The atmosphere was okay suspense was fine. The paced of plot was really slow and the paced of plot was unsteady. I have mixed feeling about the characters and I found them to be dull also they needed to be flash out bit more.
June 20, 2017
Brutal and frighteningly plausible, with rare points of humour rooted in current affairs. It's not surprising to find that Richard Kelly had information from currently sitting MPs under Chatham House Rules in writing this book. The imagery of Bosnia is similarly true to reality. Also an example of how a 'good' person - indeed, a wronged person - can be repugnant on a personal level, in the form of Blaylock's ex-wife.
July 28, 2020
3/10 9%. To describe this imaginary parliamentarians imaginary work life as a thriller is more than a little disingenuous, it’s at best a dramatisation without much drama. A pretty unexciting read although I did warm to the central characters by the end, which couldn’t come soon enough. Not worthy of comparison with educational and hugely entertaining works like Yes Minister, House of Cards so won’t read again.
July 21, 2020
The Knives might not be for everybody, if you are not a junkie of the genre you might find it unbearably slow and "with no action".
Personally I found it very intriguing: the central character is extremely well built, with a complex personality and some daunting inner demons; the Whitehall world is also rendered with absolute accuracy to the smallest minutiae.
Personally I found it very intriguing: the central character is extremely well built, with a complex personality and some daunting inner demons; the Whitehall world is also rendered with absolute accuracy to the smallest minutiae.
March 8, 2022
I received this book via my subscription to A Box of Stories. I would never have picked a political story out of choice but I really enjoyed it once I got in to it. It was a good insight into the various responsibilities of a Home Secretary (hopefully a good reflection of reality too).
May 14, 2019
A bit way too long, and moving too slow.
January 10, 2024
Kinda boring.
April 21, 2020
Like 'Crusaders', this is a condition-of-England novel with strong Victorian roots. However, Anthony Trollope would have had a far surer grasp on characterisation, the interweaving of plot strands and on the pace of the book. Despite lots of interesting ideas, it's slow and stodgy...there are only so many unfruitful meetings anyone can endure, and when you endure them for a living, as many of us do, reading about them ain't much fun. I really struggled with the credibility of the main character, a Northern, working class, ex-army Tory Home Secretary with a fistful of anger issues and a charmless personality. Reading about his doubts (usually resolved by a slug of single malt, in the best traditions of lazy crime/spy novelists) concerning whether to deport someone leaves a nasty taste. I can see that Kelly is trying to get his reader to consider awkward questions and difficult answers, but he isn't a skilled enough writer to do it well, and the book becomes annoying and dispiriting long before it staggers to its dismal and predictable conclusion.
As is often the case in a roman a clef, it's quite fun guessing the real people hidden behind the caricatures, but there's not much else to savour. There's too much bureaucratic minutiae and too many promising scenes which lead nowhere (and let's not even think about the sex with the glamorous female journalist or the bizarre caving trip (!) with discontented Sadaqat and his chums) for this to be in any way a success. If the Guardian's reviewer thought this was 'a pacy and prescient political thriller' then they were badly wrong. 'Prescient' maybe. Political, undoubtedly. But 'pacy' and 'thriller' definitely not.
As is often the case in a roman a clef, it's quite fun guessing the real people hidden behind the caricatures, but there's not much else to savour. There's too much bureaucratic minutiae and too many promising scenes which lead nowhere (and let's not even think about the sex with the glamorous female journalist or the bizarre caving trip (!) with discontented Sadaqat and his chums) for this to be in any way a success. If the Guardian's reviewer thought this was 'a pacy and prescient political thriller' then they were badly wrong. 'Prescient' maybe. Political, undoubtedly. But 'pacy' and 'thriller' definitely not.
September 4, 2016
Contemporary British political thriller. The main character grew up in the North of England, enlisted in the military, and is now a Tory Minister. I really enjoyed the procedural elements - how he and his bodyguard work together, how the lawyers and lobbyists work, how the Home Secretary's department works, the visits to constituents, and how a therapist approaches her new client.
January 1, 2017
Dersom en ønsker en nokså realistisk og detaljert fremstilling av hverdagen til en skilt britisk innenriksminister med familieutfordringer, er dette en grei bok. Som roman, enn si en slags thriller evner den imidlertid ikke å engasjere.
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