The Ghost
Robert Harris
Hutchinson, 310pp, £18.99
If you’ve read a Robert Harris thriller before, you’ll know that his USP is not so much the twists and turns of the exciting plot – well executed though they are; it’s the way he transports you to a particular time and place. Whether it’s ancient Rome, post-Soviet Russia or an imagined victorious Nazi Germany, you read on because you want to know more about the world he conjures – as well as to follow the unfolding drama. You could be forgiven for a furrowed brow, therefore, at the proposition that Harris has written a book about British politics circa 2007. Surely, we know about that already?
Up to a point, is the answer. The Ghost is in some respects less successful than Harris’s other books for this reason. Its title derives from its protagonist, a ghostwriter called in to rescue a poorly written ‘autobiography’ of Adam Lang, a recently retired British prime minister who has just handed over to a long-serving heir apparent. There is little attempt to disguise the description of Tony Blair. Indeed, the most effective parts of the book are the descriptions of the mannerisms and behaviour of Adam Lang and his wife Ruth; someone who knows them well told me that Harris captures their voices perfectly. This alone makes it worth reading if you’re interested in politics. It just about works as a page-turner too, if you can suspend your disbelief at the plausibility of the central plot; although it might have been more satisfying if the violent climax had been a consequence of that plot, rather than a largely unrelated deus ex machina.
The biggest beef for loyal Blairites, of course, is that the depiction of Adam Lang is almost wholly negative. If you have spent years arguing that Blair, while occasionally mistaken, essentially acted honourably in what he believed to be the national interest, then you’ll find this characterisation hard to swallow. It is said that Harris took against Blair over his unfair treatment of Peter Mandelson. If that’s so, you might expect to see him depicted as shallow, faint-hearted or disloyal to friends; in this book the charge is a great deal more serious than that.