More of wot I have read…

The Ghost – Robert Harris

We were given this book, along with a pile of others, from a prolific reader friend of ours. It is an intriguing and entertaining foray into the darker political recesses of government while managing to feel authentic and still have a good yarn to it. Now that I have read it I might be interested in watching the movie that was made out of it.

‘The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away. I see that now…


A body washes up on the deserted coastline of America’s most exclusive holiday retreat. But it’s no open-and-shut case of suicide. The death of Mike McAra is just the first piece of the jigsaw in an extraordinary plot that will shake the very foundations of international security.


For McAra was a man who knew too much. As a ghostwriter to one of the most controversial men on the planet – Britain’s former prime minister, holed up in a remote ocean-front house to finish his memoirs – he stumbled across secrets which cost him his life.


When a new ghostwriter is sent to rescue the project it could be an opportunity of a lifetime. Or the start of a deadly assignment propelled by deception and intrigue – from which there will be no escape…’




Next by Michael Crichton

This is another book from our friend. I have read a couple of other novels by this author (Prey and Airframe), and they, like this, had a very screenplay sort of feel which must be a style Michael Crichton has that is related to his experience in the movie industry. Many of this author’s novels have an important message to say about big business, corporations, governments and other organisations that would put their own interests above those of the public, the world or even common sense, and this book is no different. Concentrating on genetic manipulation and the potentially big money spin-offs from the scientific research it makes some very powerful points about the industry. It is however wrapped up in a story that strays off into wilder speculation for the sake of entertainment, but that is fine, as long as the reader doesn’t buy every word without a second thought.

‘Is a loved one missing body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Has a human already cross-bred with a monkey?


We live in a GENETIC WORLD. Fast, frightening – and potentially VERY lucrative. There are designer pets; a genetic cure for drug addiction; a booming market in eggs and sperm. But is there is also a talking ape in Borneo? Has a “master” gene for controlling others been found? Could an innocent man and his family be hunted cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes…?’