Ghost, The

Critics

• Book review: Robert Harris's *The Ghost*

  The Ghost Robert Harris Pocket Star Paperback 448 pages August 2008 Most notable about The Ghost is the quality of Robert Harris's writing. I've read a lot of books recently and, within a few pages of starting this one, it became clear that he has a ... (read full critics)

  curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

5 Reviews

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  GREAT BOOK !!!!!

  Both my husband and I did not understand completely the film by Polansky, therefore we bought The Ghost, hoping to shed light on the intricacies of the plot. Finished today: Rarely have I enjoyed a book to this extent: it is absolutely gorgeous, finely written and gripping right up to the very last ... (continue)

  Both my husband and I did not understand completely the film by Polansky, therefore we bought The Ghost, hoping to shed light on the intricacies of the plot. Finished today: Rarely have I enjoyed a book to this extent: it is absolutely gorgeous, finely written and gripping right up to the very last page. And it explains what I had missed in the film. Very highly recommended.

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  VeneziAnna said on Apr 19, 2010 | Add your feedback

• 

  [Have yet to see Ghost the movie]

  Robert Harris has taken upon himself to write a contemporary WHAT-IF political thriller in the same vein that Peter Morgan, scriptwriter of television drama "The Deal," and the film "The Queen," set out to re-imagine —if not recreate at times—two crucial processes/ events of very recent history. The ... (continue)

  Robert Harris has taken upon himself to write a contemporary WHAT-IF political thriller in the same vein that Peter Morgan, scriptwriter of television drama "The Deal," and the film "The Queen," set out to re-imagine —if not recreate at times—two crucial processes/ events of very recent history. These were: Tony Blair's ascent to prime-ministership of the UK; and QEII's gradual coming to terms with the public "need" to see their Sovereign's expression of grief, however shallow, upon the untimely death of her former daughter-in-law, a Royal broodmare known to us as Princess Diana (at that time no longer part of the royal family, and previously never really QEII's favorite, stiff upper lip and all that - in which "media-grieving" process no small part was assigned to stage Tony Blair in his first weeks as a PM - by design played by the same actor in both productions). And what masterly recreations these two turned out to be!

  Similarly, the theme of Harris's thriller is imagining consequences of an indictment, as a war criminal in the "war on terror," of said Blair –once out of office– by the International Criminal Court in Den Haag, The Netherlands. The writing is brisk, full of unexpected turns, and with just-so deep character descriptions. Altogether pretty convincing a tale within the realm of plausibility set forth by the author. I've read most of Harris' books, but this was the first after his initial "Fatherland," that felt satisfactory.
  http://www.anobii.com/books/Fatherland/9780099263814/00…

  That said, I read it with a fresh memory of Jennie Erdal's "Tiger's Ghost," GRANTA #85, http://www.granta.com/Magazine/85, later expanded in book form as "Ghosting," an enchanting and illuminative non-fiction memoir of author's own ghostwriting in a different, non-political segment of the contemporary British society… so I highly recommend reading those two titles in tandem.
  http://www.anobii.com/books/Ghosting/9781841956374/016b…

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  ianf said on Mar 28, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Arcadia Institution website - this is an awesome idea!

  The book is a good thriller, even if I preferred fatherland. Anyway I've found genial the fact that in the book is mentioned the website www.arcadiainstitution.org relating to a fictional organization, and the website really exists!

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  Giuliano Gaia said on Jan 10, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  One-dimensional

  This is a thinly-veiled thriller that comments on Tony Blair's post-premier career.

  Former British Prime Minister Adam Lang is residing in Martha's Vineyard ostensibly to write his memoirs. However, the body of his ghost writer, Mike McAra, is found washed up on one of the winter beaches, s ... (continue)

  This is a thinly-veiled thriller that comments on Tony Blair's post-premier career.

  Former British Prime Minister Adam Lang is residing in Martha's Vineyard ostensibly to write his memoirs. However, the body of his ghost writer, Mike McAra, is found washed up on one of the winter beaches, seemingly the result of having committed suicide by throwing himself off the ferry. A second ghost writer is engaged and begins the task of re-writing the turgid first draft of the memoirs.

  The peace of the retreat is shattered by the news that Lang is to be investigated for war crimes, having seemingly sanctioned the capture by special forces of four terrorists as well as their subsequent torture - during which one suffered a heart attack and died.

  By working through the memoir and the package of additional archive material left by MacAra, the narrator begins to question the 'truth' around which Lang surrounds himself. Memory and fact are seemingly at odds - as are Lang and his wife, the formidable Ruth. Delving deeper, it seems that Lang has a far more shadowy past than that to which he admits, and could the CIA really have had a part to play in his meteoric rise to power?

  Whilst this book is a page-turner, its structure is extremely simplistic, and not redolent of the far-superior 'Archangel'. I think the interest in this book stems from its timing; is this what we had all hoped would happen to Blair following his resignation? I don't think this is a novel that will date particularly well, and, being full of rather loathsome characters, is unlikely to elicit any sympathy or compassion in the reader. Ultimately, it's a question of 'Who cares?'.

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  Gylfinir said on Dec 15, 2008 | 1 feedback

• 

  As most Robert Harris books, this one is a real page turner. Particularly intriguing is the narration always in the past tense, and the finale is a real unexpected masterpiece, the cherry on top the nice cake of a story unraveling without pause all along the book.

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  NickBert said on Sep 1, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (43)
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• English Books
• Paperback 384 Pages
• Edition: Airport / Ireland / Export e.
• ISBN-10: 0091796253
• ISBN-13: 9780091796259
• Publisher: Hutchinson
• Pub date: Oct 04, 2007
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Deutsche Bücher, Libri Italiani

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