Tale of parliamentary intrigue, from the writer of "House of Cards" - which I saw on TV but haven't read. This tells the story of Tom Goodfellowe, who's an essentially decent man with a troubled personal life who uncovers an attempt by a newspaper baron to bribe MPs in order to get a certain bill passed.

This was readable enough, and worth the 10p it cost from the village fete. But the story took a while to get going and wasn't particularly original. The characters were very two-dimensional - pretty much everyone was either a "good" or "bad" person and so there was never any doubt as to where your loyalties as a reader were meant to lie. And given that it was written by someone who has worked in parliament, I was surprised by the lack of detail on the parliamentary processes.

OK but not worth much more than 10p!

Completed : 02-Sep-2003