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280 ratings, 3.44 average rating, 105 reviews
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published
October 4th 2007
by Hutchinson
binding
Hardcover, 384 pages
isbn
0091796261
(isbn13: 9780091796266)
description
'The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away. I can see that now...'
The narrator of Robert Harris' gripping new novel is a profes...more
The narrator of Robert Harris' gripping new novel is a profes...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 405)
Read in March, 2008
The Ghost by Robert Harris.
A roller-coaster of a book - and not in a good way.
I like Robert Harris books and I loved his last one - Imperium. I loved it so much that I was really looking forward to the next in the series (neil h. informed me that it was part of a trilogy). Therefore I was a little meh about the fact he had taken time out to write The Ghost. Damn writers and their need to write a story instead of the one I wanted to read! However, there was branch of Borders shutting ...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is a standard thriller with the added spice of being very familiar to current headline readers. A British Prime Minister retires and looks forward to publishing his memoirs. However, his "ghost", a longtime aide finds some information that leads to the conclusion that the PM authorized, aided and abetted torture while in office. The literary "ghost" becomes a literal ghost under suspicious circumstances. An apolitical hack is brought in to finish the memoirs and that...more
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Read in November, 2008
I listened to this on CD during my commute, which is probably the only reason I stuck with it. There was nothing horribly wrong with this story of a ghostwriter hired to write the memoirs of an ex-prime minister - but it was hard to get to know the ghostwriter (a problem, as he is the narrator of the story) and the other characters (including the prime minister himself) remain rather flat. The thriller aspect of the plot (the previous ghostwriter died under mysterious circumstances, etc) never...more
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This is a fast-paced thriller, centering around a ghost writer assigned to revise and complete the first draft of an autobiography prepared by his predecessor, another ghost writer, recently deceased. The subject of this is a Tony Blair stand-in, a former British PM who had served American foreign policy needs with more attention than he gave to the wishes of his own people. The ghost is also under great time pressure from his publisher, one month to fix over a hundred thousand badly written wor...more
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I supposed this was a roman a clef since Harris was –as mentioned everywhere- a former friend of the Blairs. It’s just a thriller with enough links with what we think is the reality of politics to feel as fact. And he wields a scalpel on them with finesse and venom. An ex British PM is “writing” his memoirs with the help of a former aide who is found drowned in an apparent suicide. Enters a professional ghost-writer, the first person narrator of the novel, whose name we never found o...more
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Read in September, 2008
A strange book this. Taking time out from his fictionalisation of Roman history (Pompeii in particular I adore) he has produced a modern-day political thriller that suffers from a disappointing denouement and a series of uncharacteristically two-dimensional characters.
Taking place over a few wintry days on Martha's Vineyard off the eastern coast of America the situation is initially intriguing but is then spoiled by a series of dreary English characters and forced situations. The women are u...more
Taking place over a few wintry days on Martha's Vineyard off the eastern coast of America the situation is initially intriguing but is then spoiled by a series of dreary English characters and forced situations. The women are u...more
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Read in June, 2008
I borrowed this from the library at the same time Lauren borrowed it on CD, and we read it during our trip to London together. We both had very similar reactions to it. The novel is the story of a ghost writer who is called in to help the former prime minister Lange of Britain finish his memoirs, after his original ghost writer drifts ashore on Martha's Vineyard, near the estate that Lange is using as a home base to write and to set up his new charity. Lange is an obvious allusion to Blair, a...more
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The Ghost is Robert Harris' new political thriller, narrated by ghostwriter writing the memoirs of Adam Lang, a fictional former prime minister whose actions and place in time bear a striking resemblance to a real former prime minister. The ghostwriter has taken up the challenge of finishing Lang's memoir's after the original ghostwriter, Mike McAra, was found dead -- drowned from what was reported to be a suicide. The manuscript left for the new ghost to finish is simple, full of cliches...more
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Read in April, 2008
One of the better books I have erad in a while. All of Robert Harris' books are good, but I think that his one can rank up there with the best of Follit and Forsythe. The story is about a ghost writer who is contracted to write the Autobiography of an ex-British Prime minister who has been accused of war crimes relating to the "war on terror". As the ghost writter is reasearching the man's life he uncovers a secret that is worth killing for, and he must run for his life. The only fals...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Moira
I saw this described as a "darkly paranoid thriller," which got me interested. It begins by skewering the publishing industry's fascination with the political-celebrity-notoriety "autobio" but quickly moves into a warp speed indictment of the war in Iraq. In particular, it focuses on the Brit's support of the Iraq entanglement and the U.S. questionable treatment of terror suspects -- which the novel posits only benefit the U.S. and could never have benefited the U.K. under a...more
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Read in September, 2008
The Ghost is a thinly fictionalized payback for Tony Blair's ten years of selling out to the US. In it the Blair figure is facing war crimes charges in the Hague, a wave of bombings in London, and betrayal of former collegues. The novel reads like a purging of years of pent-up anger at the former PM. It's what gives the book its fire. The plot, a ghostwriter is hired to replace the recently murdered (?) aide who had been working on the PM's memoirs. Nothing about the mystery rises ab...more
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The Ghost in this title refers to nothing paranormal – it’s the story of a ghostwriter hired to finish the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister after the first ghostwriter dies.
At first daunted only by a tight deadline and a jumble of dry prose by his predecessor, our ghost soon becomes enmeshed in the almost maniacal quality of life around the former PM and his entourage of aides and security personal.
When he finds himself curious about the true fate of the first ghostwriter, a ...more
At first daunted only by a tight deadline and a jumble of dry prose by his predecessor, our ghost soon becomes enmeshed in the almost maniacal quality of life around the former PM and his entourage of aides and security personal.
When he finds himself curious about the true fate of the first ghostwriter, a ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
writers, mystery fans
Having read a number of Robert Harris’ books, starting with Fatherland, I was enormously excited to jump into this book. The Ghost is entertaining and a great display of a novelist who really knows his stuff.
The Ghost is the story of an ex-prime minister with a shady past, who has recruited a new ghost writer to replace his dead predecessor. The book is told from this new, unnamed ghost’s perspective, and the story plays out like a procedural, a mystery with many layers. Every chapter...more
The Ghost is the story of an ex-prime minister with a shady past, who has recruited a new ghost writer to replace his dead predecessor. The book is told from this new, unnamed ghost’s perspective, and the story plays out like a procedural, a mystery with many layers. Every chapter...more
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Read in March, 2008
The least convincing of all the other books that I have read by Robert Harris.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it and I didn't work it out either.... Yet at the same time it was all over and done so quickly. Other readers have commented that they had finished the book in a day or so... I was the same... But it was not because I couldn't put the book down... it was simply unchallenging.... and didn't take any thought....and yes... it's about Blair...blah...blah...blah...
It really was n...more
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it and I didn't work it out either.... Yet at the same time it was all over and done so quickly. Other readers have commented that they had finished the book in a day or so... I was the same... But it was not because I couldn't put the book down... it was simply unchallenging.... and didn't take any thought....and yes... it's about Blair...blah...blah...blah...
It really was n...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
I forgot that I owned this, and grabbed it off of my bookshelf with no idea what to expect from it. I think that might be the trick to me enjoying books and movies and maybe life. I begin to believe that having been taught to view art from a critical angle since tenth grade, I have a harder time enjoying things that I have been told will be good, and instead focus on finding the weak points of any work in order to exploit them. This was not a fantastic book, but I enjoyed it. I've never read...more
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Read in September, 2008
A friend gave me this book. It peaked my interest because apparently Roman Polanski is directing the film version of this book and my friend is going to be in the film. That said, it is interesting that this book should be about a ghost writer hired to finish the autobiography of the former PM of Great Britain. The first collaborator with the former PM has turned up dead. The problem with this book is that Robert Harris needs a ghost writer! The plot is really quite good ( I can see why it is be...more
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Read in August, 2008
Robert Harris is in mischievous form here, with a fluent thriller about a former British Prime Minister who in retirement is about to be hauled before the Hague for handing over Brits to the CIA for torture. Now who could have inspired him there? The PM's initial ghost writer was dies in an apparent accident before completing his memoirs and a new guy is brought in. Before long, he stumbles on some damning research done by his predecessor. This is a sparkling novel, clearly plotted, humorous and...more
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Harris's first three novels -- Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel -- were fabulous evocations of historical periods and excellently written thrillers. His next two -- Pompeii and Imperium -- were ordinary in comparison. This one is just dreadful. Harris is clearly very angry with Tony Blair for joining the US in the war in Iraq. But his anger clouds all his judgments and leaves him with a profoundly unconvincing central character and shoddy descriptive writing. Even if his central premise is pretty g...more
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Read in February, 2008
A quick read and one of three books I've read this week. Adam Lang is the former prime-minister to Great Britian. His memoirs need a ghost writer, and Freddy is him. The book has everything a political thriller about terrorism should have, and Harris being a brit brings the hatred for all things American to the front of the book. It's an interesting look at what one day might be Tony Blair's memoirs. But I believe this is wholly fictional and enjoyable as long as you don't look to deep. Re...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
tired commuters
good pulp. maybe a one and half bathtub read? A thinly disguised Tony Blair hires a remarkably naieve professional ghost writer to finish his "autobiography" after the original ghost writer drowns in a suspicious accident. Of course the "hero" "wakes up" as he realizes what was ACTUALLY going on all along. I gues the sad part is that IF this were in fact history not fiction so much of the madnes we have seen over the past seven years would make so much more sense...more
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