Munich by Robert Harris - pre-read reflections
There are very few contemporary writers for whom I wait impatiently for their next book, but Robert Harris is one of them. So, with his latest thriller Munich due out tomorrow (Thursday 21 Sept 2017), I thought I'd celebrate with a post all about his books.
I came to Robert Harris pretty late and, I'm embarrassed to say, through a film. The furore around his first novel Fatherland escaped me entirely and it was only when I saw the film version of Enigma at the cinema and decided to read the book that I discovered Harris as an author.
Enigma remains one of my favourites, with its evocative setting and tightly-constructed plot around the breaking of the Enigma codes, Like all the best thrillers (at least in my view), it has a detective story-esque whodunit angle which keeps you turning the pages.
From Enigma, I went on to Archangel, a bleak midwinter's tale of Russia after the Second World War. From these two, I deduced Harris's personal interest in WW2 and the Cold War - the era seems to produce all his best books, which bodes well for Munich. I also noticed that his heroes are often tired, discouraged and beaten men and that the film studios will have none of this, turning nervy Tom Jericho into Dougray Scott and shabby loser Kelso into a young, pre-Bond Daniel Craig.
I actually asked Robert Harris why his heroes were often so flawed when I heard him speak at the Henley Literary Festival. The answer was long and complex and seemed to involve Jeremy Corbyn!
From Archangel, I finally made it to Fatherland, which underwhelmed me, perhaps because of all the hype of this disturbing novel set in a post-WW2 Germany in which Germany has won the war. The central conceit, about a secret which is not really a secret, is clever, but didn't really work for me.
By then, I had run out of Harris books and I had to wait until he had written Pompeii, which along with Enigma is my favourite. It's a marvellously vivid depiction of Roman Italy, with a gripping thriller plot, a puzzle to solve, and for once, a young and capable hero. I reread this one frequently and wish it wasn't so unfilmable.
Next came two books in pretty much contemporary settings - The Fear Index, which seems to be about stock market algorithms, which I didn't rate, and The Ghost, about a British ex-Prime Minister with a sinister secret.
One of the other things Robert Harris told us at the Henley Literary Festival is never to try to write a novel about contemporary themes - they take too long to write and events overtake you. If you really want to comment on what's going on now, you're better off using an allegory from the past - which is possibly one of the reasons for his trilogy set in Ancient Rome. Anyway, most people will quickly identify the Prime Minister they think the character in The Ghost is based on. Oddly enough, I started writing my own novel The Day The Earth Caught Cold before The Ghost came out and it too features a fictional British Prime Minister. Mine was originally based on Tony Blair, but, bearing out Robert Harris's advice about being contemporary, the book took me so long to write that by the time I finished it, most people took the character in question to be based on David Cameron.
The Ghost is a tense thriller with an evocative setting in a bleak New York seaside resort out of season and it's probably my third favourite. My only complaint about it is that it seems to be all set-up, taking such a luxurious amount of time to get started that it runs out of time for the denouement, which consequently feels rushed.
I will admit that I didn't enjoy Harris's last novel, Conclave. It seemed to me to be a setting and situation (the Vatican, the choosing of a new Pope when the incumbent dies) in search of a plot, as not much really happens over its many pages other than the process of the papal election itself. Inevitably, almost all its characters are very elderly men. The Name of the Rose has the same problem but surmounts it triumphantly with an exciting murder plot.
I will also admit that I can't get on with Harris's Ancient Roman trilogy. I like his Cold War thrillers best and thus Munich seems tailor-made for me.
So what am I hoping for from Harris's latest novel? I want a brooding, European urban setting with foggy streets and dark nights. I want a tense, rollercoaster plot with some detective story puzzle elements. I'd like to see a hero who isn't too downbeat and dreary and some well-drawn female characters. Let's see if I get them.
I came to Robert Harris pretty late and, I'm embarrassed to say, through a film. The furore around his first novel Fatherland escaped me entirely and it was only when I saw the film version of Enigma at the cinema and decided to read the book that I discovered Harris as an author.
Enigma remains one of my favourites, with its evocative setting and tightly-constructed plot around the breaking of the Enigma codes, Like all the best thrillers (at least in my view), it has a detective story-esque whodunit angle which keeps you turning the pages.
From Enigma, I went on to Archangel, a bleak midwinter's tale of Russia after the Second World War. From these two, I deduced Harris's personal interest in WW2 and the Cold War - the era seems to produce all his best books, which bodes well for Munich. I also noticed that his heroes are often tired, discouraged and beaten men and that the film studios will have none of this, turning nervy Tom Jericho into Dougray Scott and shabby loser Kelso into a young, pre-Bond Daniel Craig.
I actually asked Robert Harris why his heroes were often so flawed when I heard him speak at the Henley Literary Festival. The answer was long and complex and seemed to involve Jeremy Corbyn!
From Archangel, I finally made it to Fatherland, which underwhelmed me, perhaps because of all the hype of this disturbing novel set in a post-WW2 Germany in which Germany has won the war. The central conceit, about a secret which is not really a secret, is clever, but didn't really work for me.
By then, I had run out of Harris books and I had to wait until he had written Pompeii, which along with Enigma is my favourite. It's a marvellously vivid depiction of Roman Italy, with a gripping thriller plot, a puzzle to solve, and for once, a young and capable hero. I reread this one frequently and wish it wasn't so unfilmable.
Next came two books in pretty much contemporary settings - The Fear Index, which seems to be about stock market algorithms, which I didn't rate, and The Ghost, about a British ex-Prime Minister with a sinister secret.
One of the other things Robert Harris told us at the Henley Literary Festival is never to try to write a novel about contemporary themes - they take too long to write and events overtake you. If you really want to comment on what's going on now, you're better off using an allegory from the past - which is possibly one of the reasons for his trilogy set in Ancient Rome. Anyway, most people will quickly identify the Prime Minister they think the character in The Ghost is based on. Oddly enough, I started writing my own novel The Day The Earth Caught Cold before The Ghost came out and it too features a fictional British Prime Minister. Mine was originally based on Tony Blair, but, bearing out Robert Harris's advice about being contemporary, the book took me so long to write that by the time I finished it, most people took the character in question to be based on David Cameron.
The Ghost is a tense thriller with an evocative setting in a bleak New York seaside resort out of season and it's probably my third favourite. My only complaint about it is that it seems to be all set-up, taking such a luxurious amount of time to get started that it runs out of time for the denouement, which consequently feels rushed.
I will admit that I didn't enjoy Harris's last novel, Conclave. It seemed to me to be a setting and situation (the Vatican, the choosing of a new Pope when the incumbent dies) in search of a plot, as not much really happens over its many pages other than the process of the papal election itself. Inevitably, almost all its characters are very elderly men. The Name of the Rose has the same problem but surmounts it triumphantly with an exciting murder plot.
I will also admit that I can't get on with Harris's Ancient Roman trilogy. I like his Cold War thrillers best and thus Munich seems tailor-made for me.
So what am I hoping for from Harris's latest novel? I want a brooding, European urban setting with foggy streets and dark nights. I want a tense, rollercoaster plot with some detective story puzzle elements. I'd like to see a hero who isn't too downbeat and dreary and some well-drawn female characters. Let's see if I get them.
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