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The Trojan Hearse
When this book was first published in printed form in 2003 it obtained 32 press and radio reviews in the UK. The two dominant themes of these reviews was that it was an exciting political thriller and that it was based on little known facts dressed up as fiction. More recently several letter writers and bloggers have expressed views that the novel’s forecasts are coming true.
330 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2003
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August 6, 2011The concept is fascinating (and quite plausible), but I have to say that I was rather disappointed at the executiion of this story.
In a nutshell, the idea that there has been some hidden force behind British postwar politcs that is responsible for the mess that we are now in, as having resulted from a very deep-cover, Soviet-sponsored plot is not only a scintillating plot, but one that has occasionally been given some credence - Antony Blunt and company for example, and the continuing speculation about the late Harold Wilson. Truly fascinating stuff.
Unfortunately, the particular plot in this book (and I won't give away too much about it in case anyone wants to read it and I don't want to spoil it for them) is rather far-fetched, and unnecessarily so. Furthermore, Mr. Heywood's style of prose is perhaps more given to the businessworld and formalistic writing beloved of lawyers, rather than good storytellers, of either the traditional mould, such as Dickens or Buchan, or even those of the present age, such as Faulks, Forsythe or Harris.
The result is that what should have been a gripping spy yarn, with a plausible contemporary relevance is a rather plodding plot, with unnecessary detail in certain respects, yet gross simplifications in others, some of which lead to a suspicion that the detail would have been so implausible to include that that is the reason it has been left out. In other words, some of the story would not have stood up to reasonable scrutiny, therefore it has been skated over.
This is a shame since I would really loved to have known a little more as to how a deep-plant group of Russian agents could come to have such an influence on specific policies such as, for example, the destruction of Britain's manufacturing industry (something that has undoubtedly happened) rather than the accepted wisdom that the U.K. has been the victim of globalisation and other economic factors, which hardly needed any behind-the-scenes help from the Russians.
So, in conclusion, a disappointing read: it still had its moments and the basic plot is a brilliant idea. But it could have been, in my humble opinion, better written, and perhaps better researched to provide some of the sadly lacking detail, to ensure credibility as a story.
In a nutshell, the idea that there has been some hidden force behind British postwar politcs that is responsible for the mess that we are now in, as having resulted from a very deep-cover, Soviet-sponsored plot is not only a scintillating plot, but one that has occasionally been given some credence - Antony Blunt and company for example, and the continuing speculation about the late Harold Wilson. Truly fascinating stuff.
Unfortunately, the particular plot in this book (and I won't give away too much about it in case anyone wants to read it and I don't want to spoil it for them) is rather far-fetched, and unnecessarily so. Furthermore, Mr. Heywood's style of prose is perhaps more given to the businessworld and formalistic writing beloved of lawyers, rather than good storytellers, of either the traditional mould, such as Dickens or Buchan, or even those of the present age, such as Faulks, Forsythe or Harris.
The result is that what should have been a gripping spy yarn, with a plausible contemporary relevance is a rather plodding plot, with unnecessary detail in certain respects, yet gross simplifications in others, some of which lead to a suspicion that the detail would have been so implausible to include that that is the reason it has been left out. In other words, some of the story would not have stood up to reasonable scrutiny, therefore it has been skated over.
This is a shame since I would really loved to have known a little more as to how a deep-plant group of Russian agents could come to have such an influence on specific policies such as, for example, the destruction of Britain's manufacturing industry (something that has undoubtedly happened) rather than the accepted wisdom that the U.K. has been the victim of globalisation and other economic factors, which hardly needed any behind-the-scenes help from the Russians.
So, in conclusion, a disappointing read: it still had its moments and the basic plot is a brilliant idea. But it could have been, in my humble opinion, better written, and perhaps better researched to provide some of the sadly lacking detail, to ensure credibility as a story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review