Book description
'The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away. I can
see that now...'
The narrator of Robert Harris's gripping new novel is a professional
ghostwriter - cynical, mercenary, and with a nice line in deadpan
humour. Accustomed to working with fading rock stars and minor
celebrities, he jumps at the chance to ghost the memoirs of Britain's
former prime minister, especially as it means flying to the American
resort of Martha's Vineyard in the middle of winter and finishing the
book in the seclusion of a luxurious house.
But it doesn't take him long to realise he has made a terrible
mistake. His predecessor on the project died in circumstances that
were distinctly suspicious, and the ex-prime minister turns out to be
a man with secrets in his past that are returning to haunt him -
secrets with the power to kill.
The Times has called Robert Harris 'the leading current
exponent of the intelligent literary thriller'. The Ghost is
his most compelling novel yet.
Robert Harris is one of Britain's most famous writers of thriller
novels and gripping historical fiction. He is the author of eight
bestselling historical and contemporary thrillers: Archangel,
Enigma, Fatherland, The Fear Index, The Ghost, Imperium, Lustrum
and Pompeii, all of which were worldwide bestsellers.
Harris has been shortlisted for three notable literary awards: the
Walter Scott prize for historical fiction, the Whitbread first novel
award (now known as the Costa Book award) and the British Book Awards
Popular Fiction Award. His most recent bestselling thriller, The
Fear Index, was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger,
for best thriller of the year, at the 2012 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards.
Robert Harris has worked with international film director Roman
Polanski to create the Golden Globe winning film The Ghost
Writer, starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor. Enigma
was adapted into an award-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Tom Hollander.
His work has been translated into thirty-three languages. He was
born in Nottingham in 1957 and is a graduate of Cambridge University.
He worked as a reporter on the BBC's Newsnight and
Panorama programmes, before becoming Political Editor of the
Observer in 1987, and then a columnist on the Sunday
Times and the Daily Telegraph. In 2003 he was
named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He lives near
Hungerford in Berkshire with his wife and their four children.
