Steve Watkins, the protagonist has a fatal flaw. Whilst we wait for this to finally prove his downfall, Campbell has managed to produce a work that is a satire of 24 hour rolling news as well as the cult of celebrity. This is a page-turning and gripping thriller.
One point of contention however, is that Campbell has an opportunity to do something interesting with the issue of drugs when one of the characters enters rehab. Yet, he contents himself with a tedious and conventional anti-drug narrative. To the extent where even the protagonist, no friend of the rehab-ee, blandly says he hopes he gets the help he needs in rehab.
An even more minor point. The bio notes on this novel refer to Campbell as a strategist. For any student of Strategic Studies, Campbell definition of strategy is unhelpful. He certainly understands the difference between tactics and strategy (p178 of the novel demonstrates Campbell understands the distinction.) However, no matter how angry Campbell got working for Tony Blair, he never once rolled the tanks into the offending media.
Still, the plot races along nicely and is very entertaining. This book gets 3/5.
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