The plot here is nothing new - our hero journalist does not believe the official report of his friend’s death and determines to find the truth. This leads him to dirty dealings in Russia and lots of conspiracy, double-dealing and jeopardy.

The book is strongly plotted, well-written and drives with enough force to pull the reader in and make you want to turn just one more page.

The real strength of the book come from its provenance. The author, John Simpson, is a senior member of the BBC News organisation and is very well known to many readers. The hero, Jon Swift, is clearly modelled on himself - the physical description matches Simpson exactly and he has a similar background in international news and television reporting. The book is narrated by Jon Swift and the voice is very clearly that of Simpson, in fact, reading the book it is difficult not to hear the whole thing in your head as a report by Simpson on the Ten O’Clock News.

This is an excellent example of how writing what you know brings believability and truth to the story. This reds like it could be reportage rather than fiction. ( )

I was very disappointed with this novel. I have admired John Simpson as one of the BBC’s leading foreign news correspondents for many years, so my expectations were all for a well written topical thriller, bristling with acute insights. Somehow, despite an intriguing opening, it never quite came to fruition.

Veteran journalist Jon Swift is called to attend the scene of death of Patrick Macready, a prominent backbench Conservative MPO who appears to have succumbed to a misjudged attempt at autoeroticism. Swift is shocked as Macready had been one of his closest friends. The circumstances of the death appal him, seeming entirely at odds with the man whom he knew. Shortly after the death, Swift comes into possession of Macready’s iPad, which contains details of certain investigations he had been following. Swift becomes increasingly convinced that the bizarre death was actually a murder, arranged to stop Macready’s research while publicly discrediting him.

So far, so good, but a potentially strong plot scenario was smothered by unexpectedly turgid writing. Swift himself is a particularly unpleasant character, and the book might have been more enjoyable if it had been him who was found dead at the beginning. Given that he was the narrator, it would all have been over a lot more quickly, too. ( )