Chinese audiences may be more familiar with the American TV series starring Kevin Spacey, but in the beginning, there was the 1990 BBC mini-series based on a novel by Michael Dobbs, chief of staff at British Conservative Party headquarters before he took up his pen.
Set in the early 1990s, against a backdrop* of the internal quarrels and political manoeuvres* that troubled the post-Thatcher Conservative Party, the book tells the story of the inspired rise, and sudden fall of Francis Urquhart, the British Government’s Chief Whip*.
Dobbs dissects* the political world for readers, and carves it up into manageable pieces so that even the most politically inexperienced can understand. You’ll watch in horror* as Urquhart lies, cheats, blackmails* and murders his way to the top job in the country, but rather than feel disgusted* by his action, you may find yourself rooting for* him, if for no other reason than the ingenuity* that he shows.
Dobbs does provide us with a heroine figure — political reporter Mattie Storin, and a large part of the book is about her efforts to find out the truth about the previous Prime Minister’s sudden resignation*.
Finally, that trail* leads back to Urquhart, but still it is with him that the readers’ sympathies* lie. At the end of the book, Urquhart jumps to his death from the roof garden after being confronted* by Storin.
The political thriller that first introduced the unforgettable Francis Urquhart launched Dobbs’ best-selling career in 1989. The book was followed by “To Play the King” and “The Final Cut.”(SD-Agencies)
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