The Truth

Middle-aged, washed-up environmental journalist Keith Mabbut gets the assignment of a lifetime--write a tell-all book about a reclusive activist. Mabbut travels from England to India and back again in search of answers, all while dealing with his own family's upheaval--his wife's seeing another man; his daughter's involved with a troubled Iranian dissident; he's estranged from his son; and he's harboring romantic feelings for a former co-worker. Narrator Alex Jennings spans continents with a variety of European and Indian accents--always subtle, never caricatures. Jennings expertly puts the story first, a clever and enjoyable meditation on the publishing world, big business, liberal values, and the consequences of discovering "the truth." J.M.D. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

October 28, 2013
In Palin’s second novel, Keith Mabbut is a corporate hack-writer with literary ambitions. When a lucrative opportunity to write about legendary activist Hamish Melville presents itself, Mabbut leaps at the opportunity. With his personal life falling apart, he finds inspiration in Melville. But the book he’s written flies in the face of what his publisher wants and that creates all sorts of problems for Mabbut, his family, and Melville. Narrator Alex Jennings deftly delivers a variety of foreign accents and captures Mabbut’s initial frustration and general disposition. Jennings also renders Mabbut’s evolution and transformation, providing a clear contrast between the man Mabbut was and is by novel’s end. The narrator also lends consistent, unique voices to secondary characters. And, best of all, Jennings manages to, at times, channel Palin, capturing the author’s wry delivery and excellent timing. A Thomas Dunne hardcover.

September 9, 2013
Monty Python member Michael Palin (Hemingway's Chair) impresses with an enjoyable second novel. Keith Mabbut, an aging writer of talent but only modest success, is offered a lucrative contract to write the biography of the famous, but elusive indigenous rights activist Hamish Melville, an opportunity that would require him to put on hold his passion project of a trilogy of fantasy novels. After seeking advice from nearly everyone in his life, Mabbut travels to India in pursuit of an interview subject who does not want to be found. So begins a multi-continental adventure full of corporate intrigue, moral quandaries, and entertaining characters. Palin is a thoughtful, descriptive stylist, particularly in the South Asian chapters, and charmingly portrays Mabbut's middle-aged haplessness in the face of culture shock and unexpected mortal danger. As portended by the title, many characters prove to be different than they first seem, but these reversals are earned and lead to a satisfying climax.