Head of State

Starred review from December 1, 2014
Former BBC political editor Marr makes his fiction debut with a terrific satirical thriller reminiscent of the movie Wag the Dog. In 2017, the U.K. anxiously awaits the results of a referendum to determine whether it will leave the European Union. Prime Minister Bill Stevenson has made a vote to stay in the union the most important priority of his career, but as the election nears, the outcome is very much in doubt. He’s opposed by his former home secretary, Olivia Kite, who promises the “gift of freedom” if the country votes to leave. Three days before the referendum, investigative reporter Lucien McBryde dies from a fall, ending up in the morgue next to a man’s corpse that lacks hands and a head. Marr gradually reveals the circumstances of both deaths, and how they connect with a nuclear bomb of a conspiracy whose disclosure would all but cinch the vote for one side. Clever dark humor, witty prose, and a rigorously constructed plot add up to a thought-provoking read. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Ltd. (U.K.).

Starred review from December 1, 2014
Now that the Scottish independence brouhaha has been settled, the question of the U.K.'s European Union membership is next on the agenda. Marr's (The Real Elizabeth, 2011, etc.) wickedly funny first novel, set in 2017, takes up the battle.The prime minister sees the U.K.'s economic future tied to Europe. Opponents, opposition and ruling party alike, feel Britain must no longer be subject to overweaning continental bureaucracies. The prime minister-once "an intense, wiry-haired young politician" who became a "larger-than-life, principled yet unscrupulous figure" of notoriously "louche private behavior"-is opposed by his former Home Secretary, Olivia Kite, "red hair, pale face and vivid crimson lips" (picture Cate Blanchet as Elizabeth I with the heart of Cromwell). The battle's followed by pols, pundits and once-grand newspapers where "wise old sacks of human indolence order the young and stupid about." Some characters are stock: reporter Lucien McBryde, an "an arrogant little sod" running on "marching powder"; and others are sociopathic: "that foul little splodge," Alois Haydn, regarded as the "notorious Svengali of Number 10." Marr flashes urbanely sardonic British humor (or humour)-"One of the great things about first-class air travel is that it puts all the crooks together"-and then explodes the narrative with an election-swaying death days prior to the vote. Enter Professional Logistical Services, a coven of former intelligence officers, military types and financial wizards, brought in to apply "advanced research techniques" to the crisis. Peripheral characters like the prime minister's staff members; government functionaries; a Polish assassin; Myfanwy Davies-Jones, a novelist "with a cloud of yellow hair and a scarlet reputation"; and Lord Briskett, a noted historian from Oxford, "that crowded, clucking duckpond of vanity and ruffled feathers," run amok while Mr. Haydn traipses about London with a human head in a "Waitrose 'bag for life.' " Witty. Imaginative. Irreverent.

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February 1, 2015
It's 2017, and the UK is about to vote on whether it will stay with the European Union. On the stay side is the popular prime minister; the opposition is led by the ambitious Olivia Kite. Ken Cooper, editor of the National Courier, is trying to track down wayward investigative journalist Lucien McBryde, who promised him a huge scoop. Lucien's ex-girlfriend, Jen Lewis, is sharing the opposition's political strategy with Ned Parminter, research assistant to the great political historian, Lord Trevor Briskett, who is writing the definitive book on the referendum. Ned is also in love with Jen. Meanwhile, the slippery Alois Haydn has involved himself in a secret at 10 Downing Street. Once the irregular time line settles into a rhythm, the madcap proceedings careen toward a darkly comic peak. Bodies pile up, vile motives are revealed, and then the press gets involved. This is a very British satire, with inside jokes for the most devoted Anglophiles, but skewering a dysfunctional political system is, unfortunately, universal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)