The Whistle Blower is a political thriller written by award winning political journalist Robert Peston. Peston, known for his sharp analysis of the political landscape captures the intensity and excitement of British politics brilliantly in his debut novel.
The book is set in a fictional version of 1997 which mirrors the real politics from that time but with fictionalised politicians added in. In 1997 the country is ready for change with the Labour Party hopeful of getting their first election win in 20 years and pushing out the Tories. They have a young charismatic leader who brings with him New Labour. Sounding very familiar so far.
Enter Peston’s characters. The central character is the journalist Gil Peck, top print journalist desperate to get a good scoop. He has some issues with drugs and alcohol which he thinks are under control. Some coping mechanisms for his OCD and some noticeable distance with his family from taking one too many private conversations and putting them into print. His father is a well respected member of old Labour, now retired and a heavy weight for his children to bare as they try to live up to him. Gil’s sister Clare works for the treasury and where once they had been close the relationship has fallen apart.
Clare is the start of everything. One day leaving work she is hit by a van while riding her bike and is killed. It’s devastating for the family but soon Gil comes to realise that things just don’t add up. Her friend says she just couldn’t find her bicycle helmet that day. She looked everywhere but it wasn’t there. Then the next morning the helmet was exactly where she always left it. Clare’s been behaving strangely for weeks having a very public argument with the Chancellor and leaving work at odd times. Something is going on and Gil has to find out what.
The Whistle Blower is a well thought out plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. There is humour to lighten some of the darker aspects. Gil may not be particularly likeable at times but you are rooting for him and of course you want to find out what happened to Claire. It’s a slow burner for the first two thirds of the book filled with political intrigue and then a race for the end as things hit full thriller and become very exciting. A great pace for the book giving the reader time to really inhabit the politics of 1997.
A very enjoyable read. You don’t have to be familiar with British politics to enjoy it. For those readers in the UK it does feel very relevant to British politics as we are again experiencing what many feel could soon be the end of a long run of Tory government to be shortly replaced by Labour. Even this coming week many constituencies will be going to the polls ahead of the general election later this year. There is an excitement in the air around politics and an upcoming election which Peston captures so well in his book, each chapter counting down the number of days until the election.
An exciting and observant read from one of British politics and economics leading analysts.
For those who enjoyed The Whistle Blower there is also another book with Gil Peck set in 2007 called The Crash about the financial crisis and the author intends to write a third to bring the politics up to the modern day. The idea was always to have three books which would tell the story of modern British politics and how they impacted on us all.
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