Customer Reviews

Edge of Madness

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Michael Dobbs has written some good stuff. His Churchill quartet (Winston's War: A Novel of Conspiracy, Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill, Churchill's Hour: A Novel of Defiance and Churchill's Triumph: A Novel of Betrayal), a novelization of Churchill's war leadership, was extremely satisfying. His non-fiction book on the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire, was immensely readable and instructive. Thus, it pains me to have to report so negatively on THE EDGE OF MADNESS.

Occasionally, one hears of hackers penetrating government or corporate computer systems. And recently, there was the report of a cyber worm attack on an Iranian nuclear power plant. Cyber-war is the new assault mode for the twenty-first century. So, in THE EDGE OF MADNESS, China has assembled a gaggle of techno-geeks in a former toy factory to bring down the West's infrastructures beginning with that of the United Kingdom. But Britain has gotten wind of the plot through a highly placed spy, so the Prime Minister, Mark D'Arby, arranges an ultra-secret gathering of himself, the American President, Blythe Edwards, and the Russian President, Sergei Shunin, at an isolated Scottish castle to decide on a consensual pre-emptive strike. Intentionally cut-off from their respective governments to maintain secrecy, the three leaders begin their deliberations at the same time that the Chinese literally push the button to initiate their devastating cyber assault.

First published in 2008 (before the U.S. elections), the author perhaps patterns the Blythe Edwards character after Hillary Clinton, the favorite to win the Presidency before Barack took America by storm. Both Hillary and Blythe have philandering husbands. And Shunin's background and nationalistic aspirations may call Vladimir Putin to mind. Whom D'Arby resembles is unclear. Blair? In any case, the main protagonist of the story is the only one to accompany the PM to Scotland, Harry Jones, the ex-SAS hero of Dobbs's previous novels The Reluctant Hero and The Lord's Day.

The author never really integrates the two halves of the story, the one in China and the one in Scotland. During the book's initial three-hundred or so pages, the tension increases and the reader might be led to believe there's to be a bang-up conclusion. But then one half fizzles while the other half degenerates into a farce of, to me, mind-boggling proportions. By the last quarter of the novel, I was just hurrying to finish the fiasco so I could move on to something more worthy.

THE EDGE OF MADNESS was so disappointing that I may never pick up another book by Michael Dobbs again.

As a fan of Michael Dobbs' novels about Prime Ministers Churchill and the splendid Francis Urquhart it was an easy decision to add The Edge of Madness to a stock of Kindle books being assembled for a lengthy holiday.

Its intended role was well defined and should have been perfect given Dobbs' prior work - to be the first book for a long flight, triggering the transition from home to holiday. It looked like intelligent escapism, a political thriller hopefully combining a good story line, informed writing and clever characterisations. Perfect getaway literature.

The book's core idea - that the West and Russia are under a determined cyber attack from China - should support a taught, exciting political thriller. Certainly Dobbs' assured writing about Churchill and the swirl of events surrounding him in WWII suggested he could handle such material well. Sadly that's not what the reader gets.

The narrative is jerky to the point of confusion. Without spilling the beans for anyone who buys this book, it attempts to tie tightly together rapidly developing events in numerous locations around the world and build tension accordingly. Instead it is so disjointed and improbable that half way through it was provoking scorn. It was read to the end only becaause (a) one travels in hope and (b) the in-flight films were rubbish. The ending is just infuriatingly limp.

Most disappointing for a Dobbs fan, the characters are poor, either weakly drawn or close to caricature. The British Prime Minister, Mark D'Arby, falls into the first category, a sort of 'Mark D'arcy meets Tony Blair' (note to Colin Firth's agent; I suspect it was written with your man in mind for the film version, but probably best to say no). The Russian President is in the second, part Kruschev, a little Gorby and a lot of vodka.

So, avoid it. I'm now going to get something else by Dobbs to restore my confidence. The reviews on his Cuba book look encouraging.

I am a fan of Michael Dobbs' Churchill novels and have enjoyed his other works too. Unfortunately, Dobbs' plot in "Edge" is improbable and silly and his characters are boring. It is his skill as a writer and a faith in his ability to produce a good ending that kept me reading. I was disappointed. If one is looking for a good Dobbs read, I would stay away form this one and, instead, pick up one of his Churchill novels.

Like others I am a Dobbs fan, particularly his Churchill series. I picked this up in the remainder bin and it was a mistake. It should have been pulped. The story drags, the characters never really come alive and I have no idea how it ends because after 268 pages it is going into my give-away box without being finished so I can get on to a good read.