The Sun King [Import] [Unbound]

David Ignatius (Author), David Agnatius (Author)

Product Details

• Unbound
• Publisher: Random House Trade (September 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0375504559
• ISBN-13: 978-0375504556
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

More About the Author

David Ignatius, a prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, has been covering the Middle East and the CIA for more than twenty-five years. His novels include Agents of Innocence, Body of Lies, and The Increment. He lives in Washington, DC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Graceful, romantic, funny--and impossible to put down, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sun King (Hardcover)

Ignatius fans (and I am one) knew that he could render the shadowy world of espionage. But who knew he had a gift for comedy and romance? Sandy Galvin's stewardship of Washington's only major daily is the only Washington satire of recent years that actually outdoes reality. Ignatius's wisecracking narrator skewers the journalism scene with a light-hearted cynicism that would do credit to Evelyn Waugh. And Galvin's courtship of his lost love--and the painful conclusion of his Gatsbyesque quest--progress from romantic fun into a truly poignant depiction of real-life heartache. I read THE SUN KING in one sitting. The book's a winner!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a disturbing tale, July 28, 2000

By 

Pamela Stone - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sun King (Hardcover)

A tale of a tycoon who comes to town to challenge the powers that be and ends up facing his own challenge with the woman he loves.

Sandy Galvin is the Sun King, a billionaire with a talent for taking risks. Galvin arrives in Washington and proceeds to turn the Capital up side down. He buys the city's most powerful newspaper and wields it like a knife. In his way stands his old Harvard flame, Candice Ridgeway a beautiful and icy journalist known around town as the Mistress of Fact. Their encounter is tangled in the mysteries of their past and narrated by David Cantor, who is an acid-tongued reporter, a big Jerry Springer fan, and is drawn into Galvin's life to be transformed by this unpredictable man. Love is the final frontier for a generation of baby boomers, still young enough to reach for their dreams, but old enough to see the prospect of loss. Galvin can light up a room but can he melt the heart or Candice Ridgeway.

This is a disturbing tale of ambition and sexual desire. I consider it of mature theme.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong, involving, topical, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sun King (Hardcover)

I had read and thoroughly enjoyed the author's journalism/espionage thriller A Firing Offense, but this is indeed a departure from that. His characters and their interactions do echo those in The Great Gatsby, but not apishly so. David Cantor, the narrator, is actually not nearly as nice a guy as Nick Carraway. In Sandy, the author definitely creates a believable Gatsby for the turn of the century, and Candace makes a creditable high powered woman of our age, as well as an understandably unattainable love object. Mix these characters with all that delicious, I would think none too exaggerated, Washington atmosphere, the author's love/hate relationship with journalism and the media, and his stylish writing and there's enough for a good read. Little did I know I would be emotionally involved enough to feel deeply for the fate of this power couple.