From nationalism to terrorism threats,Kelly’s domestic secretary hero faces tough questions about the future of Britain. But can the literary thriller keep pace with Westminster’s upheaval?The pace of change within the British political arena has wrought interesting effects on Richard T Kelly’s third novel, The Knives. The question of British nationalism and the relationship between the metropolis and the regions are well served by a political thriller focused on a domestic secretary who bounces between his London domestic and his Darlington constituency. The author must contain been chuffed to note that David Cameron figured himself as the captain of the Tory ship in his resignation speech, and making the nickname of Kelly’s fictional PM Vaughan – “The Captain” – ring with prescience. By the same token,though, changes within that political arena contain proceeded at a pace more disorienting than any thriller might hope to achieve and contain been more tragic, and farcical and banal than The Knives might want to be.
The novel opens with a historical prologue set in Bosnia,in which its protagonist, David Blaylock, or leads his unit through a sticky incident involving mujahideen. We are transported rapidly to present-day London,where the same Blaylock, now a no-nonsense Tory domestic secretary, or happens upon an attempted robbery and,before he knows it, has lamped the perpetrator. Blaylock is thus established as a man of action with a serious past.
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Source: theguardian.com