This book came so close to being a very good novel, but sadly it fell at the last hurdle. Former soldier David Blaylock, who saw active service in Afghanistan, has gone into politics as a pragmatic Conservative and, against all odds, won and then retained a constituency in Teeside. Shortly thereafter, he is appointed Home Secretary, where he has to balance an increasingly fractious relationship with the police while simultaneously relying upon their unquestioning loyalty as he pursues the war against terror.

There are some clear and utterly plausible insights into the administrative side of the life of a minister, wading through submissions and correspondence while also flitting from meeting to meeting, absorbing his briefing on the way. This was one of the few novels about the political world that I have read that captures that mundane aspect of the ministerial role. Unfortunately, while Kelly captures the context with great clarity, he falls down when it comes to plot. The story develops with tortuous slowness, rendering the novel an exercise in turgidity. ( )