Stanley Johnson (2) (1940–)

If you’re one of the millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic who look back on the elections of 2016 and say, to yourself or at the top of your lungs, “What just happened?” this satirical new political thriller is for you.
Its characters are such thinly disguised versions of today’s leading political figures, you can be forgiven for thinking you’ve inadvertently picked up a recent copy of The Times. Much-needed is the list of its many characters—from the US, Russia, Germany, China, various other countries, four “key animals” and, most numerous of all, leaders of the UK. “Kompromat” is a Russian word—a portmanteau meaning compromising material, and in this novel—as, possibly, in real life—most of these countries hold plenty of it on each other.
As the book opens, a 2016 US presidential candidate is participating in an international wildlife expedition that hopes to radio-collar a tiger. Events go wrong almost immediately. The candidate ends up in a hospital where the Russians plant a bug in his body. The CIA, ever on the ball, figures this out, and replaces it with their own bug. And they’re not the only ones. By the book’s end, America’s new president unwittingly has unwittingly become another “Voice of America.”
Meanwhile, the British have problems of their own. Its Secretary of State for the Environment is approached by the Russians, who have singled him out as a leading light of the “Eurosceptic wing” of the Conservative Party. He learns the Prime Minister agreed to the Referendum on EU membership (the “Brexit” vote) for a reason no more complicated than money. Apparently, the PM believed the vote would never actually occur and, even if it did, it wouldn’t succeed, and the Party would receive money for doing nothing.
Author Johnson devises numerous amusing and convoluted scenarios in which the hapless politicians become entangled. In his scenario, these byzantine schemes are organized and carried out by the Russian Security Service—the FSB, heir to the KGB—“ to change the whole structure of international politics.” The book is not only entertaining, it makes you think “what if?” and, as more news drifts out of world capitals, perhaps “why not?”
Johnson is a former politician and member of the Conservative Party, and a former employee of the World Bank and the European Commission, who has held a number of prominent environmental posts as well as being an environmental activist. In the time preceding the Brexit vote, he co-chaired Environmentalists for Europe. Although he’s on record as opposing the Referendum, his son Boris was a key leader of the “leavers.” The book is in development for a six-part television series too.… (más)

This is a thinly veiled story of world politics between (about) 2014 and 2016. A very rich businessman is running for President, England is debating Brexit, the Chinese are spying and gently pushing world politics in a direction that will help them, and Russia is interfering in (especially) the U.S. presidential race by backing the rich businessman. It is predictable cliched.
I suppose if you don't closely follow politics, it could be interesting, but for those of us who follow politics closely, it is sub-par.… (más)

Immediately, the cover to Stanley Johnson’s Kompromat stands out. With its huge, stark black lettering in pseudo-Cyrillic font, a reader has a good idea that the book is going to be a political one. Quickly into the book, this proves true. The story loosely follows an endangered species protection campaign, a false video smear campaign, and the ensuing political dealings among the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and so on. Other situations (i.e. “Brexit,” an upcoming U.S. presidential election) are tangentially involved.

The book hints that the events “might” be true, which is just a device to heighten the tension. For this reason, I might be careful giving this to anyone overly sensitive to the current political climate. The book is hardly subtle: political figures (with their names slightly changed) do things that directly correlate to the (real life) daily news. One group of people might find the book nitpicking their beliefs, while the book may trigger unwanted reminders of the current state of politics to other people. If you can get past the thinly-veiled satire, however, you will find a very strong political thriller.

I would be comfortable recommending this to a wide range of people. I might think twice about giving it to someone who may read it for anything other than it is—satirical fiction. Kompromat should be fun to read (perhaps as the author intended?), instead of being taken too seriously. Again, beyond the politicization, this is a well-written political thriller, and I would gladly hand it to someone waiting for the next Baldacci, Clancy, or Flynn.… (más)