Official Review: Number Ten by Robin Hawdon
Posted: 03 Jul 2019, 23:03
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Number Ten" by Robin Hawdon.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Number Ten by Robin Hawdon is quite the political adventure, having Brexit and terrorist attacks twists. When a young post-Theresa May Prime Minister (PM) comes up with an ambitious strategy to boost Britain's internal security by cutting down funding on external security (read army), various parties feel threatened. The result? All hell breaks loose!
Fate is convoluted at times! When the British army was part of the forces hunting down terrorists across the universe, the said terrorists kept their cool. Now that Britain has decided to pull out of these hunts and concentrate on her internal security, the terrorists strike. With the PM's near-assassination, it becomes clear that someone within number 10 Downing street is leaking sensitive information.
Could this person be Paul Gunter, a junior aide and research assistant to the Prime Minister? After all, there is damning evidence against him. And this is the bizarre part: while someone seems to have gone to such great lengths to frame Paul, someone else is going to even greater lengths to ensure he is not brought to book. What follows is Paul's twists and turns journey of deciphering the forces against and/or for him. Why is he the fall guy and who among his friend's can he trust?
Join Hawdon in Number Ten, as he cleverly weaves Paul’s sleuthing escapades to ensemble a gripping crime thriller destined to keep you engrossed to the very end. The political scenarios in this novel are so current that I had a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction. Using the third person narration style, the author provides a sufficient omniscient approach that keeps you in the loop of the many unfolding events, and their motivation. In addition, Hawdon’s vivid descriptions help you get a glimpse of the scenes. For example, never having been anywhere near number 10 Downing Street, I got such a clear description that I think I can pick it from a crowd. The cherry on top was learning to tell whether or not the queen is in residence!
Hawdon effectively combines dry humor and sarcasm, often with deadpan delivery. Indeed, the banter between friends can easily initially throw you off – for a few seconds, anyway. It is so well done, that you may worry that it is the character the pun is directed to that may miss the punchline, not you. I also enjoyed the prim and proper British dignity. Even the homeless seemed rather formal.
The plot unravels satisfactorily fast. The characters are easy to grasp and came well developed. Hawdon however,ensured we see Paul, the main protagonist, grow from a trustingly naive desk jockey to a ‘fringe-benefits' negotiator. Sometimes his actions are ridiculous while at other times they are brilliant. A budding romance is also on the menu!
The recurring theme in the book is whether, if you knew the future, you would change anything. As is common in every day life, the answer to this is not straight forward, thanks to the unpredictability of many outcomes. The best thing to focus on therefore should be your reaction to the situations.
The author properly used sentence fragments to accentuate the topnotch narration. Unfortunately, these fragments were just too many to allow me a smooth reading journey. I had many ‘huh?’ moments which had me re-reading the phrase. This slowed my pace, and subsequently diminished my enjoyment of the plot. There also were a few minor editing errors like missing punctuation marks. For these reasons I sadly rate Number Ten, 3 out of 4 stars.
If you are looking for a fast paced, political satire set against the backdrop of British dry humor and sarcasm, then you will hit gold with this one. Coupled with the great plot development and sober language the book is appropriate to even younger readers.
******
Number Ten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Number Ten by Robin Hawdon is quite the political adventure, having Brexit and terrorist attacks twists. When a young post-Theresa May Prime Minister (PM) comes up with an ambitious strategy to boost Britain's internal security by cutting down funding on external security (read army), various parties feel threatened. The result? All hell breaks loose!
Fate is convoluted at times! When the British army was part of the forces hunting down terrorists across the universe, the said terrorists kept their cool. Now that Britain has decided to pull out of these hunts and concentrate on her internal security, the terrorists strike. With the PM's near-assassination, it becomes clear that someone within number 10 Downing street is leaking sensitive information.
Could this person be Paul Gunter, a junior aide and research assistant to the Prime Minister? After all, there is damning evidence against him. And this is the bizarre part: while someone seems to have gone to such great lengths to frame Paul, someone else is going to even greater lengths to ensure he is not brought to book. What follows is Paul's twists and turns journey of deciphering the forces against and/or for him. Why is he the fall guy and who among his friend's can he trust?
Join Hawdon in Number Ten, as he cleverly weaves Paul’s sleuthing escapades to ensemble a gripping crime thriller destined to keep you engrossed to the very end. The political scenarios in this novel are so current that I had a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction. Using the third person narration style, the author provides a sufficient omniscient approach that keeps you in the loop of the many unfolding events, and their motivation. In addition, Hawdon’s vivid descriptions help you get a glimpse of the scenes. For example, never having been anywhere near number 10 Downing Street, I got such a clear description that I think I can pick it from a crowd. The cherry on top was learning to tell whether or not the queen is in residence!
Hawdon effectively combines dry humor and sarcasm, often with deadpan delivery. Indeed, the banter between friends can easily initially throw you off – for a few seconds, anyway. It is so well done, that you may worry that it is the character the pun is directed to that may miss the punchline, not you. I also enjoyed the prim and proper British dignity. Even the homeless seemed rather formal.
The plot unravels satisfactorily fast. The characters are easy to grasp and came well developed. Hawdon however,ensured we see Paul, the main protagonist, grow from a trustingly naive desk jockey to a ‘fringe-benefits' negotiator. Sometimes his actions are ridiculous while at other times they are brilliant. A budding romance is also on the menu!
The recurring theme in the book is whether, if you knew the future, you would change anything. As is common in every day life, the answer to this is not straight forward, thanks to the unpredictability of many outcomes. The best thing to focus on therefore should be your reaction to the situations.
The author properly used sentence fragments to accentuate the topnotch narration. Unfortunately, these fragments were just too many to allow me a smooth reading journey. I had many ‘huh?’ moments which had me re-reading the phrase. This slowed my pace, and subsequently diminished my enjoyment of the plot. There also were a few minor editing errors like missing punctuation marks. For these reasons I sadly rate Number Ten, 3 out of 4 stars.
If you are looking for a fast paced, political satire set against the backdrop of British dry humor and sarcasm, then you will hit gold with this one. Coupled with the great plot development and sober language the book is appropriate to even younger readers.
******
Number Ten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon