DIRTY GEESE by Lou Gilmond

DIRTY GEESE

Lou Gilmond (lougilmond.com)

Fairlight Books (fairlightbooks.co.uk)

£9.99

Buy a copy from your favourite independent bookshop

Harry Colbey has just been promoted to the Cabinet as Minister for Personal Information, much to the delight of his social-butterfly wife. A general election is looming on the horizon and the Prime Minister wants Harry to shepherd the previous minister’s privacy bill through Parliament before the election is called. The previous minister, it seems, tried to rusth the legislation through in a private member’s bill before taking his own life, raising all sorts of red flags for Harry, as well as for the Chief Whip, Esme Kanha. Who are Voter Services, the shady organisation helping to run the party’s campaign? And what is Alcheminna, the software they are using to get inside the voters’ heads? What does it have to do with the death of Harry’s predecessor and what does it mean for Harry and Esme’s political futures?

In Dirty Geese , Lou Gilmond’s new novel and the first of a proposed series featuring Harry Colbey and Esme Kanha, we find ourselves deep in the literal corridors of British power. With this political thriller, Gilmond finds the perfect balance between staid old tradition and cutting-edge technology to produce a story that grips from the opening pages and keeps hold for the duration.

As Cabinet Ministers, both Harry and Esme give us some insight into what goes on behind the scenes of British politics. We find ourselves behind the famous black door of Number Ten, or in those parts of the House of Commons that we might not have seen before. Here we see the back-room politicking that happens on a daily basis: backs being scratched in the hope that the favour will be repaid with interest in the future. Given the current state of British politics, it’s hard to imagine how an author could come up with something worse, but in many ways it helps to make what she is proposing much more believable than it might otherwise have been. Harry is something of an anomaly here: he is here because his wife is pushing him to aim ever upwards, but he is also seen as a “safe” and “boring” set of hands. Someone who will do what he is told and won’t ask too many questions. As an MP who wants to introduce an Honest Politicking bill to the House, it seems he may have been underestimated.

At first, Esme seems to be his polar opposite: she is full of ambition and has a lot to prove. She has worked hard to get to her current position, feeling that she is at a disadvantage to many of her monied, white male colleagues. But she wants more, and even has her eyes set on the top spot at some point in the not-too-distant future. So she could go either way when she and Harry discover what’s going on. These are characters in whom we, the reader, become completely invested, despite the fact that they are politicians. Their relationship, as it develops across the course of the story, is brilliantly portrayed, full of humour and, at times grudging, respect for each other. The supporting cast are wonderfully-drawn and help to sell this vision of Westminster for which the author is striving.

Al, artificial intelligence, is the buzzword of the minute and, as a technologist-by-day, it’s always interesting to me to see how these things are portrayed in fiction. It’s a complex subject, and isn’t always easy for non-technical authors to grasp the finer points, which can often lead to cringeworthy or outright hilarious results. While Al and data privacy are at the heart of Dirty Geese, Gilmond manages to avoid any pitfalls by shifting the focus away from the technology and onto how easily it could be used – or abused – by a nefarious actor. Yes, the system Gilmond describes seems a little far-fetched – but only a LITTLE – but it doesn’t matter: the technology isn’t the point, and that works wonderfully in the author’s favour. These are two very important topics for “plugged-in” people today, and Gilmond presents a well-crafted argument about their use. Most importantly, she presents this argument in a way that prompts the reader to ask themselves which side they agree with.

Dirty Geese is a well-written and instantly-engaging political thriller that achieves the impossible: it presents two central characters, politicians, with whom we feel some empathy and who we want to see succeed. Filled with a warmth and humour that keeps things reasonably light, it also presents moments a heart-pounding danger and excitement, making the story fly along at a breakneck pace. The perfect story for anyone who wants a glimpse behind the curtain at how British government works, or who has concerns about privacy and how it is being eroded a little bit each day, Dirty Geese is a wonderful showcase for author Lou Gilmond. Definitely one to watch.