With Brexit, the election of Donald Trump to the
White House and allegations that the Russian security services might have
helped put him there, it is surprising there haven’t been more novels to
attempt to tackle such themes. Perhaps this is the first in a new trend, that
just as after 9/11 not a few novelists attempted to tackle the rise of Islamic
fundamentalism, a wave of literary efforts attempting to explain the strange
new world we’re faced with is just upon the horizon. If this is so, Stanley
Johnson might at first glance appear an unlikely trailblazer. He is after all
the father of Boris, the quirky and some might say controversial politician,
Foreign Secretary and leading Brexiteer. This would be unfair however as
Stanley is the author of twenty-five previous books, both fiction and
non-fiction, a former Conservative member of the European Parliament, and a
leading environmental campaigner. The Johnson family are also known to speak
their minds, even if this might upset their most famous member, as his sister
Rachel (Stanley’s daughter) did when she joined the Liberal Democrats in
protest at the Conservative’s support for Brexit. So perhaps it’s not so
surprising that Stanley has penned a satire of the current geopolitical
environment. But is it any good?
With such broad themes one might imagine Stanley
to have produced a doorstopper of a book, certainly before I received my print
copy from the publishers I was expecting something along the lines of 500+
pages. In fact, Kompromat is exactly 302 pages, which while normal for a
typical work of fiction, when one considers the complex ideas involved and the
fact that the book has a cast of over 100 (there’s a 5-page cast of characters
listing at the beginning) might come as a surprise. Obviously, most of the
characters prove to be walk-on parts, the main character perhaps being Edward
Barnard, a leading Conservative Party Brexiteer. I say he’s the main character
as he appears most in the novel but close on his heels are the Russian
President Igor Popov, the controversial American businessman and Republican
Presidential candidate Ronald C. Craig, and Mabel Killick, the UK Home
Secretary and later Prime Minister.
One of the fun aspects of this book is playing
guess who. Igor Popov is obviously Vladimir Putin, Ronald Craig is Trump, while
Mabel Hillick is Theresa May. There’s a character based on Cameron, a Rupert
Murdoch, a Hillary Clinton, and yes, a surprisingly small part for the
“ebullient and charismatic” former Mayor of London, Harry Stokes. You might
assume that such a large globetrotting cast might make the novel unwieldy or a
mess of competing narratives, but not a bit of it. This is a novel that trots
along at quite a pace. The author does an admirably good job of joining all the
threads and at no point does the novel meander or the plot get lost. As
befitting a satire it’s also a surprisingly light-hearted novel, not a mean
feat considering the weighty topics that it addresses. There are twists and
turns galore, with not a few surprises. There are also some laugh out loud
moments. Despite all this, Stanley Johnson spins an all too plausible tale and
while I’m not suggesting that he knows anything we don’t, one just has to watch
the news after reading the book to know that some of what he portrays might
just be on the mark.
That all said I did have a couple of issues with
Kompromat and strangely it’s that what makes the book so good also does it an
injustice. Its fast pace, multiple international settings and global cast of
characters, while enjoyable, mean that there’s little depth here. Apart perhaps
from Edward Barnard and his wife we never really get into the heads or hearts
of any of the other characters. Similarly, there’s a feel of frivolity to the
novel, which while in some senses is refreshing in a political story – the
genre can all too often be dauntingly heavy or preachy – can at times come
across as trite. Finally, due to its broad scope, the author can’t help but
neglect aspects which depending on the reader might feel strange. An example of
this is that Simon Henley (a thinly disguised Nigel Farage) hardly gets a
mention. I’m not a fan of UKIP, but a novel that tackles Brexit while hardly
featuring the party and its most famous leader, in my opinion makes a very odd
oversight.
So back to my original question, is Kompromat any
good? Well yes, it is. All in all, it’s an enjoyable satire, a romp if you
will, while still being all too scarily believable.
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