A heart-pounding read

Izak de Vries

Buy now!

David Michie
Conflict of interest
Little, Brown
London
2000

(Read LitNet’s interview with the author, David Michie.)

David Michie’s debut is a classy thriller. Set in the boardrooms and oak panelled offices of London’s super wealthy, Conflict of interest looks at the world of corporate PR and casts an icy look at spin-doctors and their methods.

Chris Treiger used to work for a polling company — where he excelled. Soon everybody knew his face — so too did the boss of Lombard, Britain’s most powerful PR firm. They headhunted him, but he was not interested. Then they made him an offer he simply could not refuse: an annual salary of £120 000, a BMW and, above all, a brand new division at Lombard he would have had to take charge of. What’s more, he was to work directly with Nathan Strauss, the head of Starwear — the biggest sportswear brand in the world. Nathan Strauss was the clinch. Chris jumped.

Sadly, so did Nathan Strauss. Strauss flung himself from a ninth storey hotel window. Why? Why did he leave the world’s biggest brand, after Coca-Cola, in the hands of his brother Jacob — a man with a less than sound reputation?

Chris and his university sweetheart, the journalist Judith Laing, soon found out why, but the truth was nearly too ghastly to believe. It certainly was too explosive to be published, for a number of people started following Nathan to their deaths. All those who died had been investigating Jacob Strauss and Starwear. Was Judith to be the next victim? And what about Chris? His job was to promote Jacob Strauss, not denounce him.

More I shall not tell. The book is an absolute page-turner. The real secret is only revealed at the very end. Michie is clever enough, though, to drop hints and some solid clues along the way. The more the reader discovers, the more precarious the situations of those “in the right” become. The end is a spectacular ... triumph? Disaster? Read Conflict of interest and discover the thrills for yourself.

The book is good. So good that the PR company working for Little, Brown put it on the shelves with a bright red ribbon around it, proclaiming:

As good as The Firm ... or your money back!! See over for details

“Over” reads:

We are sure you will find Conflict of interest a totally compelling read, but if you don’t agree we will refund your money. Just return your copy of the book to us, together with your till receipt and the reason for your dissatisfaction. Offer ends 31st December 2000.

Wow. That’s PR.

So. Am I in on the deal? Did I get a visit by a beautiful woman in a green Jaguar? (Read the book, you’ll see why it has to be green.) Nope. I hope it is clear that the book is thoroughly enjoyable and that I do encourage all and sundry to buy and read it, but I am not going to allow a talented author such as Michie to get away with a rather disturbing ability to make the baddies worse than bad. I mean they are bad, lets face it, but why ...?

I dare not say too much, because parts of the plot hinge on the character traits of those in the wrong, but why the final “insult” to the bad guys? Fairly early on in the book there are hints of sexual abuse to children. Readers will discover why this becomes a large part of the final chapter, but why? Child labour in its grossest possible form is so cleverly woven into the story that this final form of abuse, which really is not important for the story, is an added extra, a cheap blemish on a bad character’s character (tautology intended) that simply is uncalled for.

I say again: Conflict of interest is a wonderful thriller and is spellbinding to the end, but a bit of classical literary theory might have helped Michie avoid the pitfalls of “character bashing”.

Aristotle taught his students the following about the tragedy:

But the most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality.

Michie’s book contains a lot of the timeless qualities of that great theatrical spectacle, the tragedy. Once one finishes the book, it is impossible not to see just how much those at the top wanted more, and how much their greed undermined them. Classical stuff. That’s why:

The Plot then is the first principle and, as it were, the soul of the tragedy: Character holds the second place.

Conflict of interest has a superb plot — everything is there, every bit of detail (plot wise) pushes the book to the climax, to the inevitability of it all. When one studies the tragedies, the overwhelming feeling one gets is that of helpless wonder: can’t they see? They can’t, because they are in it too deep. And what’s more, greed pushes them on and on.

The heroes of the tragedies are heroes, they are not stereotyped baddies, because one has to weep in the end. Michie sets the scene for a massive bang, but his characters simply develop too many flaws, chipping away from their status as godlike heroes, to have one crying when they fall.

Pity. But I shall shut up now.

Oh, just one last thing: this book is going to be a great movie. The cover suggests it already. Take the cover and you have a poster. The blurb for the poster has even been scripted: “When they head-hunted him he didn’t realise they wanted his life.” The action is fast and furious. I’ll be the first in line to see it. But don’t wait for the movie. Michie’s text is eloquent and crisp. It has been years since I have enjoyed such a thoroughly heart-pounding read.

Splendid!

• (Aristotle is quoted from his “Poetics” as it appears in Critical texts: Plato to the present day, edited by WD Maxwell-Mahon and published by Maskew Miller Longman.)

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