RV009 - House of Cards by Michael Dobbs

Hello everyone!

As fast as I am starting a book, these days, I'm finishing it such is the lack of quality upon all TV stations.

But this is not a rant, nor is it a rave, but a review that has been around as a TV series for a few years now, House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey...

House of Cards Review

This particular book, right from the offset, seems set on painting a picture of what it's like behind the closed doors of Number 10 Downing Street. As far as political thrillers go, this one I would rate quite highly in that it has allowed me to see just why it was made into a TV show by the ever-popular streaming service Netflix.

I cannot run a comparison between the two because that is not the function of these reviews, plus I have not seen the TV show as yet. Instead, what I can do is tell you that if you ever wondered what went on behind closed doors in politics, this would provide you with some clues. Even though it is not a factual novelisation, you can tell that Dobbs has really done his homework in an attempt to shine the light on cronyism and all sorts of other corruptions taking place in-between the media and politicians.

The Negatives

In my mind, this book does not really have that many negatives as it ends when it should, the writing flows between scenes without ever feeling like it's dragging and the characters are well crafted so much that you could almost believe this is a true-to-life tale of politicking corruption.

Being the start of a trilogy, too, this particular book sets up just enough intrigue to keep you interested throughout, whilst at the same time leaving you wondering just what will happen once Urquhart, the novel's main protagonist (if you can call a scheming, conniving person a protagonist!) attains power by any means necessary.

I do feel, if I am honest though, that the ending left some ambiguity as to who it was that jumped off the roof. Whether that is intentional will remain to be seen as I have no knowledge of the TV show, nor have I read any of Dobbs' other books in the series.

Final Thought

In closing, then, I would certainly rate this book as one to read for this summer whether that's during a lazy day by the river, or on a sun lounger by the sea.

You can buy it today at Amazon and find out for yourself if the ending is all that ambiguous or not and you can disagree with me in the comments below, I won't mind because I'm always looking to the next book as I'm coming towards the end of one.

4/5

As far as books go, I would rate this as the best of those I have read in recent reviews and would highly recommend it to anyone with even a remote interest in politics as you can see how this sort of thing is probably going on right under our noses without us even recognising it as Joe Public.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts in the comments section down below to see if you agree with my rating, let alone whether you agree with the feedback I have given about this particular book.

===TLP===