A review by jimbowen0306
House of Cards by Michael Dobbs
3.0
This book is a rather silly book about a British politician's scheming to become Prime Minster of the UK. In a way it reminds me of Chris Mullins' A Very British Coup, but while that book, felt, at least in part, believable, this book is just pulp fiction. It's good pulp fiction that rattle along at a fair old pace, it's pulp fiction all the same.
The book itself traces the scheming of Francis Urquhart, the Conservative Chief Whip as he bully, cajoles, and blackmails his way to the top. I call it silly because his schemes are all rather too perfect, and the people he deals with (who are presumably just as ruthless are either naively gullable when it comes to his plans, or considerably less ruthless in carrying out their plans (which is something I find hard to believe).
My other grumble with the book is that it's dated now (it was published 25yrs ago). I don't think Urquhart would be able to pull off many of the things he attempts nowadays.
All this said, it was still a good fun read.
The book itself traces the scheming of Francis Urquhart, the Conservative Chief Whip as he bully, cajoles, and blackmails his way to the top. I call it silly because his schemes are all rather too perfect, and the people he deals with (who are presumably just as ruthless are either naively gullable when it comes to his plans, or considerably less ruthless in carrying out their plans (which is something I find hard to believe).
My other grumble with the book is that it's dated now (it was published 25yrs ago). I don't think Urquhart would be able to pull off many of the things he attempts nowadays.
All this said, it was still a good fun read.