Research

Written by Philip Kerr

Narrated by NIgel Carrington

Houston publishes so many books a year that he can't possibly write them himself. He has a ghost team; writers, agents, publishers. So when he takes a year out to write something of quality, a novel that will win prizes, a lot of people stand to lose their livelihoods. Now Houston, the prime suspect in his wife's murder, has disappeared. He could be anywhere and there are many who'd like to find him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Jul 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781471270284

Philip Kerr

Philip Kerr is the bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther thrillers, for which he received a CWA Dagger Award. Born in Edinburgh, he now lives in London. He is a life-long supporter of Arsenal. Follow @theScottManson on Twitter.

Reviews for Research

[atomic1964 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hm. Some good twists but nothing on Bernie. Surprising and predictable at the same time.

[iansales_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

John Houston is a mega-selling author, who runs an “atelier” of writers – he comes up with the stories, they bang out the actual prose… and the books are of course sold under Houston’s name. It makes him millions of dollars a year and his writers a comfortable living. If this sounds a little familiar, it’s because Houston is clearly based on James Patterson. But Houston has decided to pack it all in. He wants to write something himself, to prove he has the writing chops. So he closes down his atelier and pays off his writers… Shortly afterwards, his wife is found murdered in their Monaco apartment, and Houston has done a runner. The police contact Don Irvine, the first writer to join Houston’s atelier (the two were friends and colleagues at an advertising agency), but he can shed no light on the murder. And then, as you’d expect to happen in a novel such as this, Houston contacts Irvine, pleads innocence and asks for Irvine’s help. Which he is happy to give. The novel is broken into sections, alternating between first-person narrations from Irvine’s and Houston’s point of view. And pretty soon things aren’t what Houston, Irvine or even the Monaco police thought they were. As thrillers go, there’s not much in here that hasn’t been done before. However, Kerr does a top job of satirising mega-selling authors of the likes of Patterson, their books, and the publishing industry which supports them. For that alone, it’s worth reading.

[adpaton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Prolific best-selling writer John Houston [think James Patterson, Clive Cussler etc] is on the run for murdering his much younger wife: with him is Don Irvine, former colleague, old friend and ex army hard man who helps him escape the Monaco police - John is so rich only a tax haven like Monaco will do - and prove his innocence.Oh yes, John is innocent: it wouldn't be much of a story is he actually did the deed. But there's more: John pushes out several bestsellers a year under his name, but he doesn't actually write them himself. No, he does a 30 page plot outline and passes them on to Don and a couple of other writers to turn into books for him. Recently though John has decided to go back to writing himself: he has disbanded his writers' studio and is working on a new book, careless of the fact that this leaves his amanuenses in the lurch. Could one of these suddenly unemployed hacks have framed him for the killing?Not as stylish or good as many of his other books but it's still Philip Kerr and he's always a delight.