Robert Harris specialises in thrillers that guarantee their interest by offering startling perspectives on world-historical events. After writing five impressively reported works of non-fiction, his first novel Fatherland (1992) boldly imagined a world in which Hitler won. It was followed by Enigma (the breaking of the code), Archangel (Stalin leaving a terrifying identikit son), and Pompeii (boom).
Altogether he has published 16 novels, some quasi-factual accounts of global turning-points, such as Munich (Chamberlain defended), and, this autumn, Precipice (Asquith’s wartime affair). They’re all well-crafted, thoroughly researched and highly readable, although not rewarding to revisit until completely forgotten. Eight have been adapted for cinema, including two (one about Tony Blair, the other about the Dreyfus affair) by Roman Polanski.
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