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A review by 1outside
The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper
4.0
This is obviously no great piece of literature (and I'm sure it was not even intended as such), but it sure is a page-turner, and a lot of fun to read!
I'm personally not a big fan of the recent prevalence of conspiracy theories in both works of art and more worryingly in real life, but I guess I found the one(s) featured here just about plausible for the context of the world of the book. (Note: look, I know cover-ups and conspiracies do exist, but I'm not into paranoiacally seeing them everywhere. That way lies madness.)
I had to suspend my belief a bit more in the case of Margaret, whom I adore and want to be the star of the next book - if there is a next book with these characters.
But I definitely have no problem with her strong intellect and moral compass. She's definitely a woman after my own heart, and somebody to strive to be more like. The best male-written female character I've come across in a while.
I also really enjoyed the relationship between Margaret and the book's main-er character, her husband Charlie. It really is fucking great to see a relationship between husband and wife being portrayed as yes, not always working 100%, but for it to nevertheless not fall apart in any huge way, as is just about the norm in fiction. As if the only drama or interest can be created only when people succumb to seductions or stop communicating with each other completely.
What I found a bit...cute and funny is the way president Eisenhower is kind of presented as God here. I don't know how close the depiction in the book gets to the real man, but just as a character he came off a bit too...speaking-like-a-book-y.
I think Tapper does a good job making the reader feel like he's reading a story really taking place at that time, almost...as if the book was actually written at that time. Almost - because it just inevitably - and thankfully - is more "woke" than a piece of fiction from that time likely would have been.
I gather Tapper is really into history, political history specifically, and you can really tell. He fills the book with many nerdy tid-bits. Sometimes they're incorporated almost seamlessly, sometimes a bit clumsily, but I personally didn't mind even those. Yes, there are writers who can do this better, but Tapper is a first-time fiction author, so I'm cutting him some slack.
I think my favourite flourish in the book are the streams of scraps of conversation that pop up a few times in the book. You can pretty much feel the pool/ocean of babble wash over you.
Oh, and the notes, sources and further-reads at the end are hella cute, and very welcome. A nice touch.
***Might update with fave quotes at some later point.***
I'm personally not a big fan of the recent prevalence of conspiracy theories in both works of art and more worryingly in real life, but I guess I found the one(s) featured here just about plausible for the context of the world of the book. (Note: look, I know cover-ups and conspiracies do exist, but I'm not into paranoiacally seeing them everywhere. That way lies madness.)
I had to suspend my belief a bit more in the case of Margaret, whom I adore and want to be the star of the next book - if there is a next book with these characters.
Spoiler
Nevertheless, by the end of the book I started to suspect her of superhuman-ness. She sure managed to survive a lot in the course of the book, all the while being pregnant. I wish people in my family were made of such stern stuff.But I definitely have no problem with her strong intellect and moral compass. She's definitely a woman after my own heart, and somebody to strive to be more like. The best male-written female character I've come across in a while.
I also really enjoyed the relationship between Margaret and the book's main-er character, her husband Charlie. It really is fucking great to see a relationship between husband and wife being portrayed as yes, not always working 100%, but for it to nevertheless not fall apart in any huge way, as is just about the norm in fiction. As if the only drama or interest can be created only when people succumb to seductions or stop communicating with each other completely.
Spoiler
And it's nice to see married/in relationship people acknowledge attraction to other people w/o it inevitably ending up in cheating. Or treason.What I found a bit...cute and funny is the way president Eisenhower is kind of presented as God here. I don't know how close the depiction in the book gets to the real man, but just as a character he came off a bit too...speaking-like-a-book-y.
Spoiler
Aside: Methinks the personal agent circle the president has here is probably Trump's wet dream. But he could never understand the point about filling it with people of character.I think Tapper does a good job making the reader feel like he's reading a story really taking place at that time, almost...as if the book was actually written at that time. Almost - because it just inevitably - and thankfully - is more "woke" than a piece of fiction from that time likely would have been.
I gather Tapper is really into history, political history specifically, and you can really tell. He fills the book with many nerdy tid-bits. Sometimes they're incorporated almost seamlessly, sometimes a bit clumsily, but I personally didn't mind even those. Yes, there are writers who can do this better, but Tapper is a first-time fiction author, so I'm cutting him some slack.
I think my favourite flourish in the book are the streams of scraps of conversation that pop up a few times in the book. You can pretty much feel the pool/ocean of babble wash over you.
Oh, and the notes, sources and further-reads at the end are hella cute, and very welcome. A nice touch.
***Might update with fave quotes at some later point.***