Mister Hobgoblin Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 The Burning Time is the latest political thriller featuring the BBC investigative journalist William Carver. This one revolves around climate change and geo-engineering projects to reverse global warming. Some of the projects are coming to an untimely end and Carver receives a tip off from a senior civil service contact that the British Prime Minister is getting rather cosy with jan Austra;ian climate change billionaire... Peter Hanington's narrative style is short chapters taking place at various exotic and aspirational locations around the world. Much of The Burning Time is set around London, Spain, Australia and the US. Hanington is a former BBC journalist himself and he provides a good insight into the procedures behind radio news production and the BBC Monitoring operation that used to operate from Caversham. While Carver seems to be able to come and (mostly) g as he pleases, his sidekicks (Naz, a trainee journalist, and McClusky, a retired Caversham operator) are grounded in procedures, job description KPIs and security access issues. The plot here seems sound. There is intrigue, ambiguity about who is a good guy and who is a bad guy (although the henchman is as sinister as they come), and mostly it is credible. Hanington creates real moments of tension, and the cutting away to another story line leaves the tension hanging. There are enough real-world references to allow the reader to relate, even though some of the high finance stuff is beyond our pay grades. The ending is satisfying without quite tying everything up with a bow, and doesn't involve great mental gymnastics to understand, Basically, this is what a thriller should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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