Hello Friends!
Sometimes I find myself awake in the middle of the night thinking about life, about the world, about our society. Sometimes I even think about politics and how education in my country could be so much better if people could just open their eyes.
I had the chance to read “The Benevolent Dictator“, written by the brilliant Tom Trott, and I found myself thinking about some of those subjects more during the time I was reading the book.
This book is a Political Thriller, and I haven’t read that many of those to call myself an expert, but I can say that I enjoyed it a lot more that I have in the past, by reading books in this genre.
Thank you Rachel, at Rachel’s Random Resources, and Tom for the eCopy of the book and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour and give my honest review.
Blurb
Ben longs to be prime minister one day. But with no political connections, he is about to crash out of a Masters degree with no future ahead. So when by chance he becomes fast friends with a young Arab prince, and is offered a job in his government, he jumps at the chance to get on the political ladder.
Amal dreads the throne. And with Ben’s help he wants to reform his country, steering it onto a path towards democracy. But with the king’s health failing, revolutionaries in the streets, and terrorism threatening everyone, the country is ready to tear itself apart.
Alone in a hostile land, Ben must help Amal weigh what is best against what is right, making decisions that will risk his country, his family, and his life.
Purchase Links: Website | Amazon
Author Bio
Tom Trott was born in Brighton. He first started writing at Junior School, where he and a group of friends devised and performed comedy plays for school assemblies, much to the amusement of their fellow pupils. Since leaving school and growing up to be a big boy, he has written a short comedy play that was performed at the Theatre Royal Brighton in May 2014 as part of the Brighton Festival; he has written Daye’s Work, a television pilot for the local Brighton channel, and he has won the Empire Award (thriller category) in the 2015 New York Screenplay Contest. He is the proverbial Brighton rock, and currently lives in the city with his wife.
Social Media Links – Twitter | Facebook | Website
My Review
This is the first book I’m reading of Tom Trott, and I’m actually surprise that I enjoyed it so much. I sometimes tend to run away from Political Thrillers, mostly because I’m afraid of them, but when I read the blurb of this book I had to join in the blog tour and read it.
Tom was able to get my attention from page one. I didn’t get bored or confused by the politics aspect of the book, because, first Tom’s writing style, characters and action/thriller moments were a good balance to all the heavy subjects in this book; second, maybe I’m changing as a reader and I’m actually enjoying other genres I was afraid or didn’t gravitated towards before.
Ben and Amal were fantastic characters that gave life to the plot and storyline, even with the great storyline, if the characters didn’t felt real, I don’t think the book would have work, for me at least. The way they dealt with the situations, the relationships, their thoughts, how they developed from page one to the end… it all made sense, was relatable, and gave the book a good dynamic.
Not only is the concept of this story quite important, from the cultural differences to the politics, the naivety, to the dream of changing the world, to the conflicts, to the morality aspect… It all made me wonder. And not only did that made a powerful impact, maybe sad too at some points after reflecting about it, but it also made the setting of this book real.
Like a said before, it made me wonder. That’s always something I love in a book. I love when they provoke my mind into thinking and debating about life, the world and even about myself. So I applaud Tom Trott for the thought provoking story. As a Social Educator, most of the times, when I’m reading a book I catch myself thinking of how this story could help out in real life. And in this case I see this book as a tool to provoke a debate about principles, about morality, and about the society we live in.
If like a good Political Thriller, I recommend you to check out this book and come to your own conclusions about the world.
You can also check out this review on my Goodreads account.
Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers on this blog tour and find other reviews, guest posts, interviews, spotlight posts and basic promo.
Don’t forget to comment, don’t be stranger. If you have any book recommendation you can leave a message using the form on my Contact Me page.
If you are an author and want me to do a review of your book you can go check out my Request Review page.
I always welcome new books to add to my list and I’m always excited to do reviews and read books.
Love,
Jess
Jess Bookish Life 