The Big Story

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The Big Story

Category:	Fiction
Author:	Ian Taylor
Publisher:	Matador
Price:	£7.99
ISBN:	978-1906221-294
Pages:	256
Reviewed in issue:	9

Coming out at a time when the revelations of less than honest documentary-making by hitherto trusted broadcasters is fresh in the public memory, The Big Story is well timed.

Gerry Harris has almost certainly ruined his career by getting himself arrested for drunken brawling and so missed an interview with the Russian President. He can bounce right back as a freelance, however, if he can pull off his next big story and discover the whereabouts of kidnapped reporter Peter Neville. To do that, he must keep ahead of the BBC’s team of Damien Street and Olivia Denning-Smith.

Most of the story unfolds on a remote Philippine island. Other stories emerge on the way, and there will be career-making rewards for the winner even if all is not as it appears and some leads are discreetly ignored.

It seemed at first as if the viewpoint in the story was flitting from one character to another, and this made it difficult to identify with any of them. Part way into the story, however, it became obvious that the viewpoint is not that of the omniscient author but, rather, of the documentary producer. Which, indeed, is Taylor’s profession. It’s a way of writing which may have pitfalls, but it comes off well in The Big Story, and suggests the possibility of dramatic adaptation. It’s a page-turner and I will look out for Taylor’s next novel.

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