简介
亚当•朗是20世纪下半叶英国在位时间最长也最有争议的首相。如今他已离开公职，接受了史上金额最高的一笔预付金，撰写关于自己的生活和权力生涯的回忆录。要写出这样一部著作，对朗来说压力巨大，因此他雇用了一个职业影子写手（ghostwriter）来完成这本书。这个写手开始工作后，发现了朗的更多秘密，这些秘密有关改变世界政治格局的权力，有关生杀予夺的权力……知晓了这些不该知道的秘密后，影子写手将做出何种抉择，又将面临怎样的命运安排？
《影子写手》出版后，在英国引起极大轰动，小说中的卸任英国首相是否在影射某位政要？书中描写的政坛阴谋是真事，还是虚构？众说纷纭，答案都在书中。根据小说改编的电影中，影子写手将由尼古拉斯•凯奇饰演，前“007”皮尔斯•布鲁斯南将出演亚当•朗一角。
作者简介
罗伯特•哈里斯（Robert Harris） 英国最重量级畅销小说家。1957年出生于英国诺丁汉，就读于剑桥大学塞尔文学院时已展露出过人才华，曾任剑桥辩论协会主席。毕业后先后于英国广播公司、《观察家报》工作，并担任《星期日泰晤士报》和《每日电讯报》专栏作家。2003年荣获英国新闻奖之年度最佳专栏作家殊荣。1993年，他出版了小说处女作《祖国》（Fatherland），一夜成名，从而转向成为一名小说家。此后的《密码迷情》（Enigma）、《大天使》（Archangel）、《庞贝》（Pompeii）都是风靡欧美的畅销小说。因为题材新颖，情节构思精巧，其作品常常被拍摄成影视作品，由国际大导演罗曼•波兰斯基指导的电影《庞贝》将于2009年上映。对罗伯特•哈里斯的小说推崇备至的波兰斯基也已接下《影子写手》的改编与导演工作，将其搬上大银幕。
Displaying enviable versatility, Harris, who first achieved acclaim with his alternative history, Fatherland, and who more recently showed his mastery of the historical novel in Pompeii, hits one out of the park with this dark paranoid thriller. Former British prime minister Adam Lang (clearly modelled on Tony Blair) is up against a firm deadline to submit his memoirs to his publisher, and the project is dangerously derailed when his aide and collaborator, Michael McAra, perishes in a ferry accident off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. To salvage the book, a professional ghostwriter is hired to whip the manuscript into shape, but the unnamed writer soon finds that separating truth from fiction in Lang’s recollections a challenge. The stakes rise when Lang is accused of war crimes for authorizing the abduction of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan, who then ended up in the CIA’s merciless hands. As the new writer probes deeper, he uncovers evidence that his predecessor’s death may have been a homicide. Harris nicely leavens his cynical tale with gallows humor, and even readers who anticipate the plot’s final twist will admire the author’s artistry in creating an intelligent page-turner that tackles serious issues.