MANHATTAN NOCTURNE: THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

I am now just over a third of the way into Manhattan Nocturne by Colin Harrison which was sent to me to review by a nice lady at Picador USA.

I will be posting a full review when I have finished but sometimes you come across a passage and a character that just grabs your attention.

Hobbs, the billionaire newspaper owner in this novel, is an amalgam of a well known real life newspaper tycoon, Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst and Attila the Hun. His subtle attitude to employment law and management techniques is not unknown in real life.

"Please! I can throw a bone in the street and get a newspaper staff. I've done it in Melbourne, I've done it in London, and I could do it here."

Or:

"Or we might find that your wife had operated on someone we know and that, sadly, she did not do such a terrific job, and we could then secure an allegation of malpractice-"

It is tough in the newspaper industry, but I am enjoying the book.