I wasn’t sure what to expect from a first novel with an ecological slant by Michael Palin but I am very pleased to have given it a chance. Poor old Keith Mabbut is a lost soul doing a job he doesn’t really like with a most definitely flawed family life when he is offered the chance to make his name and his fortune. The subsequent search for the truth about Hamish Melville, a living legend defending the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples against the advances of modern corporations is at turns thought provoking, amusing and informative. The fact that as the reader you can almost hear Michael Palin reading the story to you just makes it even better.

The thing that I've found when reading fiction written by very famous people, is that I tend to see the author when I'm reading, rather than the characters. So, for me, Keith Mabbut looks like Michael Palin, although really I doubt that they have too much in common. Keith is a man who regrets a lot, he is gazing back at this life and wondering just where to go next. Having just completed a book about an oil company in the Shetlands, he is determined that at last he will write his long-planned fiction novel. His agent has other ideas and despite (little) protest he finds himself off to India to track down Hamish Melville. Michael Palin has been able to draw on his experience in the world of television presenting and travel writing to create a realistic sounding if not very pretty backdrop for this novel. A gentle, fairly slow at times and dry-witted story that moves slightly into the 'thriller' territory in the second half. Michael Palin writes well with great insight into the environmental nature of the plot.