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Plot

When a successful British ghostwriter agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, his agent assures him it is the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an accident. The ghostwriter flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless he stays in the U.S. or goes to another country that does not recognize that court.

The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth, and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia. As the ghostwriter works, he uncovers clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind.

Lang is assassinated, but the ghostwriter eventually completes the book anyway. During the presentation of the book, the ghostwriter stumbles upon the final clues to the mystery in the original copy of the memoirs that reveals that Ruth is a CIA agent who has been advising or controlling Lang's every actions or moves. After passing a note to Ruth of his discovery, the ghostwriter leaves the book launch with the original manuscript of the memoirs. Leaving the building, he crosses the street off-camera. It is indicated by sound effects and flying papers that he is then mysteriously hit by a car.

[edit] Allusion to Tony Blair

As in the novel, the character of Adam Lang is a transparent allusion to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The BBC notes that the character "was inspired by Tony Blair", and that "the ghost of Tony Blair ... haunts the fictional Mr Lang, with references to Iraq, the 'war on terror', and a much too cosy relationship with the United States". It also notes, however, that the crime of which Lang is accused—handing British citizens over to the CIA to be tortured (in one case to death)—would probably not be deemed a war crime or a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court, as the acts were not "committed as part of a policy that is executed on a wide scale".^[4]

The actors who play Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart and the US Secretary of State physically resemble their real-life counterparts Robin Cook and Condoleezza Rice. Like the character Rycart, Cook had strong differences with the direction of the British Prime Minister in foreign policy matters.