An American Story Paperback – 11 July 2019

Priest is my favourite (living) author anyway, but this is different, mixing historical fact with the fiction. The attack on Washington and New York on 9/11/2001 is the central event and, as the main character tries to investigate the fate of his girlfriend, he uncovers some disturbing evidence.Could the attacks have been planned by Bush and Blair? The twin towers expertly demolished, with charges laid before the aircraft hit? The Pentagon hit by a cruise missile, rather than by an airliner? Is there any evidence of terrorist involvement at all? The devil is in the detail, and this is a very detailed story, and very plausible.Read it.

Great book!

For over 40 years I’ve eagerly awaited every new book by Christopher Priest. Alternative reality has been his mainstay since “Indoctrinaire” in 1970 and few writers have been as skilled in creatively misleading the reader. Priest’s writing and narrative drive is as skilful as ever in “An American Story” but in respect of the story line, it is an enormous disappointment due to using the events of 9/11 as the major plot device. I have no problem with his use of real-life events (he has done this before very resourcefully and entertainingly) but it’s his dishonest questioning of what happened which rankles. This is all the more dispiriting because there was no need to work his story around 9/11 - it would surely have worked just as well if a fictional event had been used to drive the plot. Sadly, Priest appears to have wanted to publicise his scepticism about the official account of 9/11 to make a point rather than concentrate on a fictional novel - neither is the scepticism simply a device on the part of the narrator, as anyone reading Priest’s blog will be aware.

A slightly different direction for Mr Priest, and not one that initially interested me. However, I decided to give it a go, as the basic premise of the story – conspiracy theories – is similar to the regular themes which underpin most of his writing.He tells the story in a typical Priestian way; a couple of chapters in and I was really enjoying it and looking forward to the dark twists and turns that would be uncovered. But that wasn't really to be. Three quarters through, and it really felt like the author had got so sidetracked with reading up on 9/11 conspiracy theories, that he lost enthusiasm for his own story.What we have is a good, expertly written, researched and detailed story, but a straightforward one. I was desperate for it to go into slightly more harrowing territory. It does make you think and perhaps question things, but if you're a fan of his usual style of alternative existences or timelines, then yo might be a little disappointed in the direction An American Story takes.