by Terry FallisMcClelland & Stewart
~ Review in Halifax Herald, September 2010
There are those among us who are not particularly fond of politics, and who certainly don’t find the antics on the Hill amusing. But even if you are counted among this group of Canadians and you really don’t love politics, or even like them, The High Road will entertain. It might be against your better judgment, it might be in spite of great resistance, but you will succumb. The High Road will surely make you laugh.
And if you do love politics, you’re in for a treat. There will be snickers, occasional snorting and hooting, and almost certainly rip-roaring belly laughs. Terry Fallis has understood how things work up there on the Hill (fictionally of course), or if that’s not really how things are done (dare we hope not), he is very convincing.
His new novel continues the shenanigans of characters from his first book, The Best Laid Plans. The economy is failing, the three political parties are fighting, the minority government is shaky and things are looking grim. But the Liberal’s have a secret weapon. They have Angus McLintock, the curmudgeonly and peevish Scot who manages to topple the teetering parliament with his deciding vote. His hapless aide, Daniel Addison, fiercely (and unsuccessfully) resists the call to be deeply involved in yet another election and together they trudge the well worn campaign trail one more time. When Daniel finds out that his candidate has been arrested 23 (that’s twenty-three!) times, all “perfectly legitimate arrests”, he becomes a very fast peddling spin doctor as well.
The campaign trail proves to be a journey of mayhem, barely averted disasters and some very nasty campaign strategies. “Brainwashed by the writings of his ultra-feminist wife, Angus McLintock has a secret extremist feminist agenda ready to rip apart Canada’s social fabric. He actually wants housewives to be paid for baking cookies and vacuuming… (and) you ain’t seen nothing yet.” But it’s all in good fun – and fiction!
What has made Terry Fallis so unusual in the publishing world is his marketing strategy. Unable to find a publisher for his first book, The Best Laid Plans, he published it as a podcast, one chapter at a time, in order to ‘test the waters’ of public reaction. People liked it! He then gave up on the publishing world and did it himself. It won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was promptly picked up by McClelland & Stewart. This strategy was so successful that M&S was persuaded to repeat it, and for the first time, they have released a book in serialized podcast format. Times are definitely changing.
Terry Fallis was drawn to politics at an early age, and has worked for Cabinet Ministers both at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa. He lives in Toronto.
