#BlogTour-‘What Lies Around Us’ by Andrew Crofts

About the book…

 It is possible that since this book’s publication you will have heard that I have died in ‘suspicious circumstances’. Obviously I hope that will not be the case, but I believe it is worth taking the risk in order to get this story out there.

Why would one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful billionaires offer a British ghostwriter a million dollars to write the autobiography of Hollywood’s biggest star?

Only once he is living and working among the world’s richest and most beautiful people does the ghost realise that there is way more than a publishing deal at stake.

The ghostwriter must face the dark underbelly of the tech industry. He must face corruption and manipulation, come to blows with people who will do anything to remain at the top of their game and uncover the dark truth behind what it really means to be an influencer . . .

What Lies Around Us takes the reader into a world of myth-makers and power-brokers and reveals who is really running the world. Who is telling the stories and controlling the way we all think with a mixture of old media, social media and fake media?

Hugest of thanks to the wonderful Anne Cater of Random Things for the blog tour invite and Red Door Publishing for my lush hardback copy which I completely loved!

‘The great danger of being ‘connected’ to the internet whilst writing is the temptation to have a peek at what might be happening in ‘real time’ on social media. What stories are trending? What’s the gossip?Tempting click bait lies in wait for the unwary web traveller at every turn.This temptation is increased a hundredfold when you are involoved in the world’s hottest story.’

The title, ‘What Lies Around Us’ , is both literal and metaphorical-the lies are often facts hidden in plain sight but also ‘what lies’ refers to everything which is present in our day to day lives(family, friends, work) all of which can be influenced by truths told or hidden.

In this meticulously plotted and succinct examination of the state of affairs globally-but more specifically in America-Andrew Crofts presents a metatextual ‘what if?’ in which he appears as a ghostwriter who is asked to write an autobiography of Hollywood’s biggest female celebrity. A mixed race woman descended from Mexian and Chinese parents with a golden boy husband, beautiful children and a sharp mind, the possibility for a pay day which will relieve the pressure of a freelance writer, all expenses paid trip to California, what’s not to love?

The clues are there right from the start where Andrew-the first person ghostwriter narrator-warns that after publication of the book you are reading ‘it is possible that since this book’s publication you will have heard that I have died in suspicious circumstances’. He lays his cards out, this was the commission he was given by Roger Rex, a Silicon Valley billionaire who wants Jo-Jo Win’s book ghost written and now.

Following a discussion with his wife Caroline, he agrees, signs an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and flies to California where he is introduced to the people in Jo-Jo’s life before finally meeting her.

Each of these people has an image they want to portray of Jo-Jo, and you very quickly buy into this, it’s the post-modern trap of wanting to believe in something better, something which transcends the absolute carnage which is 24 hr rolling news. She comes from driven, intelligent parents, is married, happily to Chuck, a golden boy actor who is at ease with being less successful, more home based than his famous wife. They 2 adorable children who Andrew quickly bonds with, missing his own daughter at home. This is, he thinks, a dream job as long as no one finds out he is doing it.

But then…a phonecall from England, from a publisher begging him to consider his house to distribute the book. Comments from Roger about the Trumpian state of affairs and how a ghostwriter was indirectly responsible for his climb to the White House. And deaths.

How far will a person go to get what they want, who will they kill to make these ambitions reality and how much of the Andrew in the book is the Andrew who wrote it?

Who are ghosts and who is real in a world where social media has made is so possible to re-invent yourself, hide in plain sight and control your life’s narrative?

Cleverly weaving politics, culture and the nature of truth in an era of ‘fake news’ this is a book that is an absolute joy to read…that seems like the wrong word to use but shouldn’t all the best books make you think? And have you looking outside what you believe to be the staus quo, research certain things that they discuss in its pages and get you looking a bit deeper into the every day?

In ‘What Lies Around US’, Andrew Crofts has created a thriller, a meditation on modern day public life, and throws light onto the world of ghostwriting and publishing. I found it endlessly fascinating how he managed to put so much into such a short book (214 pages) when other writers I feel sure would have stetched his key concepts out to at least double this length.

What I know is this-it’s a book by an extremely clever writer with trenchant observations on the modern way of life and I desperately want to read his other novel, ‘The Secrets Of The Italian Gardener’. He lays himself bare in these pages , references his own work but without a modicum of false flattery they are laid out as facts. He is behind some of the biggest bestsellers in the Sunday Times, so where does Andrew Crofts the writer, and Andrew Crofts the ghostwriter differ, if at all?

‘What Lies Around US’ has piqued my interest tremendously and is absolutely the type of book which keeps you thinking for days and days after reading it. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to have read this exceedingly clever book, thank you so much to Andrew, Red Door Publishing and Anne Cater.

About the author…

Andrew Crofts is a ghostwriter and author who has published more than eighty books, a dozen of which were Sunday Times number one bestsellers. He has also guided a number of international clients successfully through the minefield of independent publishing.

His books on writing include “Ghostwriting”, (A&C Black) and “The Freelance Writer’s Handbook”, (Piatkus), which has been reprinted eight times over twenty years.

Throughout his bestseller, “The Ghost”, Robert Harris quotes Andrew’s seminal book, “Ghostwriting”. Harris’s book went on to become a major movie by the same name, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor as the eponymous ghost. The opening lines in Robert Harris’s book sum up Andrew’s philosophy:

“Of all the advantages ghosting offers, one of the greatest must be the opportunity that you get to meet people of interest”.

Andrew was on the Management Committee of the Society of Authors from 2012 to 2015. He lectures on the subject of making a living from writing at Kingston University, presents Masterclasses on the subject at The Guardian and frequently guests at writing workshops, literary festivals and in the media. He blogs regularly on matters pertaining to publishing, self-publishing and writing.

Linka- http://www.andrewcrofts.com/

Twitter : @AndrewCrofts

@RedDoorBooks

@annnecater