Smoke Screen - Softcover

Mills, Kyle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451212789 ISBN 13: 9780451212788

Publisher: Signet, 2004

Synopsis

Through a series of unwanted promotions, Trevor Barnett has become the lead spokesman for the tobacco industry-just as a two-hundred-billion-dollar lawsuit is about to bankrupt it. Now, Big Tobacco is going on the offensive-and Trevor is caught in the crossfire.

About this title

Review

In Smoke Screen Kyle Mills produces a deliciously sly fantasy on what would happen if the tobacco industry saw sense. His hero, Trevor, is a thirtysomething trustafarian whose eventual wealth depends on his staying part of the family firm--an integral part of Big Tobacco. His capacity for useful candour gets him promoted to a senior PR job at just the point where a maverick CEO tries to blackmail the US government and people by shutting down the entire tobacco industry--to demonstrate that multi-billion lawsuits and endless regulation aside, America cannot do without tobacco. Trevor, though, has a different agenda--presumably Mills' own--which is to bring common sense and humanity to the debate; he also wants to hang onto his personal wealth and get the woman he loves--which is harder than it sounds, since she is an anti-smoking advocacy lawyer.

At times, this is a talky book, and has some slightly artificial melodrama about Serbian tobacco smugglers; Trevor is an attractive and entertaining advocate for his political positions and Mills manages to involve us in all the political and boardroom chicanery that his charm and honesty cut through like a cigar clipper. --Roz Kaveney

Review

'Like cigarettes, this book should come with a warning; it's that addictive. You will laugh - and you will stop smoking.' - The Australian Way

Praise for Kyle Mills:

If you haven't read Kyle Mills yet you should - I do (Tom Clancy)

A timely and chilling tale . . . The novel's plot is carefully crafted and original, filled with corporate and political intrigue, treachery, betrayal and complex backroom deals that keep big companies humming along. With a refreshing lack of sanctimony, Mills turns the tobacco wars into grist for an absorbing business thriller (Publishers Weekly)

Kyle Mills is that special kind of thriller writer who knows how to keep an ominous chill lurking on almost every page (Allan Folsom)

Fabulous (New York Times)

In the world of political thrillers, I have a feeling that young Kyle Mills will soon be a very big player (Frederick Forsyth)

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451212789
• ISBN 13: 9780451212788
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 387