Making Nice is full of deliciously dark humour as it explores the murky underbelly of public relations. It's an interesting and enjoyable read. One that will certainly be a must read if you've always wondered about the world of public relations,

Keenly Observed…
Keenly observed satirical tale explores the undercurrents of PR and the underground world and campaign trails of Westminster. In fact, the sheer and utter madness of the world at large. Peppered with an eccentric cast and a sharp tale.

An entertaining and relatively amusing satire on spin-doctors, corruption in government and shady politicians, this is ultimately a fairly light-weight and inconsequential novel with which I gradually lost patience. Dickie Pentecost is a diplomatic correspondent for a not very important newspaper who loses his job after the inevitable “restructuring”. Whilst on a family holiday with his wife and two daughters he meets Ethel, a rather mysterious, almost fey, young man who dispenses words of wisdom and advice at the drop of a hat, always seeming to be completely au fait with the Pentecost family's situation, finally offering Dickie a job which takes him on a series of picaresque adventures in Africa, the US and finally back to the UK where he takes up a short-lived government post. Nothing works out for Dickie quite as he hopes, not least because he is remarkably naïve for a newspaper correspondent and events always take him by surprise. As a social and political satire and a comedy of manners, it has its moments but the novelty wore off fairly soon and it didn’t seem to offer any new perspectives on what has become sadly commonplace and all too familiar.

This was a good book to read, good writing, metaphorical and timely.
Thanks a lot to NG and hte publisher for this copy.

This is a depressing and highly entertaining story about the world we are living in, PRs and political spin doctors.
Depressing because it's a bleak depiction of reality, highly entertaining because it's a darkly humorous satire and you cannot help laughing at the farcical characters.
The author is an excellent storyteller and this story kept me reading.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

‘Making Nice’ is a public relations agency, working mostly to improve the public profile of not-so-nice politicians and businessmen. At the heart of it is Ethel (aka Johnny Evers), a spritely Puck-like character who seems to know everything and be everywhere. Journalist Dickie Pentecost, first meets Ethel (which he tells him is short for Ethelbert) while on holiday with his wife and daughters. Ethel seems to keep turning up and then disappearing again but somehow manages to keep in touch with the family once they return home to London. After returning to work, Dickie finds himself suddenly unemployed, but Ethel pops up once more with the offer of a job as a PR spin doctor at ‘Making Nice’.

Dickie is too helpless and naïve to help make anyone look good, and is soon floundering at the job. Nevertheless, he finds himself sent to Africa to aid the team running the election campaign for a corrupt politician. When that goes pear shaped, Ethel appoints him as a data manager for a US senator running for re-election and then as a special advisor to a dodgy British MP, whose ‘autobiography’ he is also supposed to be ghostwriting. Meanwhile, Ethel is behind the scenes, orchestrating everything, including Dickie’s family life.

This is a witty satire about the state of modern-day politics and the PR spin doctors who manipulate what they want the public to see and think. While all the characters are somewhat farcical and exaggerated, and I did love Ethel’s ethereal persona, Dickie seemed too hapless to be placidly going along with what was happening to him, especially for someone who has had a former career as an International investigative journalist. However, despite that, there are many places where the events skimmed unsettlingly close to reality and those who follow politics closely will likely find much to laugh at.

Dickie Pentecost fails upwards in this tribute to Evelyn Waugh's scoop and Armando Ianucci's world if ambitious advisers who believe in nothing but power. It is both very funny and a bit scary, as it appears that the country is being run by a boy's club of rich idiots making it up as they go along. Looming over the story is the deeply unpleasant and weird Ethelbert, known as Ethel. He comes from the same factory as the inexplicable Dominic Cummings. Ethel takes a creepy interest in Dickie's daughter that was full of red flags for this parent. Please read with a glass of something strong.

I confess if it wasn't for NetGalley, I wouldn't ever dream of reading, let alone reviewing this book. I generally avoid books with any hint of politics in them. However, I was intrigued by this title and its blurb.

Our protagonist went through so many bizarre marketing and political machinations that were so outlandish they actually ringed true. The book starts with our protagonist meeting for the first time a mysterious man of all trades who will affect deeply his life and family. Not soon after, he has lost his job as a political journalist, and that new acquaintance found him a new one - a sort of PR consultant, going to many places, observing a lot, but actually doing nothing at all.

I felt a bit uneasy at some parts though, related to the breezy and careless relationships the protagonist had with his wife, children, and everyone else. I couldn't fathom what was so appealing about him too, that all these shady people and PR consultants flocked to his persona. I guess I am not that savvy in political intrigues to understand that much.

Readers who like funny political satires, will very much enjoy this one.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

"You see, Dickie, capitalism may be the only game left in town, but it's not a game people like playing much. So we're engineering a paradigm shift, the ambition is to transform the System into a game you can't' help falling in love with."

The story follows 'Dickie', who after a chance encounter with 'Ethel' joins the PR team 'Making Nice' and becomes wrapped up in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of spin and politics. The story throws in many curveballs and humorously exaggerates every situation to the point of sheer ridiculousness - subjectively in an effort to highlight the state of current affairs.

After finishing the story, I described it as being dragged through a hedge backwards. Everything happened so quickly and yet nothing actually really happened. I felt like the random friend thrown into a poor production that doesn't really serve a purpose or understand what's going on, but is just kind of there, enjoying the vibes. It's good vibes for sure, but a little more depth or analysis in a closing chapter could have brought the book to the next level for me.

3 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I have read many of Ferdinand Mount’s books and am full of admiration for his talent and verbal dexterity. This book is well up to standard. A rollicking satire on the PR industry and its iniquities.

Mount takes a rapier to it and scores many blows.

Witty, erudite and well researched, this was a pleasure to read.

This was a /nice/ book to read. Not for the content; the characters and their actions will probably make you frown or cringe at the least. But Making Nice was a fun, timely satire to read.

Ferdinand Mount writes an astute and keenly observed satire of our contemporary world infected by the dark arts of the PR world, of spin doctors, slippery, manipulative, intent on shaping society with the cancer of their lies, illusions, deception and distorted truths, where there is no low they will not stoop to. Dickie Pentecost, diplomatic correspondent on a financial paper takes his family, oncologist Jane and his teenage daughters, 14 year old Lucy and 16 year old Flo 'champing', camping on the grounds of deconsecrated church, St Dingle, where they meet 'Ethel', short for Ethelbert, performing his devotions in front of altar. After this, he seems to know and turn up where ever they might be, insinuating himself within the family. He charms all of them, a mesmerising figure, making quite the impression.

However, he even turns up in London, and you have to wonder how he got the phone number of their ballet obsessed daughter, Flo. At this stage, alarm bells should have been ringing, but Dickie is made redundant, and the families woes pile up with their daughters, particularly Lucy's health issues, she is experiencing seizures that results in Jane giving up her job to take care of her. This makes it paramount that Dickie gets a job, but its not easy, until out of the blue, the dodgy Ethel offers him a lucrative position as Director of Public Affairs at his Making Nice PR agency. Before long, the entire family is being corrupted, once parsimonious, morally upstanding citizens, they are taking numerous 'freebie' holiday hotel breaks, with Flo even acquiring a summer job with the agency.

Dickie finds himself out of his depth in Africa which he has to hastily flee, then in the US working on the election campaign of Senator Jerry Faldo with the temptingly beautiful Dr Betsy Broadlee, before he is unceremoniously sent back to Britain. He finds himself tasked with ghostwriting the autobiography of the odious MP, Bryce Wincott, only to then stumble into government as a Special Adviser (SPAD). As matters become increasingly untenable for Dickie and his family with the principles and moral free territory that is the shameless, ego driven Ethel (Is that even his name?), what will he do? This is a terrifically witty, entertaining and perceptive read with its echoes of Evelyn Waugh, where virtually all the characters are unlikable, with the narrative portraying so many of the ills of our world. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher.

I’m a little ambivalent about Making Nice; it’s well written and quite a decent satire of the spin industry, but it didn’t feel particularly original and had an implausibly gullible character at its heart.

Dickie Pentecost is an experienced and respected political correspondent for a rather staid newspaper. While on holiday with his family he meets the charismatic and rather mysterious Ethel (short for Ethelbert) who is terrifyingly knowledgeable about the Pentecost family. When Dickie is made suddenly redundant, Ethel appears with a lucrative job offer at Making Nice, a flashy “reputation management” company. This leads him into the PR world world of spin, distraction and outright lies where truth and integrity are alien concepts and people are just data to be manipulated.

It’s well enough done and it’s certainly a very timely satire, but I did think that it had largely been said before in plenty of TV programmes like Ballot Monkeys and books like Robert Webb’s Come Again. Dickie is an experienced international journalist and I found it very hard to believe that he was so naive that he couldn’t quickly see through a corrupt African politician or the monstrous backers of a US presidential candidate. I thought his family story was better, but the denouement of the whole book was very conveniently quick and pat, so it felt a bit unsatisfactory.

Making Nice was well enough written to (just!) round 3.5 stars up to 4. It’s readable and enjoyable, but perhaps not as scathing or funny as it intended to be.

(My thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Another disturbing but rollicking exploration of post-Trumpian human frolics set in the middle or at the fringes of our lovely COVID World and taking place in England or at times in the disgusting & unappetizing world of African and American politics and starring a weird bunch of morons trying to justify their utter uselessness by aimlessly running around a sick environment gone totally haywire.

I loved this novel because it finally helped me to understand and saddly accept that we are all of us currently living in a totally disgusting World.....

Ferdinand Mount is a wonderful wordsmith and one of my favorite writers but I don't really think that he managed to get any sign of empathy towards any of his characters in this one because there is nothing really funny about their empty & miserable lives and their absolutely obnoxious lifestyles, not even enough to crack a tiny little smile.
It's just a scathing & vicious reminder that nowadays we are just going through hell on a daily basis.....

Higly recommended but only if you are ready to waste time with a cast of worthless creeps and forget about their stupid fictional lives as soon as you finish putting up with their idiotic shenanigans.

Many many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for giving me the crazy opportunity to read this depressing novel.

Dickie Pentecost is a journalist when we first meet him, on holiday with oncologist wife, Jane and daughters, Flo, and Lucy. Driven by the weather to sleep in a Church, Dickie wakes to find a strange young man seemingly worshipping at the altar. Introducing himself as Ethel (short for Ethelbert), he keeps popping up in odd places and seems to know just where Dickie – and his family - will be. This is more than Dickie himself knows, for life is about to take a sudden change. Not that he particularly liked his job, but, when he suddenly finds himself on the street with a box of his belongings, desk cleared, and suddenly redundant, he wonders how he will find a new role. When circumstances mean that Jane leaves her job, then Dickie needs to start earning some money and, seemingly, Ethel is the man to offer him employment. Enter, public relations agency ‘Making Nice,’ housed in a building off Tottenham Court Road and run by Ethel and his partner, Gloria Wormsley.

The blurb for this novel mentioned Evelyn Waugh and there is something of Waugh’s early novels in this, with the oddly named and eccentric characters. Dickie soon finds himself flying around the world; sent off to Africa to help organise the re-election of a client, to the USA as Data Manager for the campaign of Senator Jerry Faldo, standing for presidential nomination and, closer to home, to a client’s investment in his daughter’s ballet school. Dickie is often hapless, confused and out of his depth, while Ethel remains a disquieting presence, pulling the strings off-stage. This is a clever novel, with dark humour, rooted in the ambitious, modern world of public relations I am delighted to have read this and certainly wish to explore more of the author’s work. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.