PositiveWiredOnce you\'re through the formative parts of his life, which aim to contextualise his ultimate decision to take documents from the NSA facility in Hawaii where he was working, the title becomes akin to a spy thriller. If the revelations that came from Snowden were explosive, his recounting of their disclosure is a crescendo. Everything builds to the moments where he anxiously waited for journalists to arrive at his hotel room to hand over the top secret documents and the subsequent rush to find a safe location, involving a brush with Russia\'s FSB, in the aftermath of their disclosure ... Although it is unlikely to change anyone\'s mind about Snowden\'s actions, Permanent Record is the whistleblower\'s own attempt to tell his story.
Hilary Mantel
RaveThe Minneapolis Star TribuneA welcome counterpoint to the slacker heroes who stagger through so many contemporary novels, Cromwell trains falcons, adopts orphans, drafts legal briefs, sweet-talks ambassadors, lends money at considerable interest, interrogates witnesses and speaks multiple languages, although he frequently keeps that a secret so he can eavesdrop on servants. He is as cunning and clever as Odysseus – how does a mortal writer inhabit such a man? – and, like Homer, Mantel gives him plenty of grief … A perfect character for the interior world of fiction, Cromwell as a courtier and conspiracy weaver can rarely say what he means, or even what he thinks. Every interaction thrums with subtext.
