Splash!

'Splash! could do more for restoring public confidence in newspapers than sanctimonious leader articles from big publishers' The Independent

Sam Blunt is a drunken, broken-down tabloid reporter, whose days of derring-do seem to be long behind him, working for the Daily Bugle, a once-mighty newspaper struggling to come to terms with the digital age.

With the assistance of Benedict Brewster, an earnest though clever wet-behind-the-ears intern on the paper, Sam grapples to uncover the story of the century which reveals the political corruption and cynicism at the heart of a rotten Establishment.

As they try to nail the story amid a series of adventures, Sam and Benedict are frustrated by the self-serving proprietor of the Daily Bugle, various self-appointed do-gooders who want to rein in the Press, and Trevor Yapp, the malign and untrustworthy editor of Bugle Online.

Witty and clever, Splash! is a satirical take on the Press and politicians in a world peopled by foreign billionaires, unnoticed immigrants, a corrupt and plaintive Prime Minister, and journalists who are often most interested in doing one another down . . .

'Written in Waugh's style . . . Glover's novel is an apologia for tabloid journalism and a celebration of its role in exposing corruption among the elite' New Statesman