Plot summary

A young British writer, who has had some minor success as a ghost writer, is hired to finish writing the almost completed memoirs of former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang. The Ghost, as he is forthwith referred to, is hired despite having little to no experience in the political writing realm. The $250,000, one month job is due to the fact that his predecessor, Lang's former aide Michael McCarra, suddenly died after falling off the ferry between the US mainland and Old Haven, the northeast US island where he had been working and where Lang and his entourage have been staying at the Lang's recreational compound. It is unclear if McCarra's death was suicide, an accident or murder. The mysterious death unnerves the Ghost, who believes the same fate may befall him if indeed McCarra was murdered because of this job. The Ghost is certain that he is not being told the complete story about Lang's life whether it be by Lang himself, Lang's seemingly more politically astute wife Ruth, or Lang's primary aide, Amelia Bly, with who Ruth believes her husband is having an affair. Lang, as a young man, had no political aspirations - he wanted to become an actor - and states that he fell into politics to impress politically active Ruth, who he had just met at Cambridge. The Ghost's job becomes more difficult when the International Criminal Court charges Lang with war crimes while he was PM, the charges related to handing over suspected terrorists to the CIA for torture. After the Ghost comes across some of McCarra's personal effects related to the memoir, the Ghost goes on a search for the truth related to the ICC charge, McCarra's death and what he is not being told about Lang, which he believes can be found within the only hard copy version of the memoir