Maybe the Horse Will Talk

Maybe the Horse Will Talk by Elliot Perlman

Stephen Maserov is “absolutely terrified of losing a job that he absolutely hates”. What a cracker start to a fantastic novel.

The story follows Maserov as he navigates the corporate minefield of being a second-year lawyer in the cut-throat lawfirm, Freely Savage Cater Blanche. Maserov finds out that there is going to be a cull of second-year lawyers at the end of the year and realises that his days are numbered.

He hates his job but he needs to keep it to pay the mortgage on his estranged family home. Finding himself alone in the elevator with the firm’s most powerful client Malcom Torrent, Maserov brazenly sparks up a conversation. He correctly guesses that the powerful CEO is not happy with the service from the Freely Savage principal lawyer and suggests that he, Maserov can solve the powerbroker’s problems; namely making a spate of sexual harassment claims go away.

Maserov successfully buys himself some time and some protection, but he has no idea how he is actually going to solve Torrent’s legal problems. And once he reads the affidavits of the terrible experience that the four women experienced at the hands of Torrent’s powerful managers, he is really conflicted about how to proceed.

Elliot Perlman is a master of irony and has created some loveable and intriguing characters. I loved the way the story was written as well as the way that the plot evolved. Perlman addresses a timely topic of inequality and sexual harassment in the workplace with compassion and reverence, yet his turn of phrase keeps us entertained at the expense of the key villains of the story.  And if you are curious about the meaning of the title, “Maybe the horse will talk”, you will not be disappointed in it’s explanation within the story.

I highly recommend this book in hard copy or eAudiobook, read by Elliot Perlman himself. And I am definitely putting holds on Perlman’s other publications.

Find Maybe the Horse Will Talk by Elliot Perlman

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