LONDON — In 2004, years before he was poised to become Britain's next prime minister, Boris Johnson published “Seventy-Two Virgins.”
His novel, which has sold more than 46,000 copies according to Nielsen Book Research, is a farce about a terrorist plot to assassinate America's president during a state visit to Britain, featuring a contest reminiscent of reality television, much talk of buxom women and occasional mocking of Britain's welfare policies.
Reviewers called it everything from an “effortlessly brilliant page-turner” to “not quite a novel.” But it was most noted for its hero, Roger Barlow, a member of Britain's parliament.
Barlow is bumbling and gaffe-prone, not unlike Johnson, who has been typecast as both throughout his career. Barlow rides a bike, not unlike Johnson. And Barlow spends much of the book hounded by a newspaper for what appears to be a sexual indiscretion. Johnson was fired as a shadow minister just months after the novel came out for lying about an affair.
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