A blistering novel of political treachery and paranoia.
Fast-paced Australian political fiction, Challenge unfolds over three days in an atmosphere of treachery and deceit, amid a looming federal leadership challenge.
Opposition leader Daniel Slattery is a former sporting hero from the wrong side of the tracks, politically principled and courageous, but also personally unhinged and highly volatile. He is determined to stand the political moral high ground while fighting for his job—and a rearguard action against the phantoms of his dark past. Who is working to trash his reputation and derail his one tilt at the prime ministership? Is it real—or just demons inside his head?
Blistering and blackly comic, Challenge puts us into the shoes of a man whose life is slipping away as he confronts the abyss of modern Australian politics.


Author and journalist Paul Daley's books—Canberra, Collingwood: A Love Story, Beersheeba and Armaggedon—have been finalists in major literary awards, including the Nib, the Manning Clark House Cultural Awards and the Prime Minister's History Prize. He is the winner of the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism and the Paul Lyneham Award for Press Gallery journalism. In 2013 he co-wrote, with Katie Pollock, the acclaimed political play, The Hansard Monologues. He also writes essays and short stories, and about history and national identity for The Guardian. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Lenore Taylor, and their children.