Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein (Audiobook)

"Double Star" won the Hugo award for best novel in 1956, with an unlikely premise and an unusual character as the narrator and hero of the story. "Double Star" was published originally in "Astounding Science Fiction" from February to April of 1956, and then in book form later that year.

This is one of Heinlein’s best early novels. He stays within the boundaries of the story, and doesn't rely on a "big surprise" to try to lengthen the plot. The hero is Lorenzo Smythe, an actor who has a rather high opinion of himself. He is engaged by Dak Broadbent for a performance, but not a typical performance. He is hired to be John Joseph Bonforte, the former Supreme Minister and leader of the opposition. Lorenzo will need to fool people who have known Bonforte for years, as well as many others, and worse yet he will need to be surrounded by Martians, whom he can't stand the sight or smell of.

This is a crisp story, with action and intrigue from start to finish. Lorenzo Smythe is one of Heinlein's most engaging characters, and a real departure from the typical Heinlein hero. He also goes through a lot of changes, as a good protagonist should.

Heinlein generally doesn't have a lot of good things to say about politicians, but John Joseph Bonforte (another critical character) is his exception that proves the rule. He's honest, capable, caring - in short a saint among politicians.

Heinlein makes good use of his own experience in running for the California State legislature, as he describes the mechanics of running a political campaign, just how decisions are reached, how dependent a politician is upon the quality of the staff he selects, so that these items ring with real-world ambience. This is also probably the first book that clearly showed his leaning towards what would now be called Libertarianism, but this exposition is fairly muted, unlike some of his later works. And it wouldn't be a Heinlein book without his side commentaries: here he covers monarchies, civil servants, patronage, media management, taxes, unions, truth and lies, prejudice and xenophobia.