Ross Thomas is known for his wry sense of humor and clever skewering of domestic and international US politics. He may have outdid himself with this one. A throwback to the very end of World War II in which everyone is trying to establish themselves following the bloody mess the Axis powers made, Thomas creates a caper in which the world’s major powers and some up-and-coming nation’s are looking for an elusive assassin with a penchant for killing Nazis. Perhaps most famously done in Inglourious Basterds […]
A Different Kind of Spy Novel
Charles McCarry meets the kind of Goldilocks/middlebrow standard I look for in spy novels: not too complex, not too simple, not too jingoistic, not too cynical. Juuuuust right. This is the third I’ve read of his Paul Christopher series and like the last two, the plot gripped me. It’s a deep plot but not so convoluted that it loses the reader. Every scene has a purpose; there are few red herrings. It hurtles its way towards its sad, surprising end, tying in perfectly with the […]
Finger. Goldfinger.
Read for CBR10 Bingo: Birthday between August and November. The fictional James Bond’s birthday has been listed in several sources as November 11. I’ve gotten into Anthony Horowitz’s work this past year so when I saw his James Bond book at a used bookstore, I grabbed it. I later discovered it was a direct sequel to Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger. I hadn’t read Fleming for several years but I remembered liking Casino Royale, warts and all, so I decided to pick it up. Ah man. I’m not a James […]
Who Spies on the Spies?
Read for the CBR Bingo: Cover The challenge of Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel Watchmen is how to make the superheroes in that universe accountable when they do things outside of their government’s control. This leads to the famous tagline “Who watches the Watchmen?” Such a lens is turned on espionage in Le Carré’s famed novel which, despite being in print for almost fifty years, was given a new cover for its recent round of Penguin re-publishing that will instantly be seen as iconic. I am middle-brow […]
Mysteries According to Humphrey: A hamster
It is usually not a good idea to start in the middle of a series. There are too many “back pieces of information” you are not privy to. Of course, for the adult reading, it is a good way to gage if the series is good. The first in a series can always be good. It sets the story up, so unless it is just plain bad, there is not a lot to complain about. But if you are picking up the series in the […]
Women & Espionage in the World Wars
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is an ambitious work of historical fiction that straddles two world wars and their aftermath, and that shines a light on the heroic work of female spies. Quinn uses a solid base of historical fact and real people to create her fictional heroine Eve (aka Evelyn Gardiner, aka Marguerite Le Francois), a spy for England in WWI who made shattering sacrifices and has never healed from her tragic and brutal experiences. Eve is an alcoholic recluse when, in the […]