Espionage

It's always intriguing, who or what will be the next threats that espionage writers can employ in their thrillers. I'm not sure what it says about the world that we live in but there does seem to be no shortage of possible scenarios and nefarious goings-on to occupy the intelligence world. THE GENEVA TRAP is the 7th book in the Liz Carlyle series, and the main plot elements, as you'd expect from a writer with Rimington's background, have a ring of truth and absolutely credibility about them.

Liz is a very strong character. Strong enough to survive this particular reader's tendency to wander around in this series, as there are a few books that I've missed. Most obviously, it's her personal life that I'm behind with, but at no stage did I really get lost or feel at sea. Which was particularly pleasing as there is a sub-plot in THE GENEVA TRAP which involves her mother's partner, his daughter, Liz's own partner, a French commune, and the possibility of armed protest and personal violence.

Not everything, however, worked perfectly, particularly some of the technicalities of computer hacking. Now granted I'm not as technically expert as some around me, but there were elements in the "techy talk" that simply didn't make any sense, and lacked credibility. To the point where I had to give myself a little "it's fiction - get over it" talking to at one point. Nitpicking undoubtedly, but it did make those parts of the book hard to swallow. What wasn't so hard to chew was the spy craft, right down to the surveillance aspects, the not quite as clandestine as required meetings in parks, generational sleeper agents and all the other covert goings on.

There's good pace and action, some very nice twists and turns and a complicated but clever plot that does pull everything together in a believable finale, although that's tempered a little by some very stereotypical villains and the requisite inept upper echelons. But THE GENEVA TRAP, and the whole Liz Carlyle series are very much espionage based thrillers, and despite a few minor quibbles, this was a book that was hard to put down.

I probably should sit down and give a detailed, reasoned and careful analysis of DIE TWICE by Andrew Grant.  But can I just go with "I really liked this book".  Because "I really liked this book".  

I'm not sure why to be frank.  Perhaps it was the structure - I liked the opening of chapters laying out a principle that the central character David Trevellyan learnt in basic training, which he then went on to demonstrate.  Perhaps it was the level of action which was fast paced, tight and very nicely done.  Perhaps it was the character of David Trevellyan, a bit of a later day James Bond with a considerably sharper edge.  Perhaps it was because DIE TWICE is a spy thriller with double-crossing, intrigue, a ridiculously high body count and a lot of nefarious goings-on.

Sticking pretty closely to spy thriller scenarios there are plot points that won't stand a lot of scrutiny and there's a hefty dose of energiser bunny about the central character, but I still found this a very good example of its kind.  Interestingly, I haven't read the first book in the series, but that didn't seem to detract at all.  Everything I needed to know about David Trevellyan I found out, or could work out.  Everything I needed to know about his role as general problem-solver for the British Consulate I could glean.  In short - "I really liked DIE TWICE".

If, like me, you grew up on a diet of Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre novels, there is a chance you're a bit of a fan of fast paced, military, espionage style novels.  DEFENDER OF THE FAITH is a recent entry in the what is rapidly becoming a large pool of choice for Australian readers.  

Set within our geographical and political sphere, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH introduces readers to Alex Morgan, special forces operative, good bloke, and all round bit of a hero.  The action in this book is really very realistic, and it's not difficult to believe highly informed by the author's own background.  There are some good, albeit somewhat expected characterisations, right down to the beautiful blonde love interest, the strong jawed, very Australian main character, and a series of nicely evil villains lead by a mysterious, excellent at disguises archetypal baddy type, all glowering evil genius and callous malevolence.

As this is a thriller there are some givens that readers must expect.  A bit of energiser bunniness in the main character, winged frequently but never downed.  There was a love story between the two main characters, and of course there was a level of physical attractiveness about them both, although I'm happy to report there were no signs of hair flicking and very little gratuitous comment on beautiful eyes and glorious legs...  

What makes a thriller work, or not work, is how these clichés are delivered.  In the case of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, mostly everything worked, the plot was believable without the need to park your disbelief around the back and hide the keys; the love story wasn't too thickly applied, and whilst there was a bit of inexplicable jeopardy for all players, it did all gel.  Maybe there are points where the plot got a little vague, but the action elements held up, and the pace certainly didn't let go.

Definitely something on the entertaining side, the only thing that was missing when I read DEFENDER OF THE FAITH was the box of chocolates and deck chair that you'd normally drag out at Christmas to sit down and be thoroughly and comprehensively entertained by a good espionage thriller.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH is available in various formats - check out the website for details:  http://defenderofthefaith.com.au/

I really really really hope that, in particular, local fans of spy and espionage thrillers are reading Mark Abernethy's terrific series.  Firstly because each of the stories is set in our own region, and secondly because Alan McQueen is such a quintessential Aussie bloke hero type.

Of course, just setting books in our region or taking current day events as a basis for your books doesn't qualify them as must reads.  What does that for DOUBLE BACK and the earlier books in the series is that they are extremely good layered high-action thrillers.  

Part of the attraction of the books is Alan 'Mac' McQueen who is just about bullet-proof, but with a heart and human foibles.  He's the sort of bloke that would appeal to men and women equally - fearless but not stupid about it, caring but not woosy about it, loyal but not in the face of upper echelon idiocy, Mac is an extremely good central character to weave the plots around.  What also works is the settings and timeframes into which Abernethy drops MacQueen.  In the case of DOUBLE BACK we are deep into the time leading up to the Indonesians being forced out of Timor.  What's particularly scary is that you really have to hope that the scenario the author builds is purely fictional as it's chillingly realistic and frighteningly brutal.

But this is a military style thriller, so there is a lot of rushing about, a commensurate amount of sneaking about, and a lot of shooting and shouting.  There are some great bit players in the cast - and there's some very realistic and quite funny dialogue amongst them all.  Because this is such a good thriller there is also quite a good sense of place - the jungles of East Timor are dark, dangerous and damp.  The towns and cities littered with sinister types with an oversupply of sunglasses.  

DOUBLE BACK really is a terrific thriller - fast paced, with a good and very realistic plot.  The sense of menace is particularly poignant knowing the history of the East Timorese struggle against the Indonesian army, and the scenario that Abernethy builds into the plot is particularly chilling.  Having only recently gotten hold of DOUBLE BACK I was particularly pleased to see that the next book in the series COUNTER ATTACK was released in January 2010.  Excellent!

After five, multi-award nominated crime fiction novels, Hungary based, American born novelist Olen Steinhauer has turned his hand to contemporary espionage in THE TOURIST.  

The action in this book centres around Milo Weaver - CIA Agent, Tourist, father and husband.  Starting out in 2001, Milo, nursing a serious pill-popping addiction and a strong desire to suicide in the line of duty, is in the middle of a botched attempt to stop a hitman.  Flash forward 7 years and Milo's got a wife, a child, and a personal interest in tracking down the hitman behind that nearly fatal, and life changing encounter.  Out of active duty and in a desk job since then, Milo wasn't expecting the "Tiger" to hand himself over voluntarily.  A deathbed conversation with the Tiger turns Milo's perceptions upside down, and set him on a path unexpected.

There are a number of elements in THE TOURIST that stand out.  Milo, as a highly flawed, complicated central character in what is after all, an espionage novel, seems very realistic.  A man with faults and flaws, he is poignantly aware of his own limitations - particularly when it comes to the ease with which he lives his professional life, compared to the way that he handles the personal.  Obviously the situations in which he finds himself are not those which the average person is going to have to deal with, so a certain suspension of disbelief is going to be required on the part of the reader.  There are some downsides to this characterisation however, the most notable one being the difficulty of focusing a great sense of moral and personal outrage, when the enemy is a little closer to home than would normally be the case.  THE TOURIST gets into interesting territory in this area, a direction I found quite fascinating, but then I prefer the enemy to be less than straightforward.  There's also a good sense of pace, with a nice sprinkling of rushing around, without it being too over the top.  Mostly, however, there is a very elegant balancing of the tension, and the threat with some nice touches of reality, delivered with some very tongue in cheek humour.  (What would be more hairy for your average burnt-out, long term spy - an encounter with a shadowy enemy or Disneyworld.  Still can't decide!)

Where THE TOURIST may be slightly less satisfying for some readers is in the area of plot, where things are very busy.  Lots of things happen, lots of characters (good and bad) come and go, and there's some question marks frequently on whether or not everything is / could / needs to be connected.  Other readers may appreciate exactly this aspect.  A spies life doesn't seem like one that would be tidy and neat, with one job wrapped up nicely and the paperwork done, before the next bad situation comes along.  I liked the approach, and I particularly liked the way that Milo often had no idea what was happening, as well as me!

The element that ticked the biggest box for me, and the one that made THE TOURIST an interesting book was the portrayal of the mindsets of officialdom.  Alongside the concept of the enemy within, perhaps more prevalent than an external threat, this gave considerable pause for thought.