John le Carre - Call for the Dead

John Le Carre has defined the modern British spy novel to such an extent that it's hard to remember that his iconic creation George Smiley began as a detective. That is, Call for the Dead and the follow-up novel A Murder of Quality are classic detective novels in structure and tone, with a cast of suspects and clever twists which Smiley investigates through interviews and intuition. The books work very well on these terms: but the complexity of Smiley's character and the atmosphere of a society pinned by a fading Empire shows what was to come.

The Spoilers - Desmond Bagley

A group of disparate individuals strike back against the drugs trade: feels dated now, both in its portrayal of narcotics and the Middle East, but remains well-written and cleverly constructed and there are still some relevant themes - notably the status of the Kurdish homelands and of the tension between an effective drugs policy and the demonisation of addicts by police, media and politicians.

Gavin Lyall - The Secret Servant

The Secret Servant kicks of a series of four spy novels featuring Harry Maxim, a SAS Major seconded to the Prime Minister's Office. They combine action with a wry and sometimes chilling insight into the security and intelligence community, and his depiction of life in No 10 is spot-on. The only mystery is how books this good can be out of print. 

 On 

Patricia Highsmith - A Suspension of Mercy

Patricia Highsmith would be worth reading for her plotting, the quality of her writing or her ability to give mundane situations an unsettling edge. But where she is perhaps unique amongst thriller writers - or suspense writers, as she would term it - is her ability to create characters who are weak, selfish, odd, unstable or even criminal, yet still remain engaging. The husband and wife at the centre of this macabre tale both lack the qualities of heroes - in fact, their weaknesses are part of what drives the plot and also keeps the reader gripped. They are also exasperating, in that they blunder into difficult situations and make them worse through inaction or wilfulness: you feel that the reader is invited to feel superior to them, reflecting the cool, appraising tone of the author as she unravels their tangled affairs. This ought to lead to an intellectually interesting but emotionally arid experience. Yet something - perhaps her skill as a writer, or her curiosity about the subjects of her story - ensures that most readers are satisfied on both levels.

If you haven't read the book, there's a very good review here.

A new blog

Why a new blog? Mainly as a place to record thoughts about what I'm reading and also the projects I'm working on at the moment.