Spy Hook by Len Deighton

 

Published by Alfred A. Knopf on December 3, 1988

This is the first novel of a trilogy that follows the Game, Set and Match trilogy (in which British agent Bernard Samson's wife Fiona defects). Spy Hook begins with the beleaguered Samson asking former agent Jim Pettyman, now working for an American corporation, to return to England to answer questions in the investigation of missing agency funds. After considerable intrigue involving (among other characters), a Hungarian known as Dodo, Samson learns something he isn't supposed to know about Bret Rensselaer, an agent who played an important role (and died) in the Game, Set and Match trilogy. To the consternation of his bosses, Samson keeps nosing into the missing money, following his suspicion that Fiona set up the account. Eventually Samson comes under suspicion (could he be working with his treasonous wife?) and as the noose begins to tighten, we come to a cliffhanger ending.

The sheer number of characters involved in the story can make it a bit confusing, but that complexity is just a reason to pay attention, to look back from time to time, or to take notes, not to dislike the book. The story is fast paced, intriguing, tightly plotted and well written with sharply defined characters. Samson's growing confusion as he defies orders and investigates matters he's supposed to leave alone makes him an appealing, sympathetic character. The supporting characters are often recognizable components of bureaucratic institutions -- the ones who get ahead by knowing the right people and stay there by creatively doing nothing, taking credit for the hard work of their subordinates.  All told, Spy Hook is an excellent beginning to the trilogy, topped only by Spy Line,  the second installment.

RECOMMENDED

Eater by Gregory Benford

Published by Eos on May 2, 2000

A mechanism constructed around a black hole billions of years ago has been traveling across the universe gathering and banking digitized versions of intelligent life. As it approaches Earth, it demands that several thousand humans be sacrificed to its library of knowledge, including specific individuals (Hillary Clinton among them). To encourage compliance, it uses magnetic energy to pummel D.C. and to visit lightning storms upon military or scientific bases while it gobbles up satellites. Working furiously, and often at odds with the military and political figures who try to control the operation, a team of astronomers searches for a way to chase the mechanism away.

While some readers complain that the novel's central thesis isn't fresh, that didn't particularly bother me. I enjoyed Eater for a couple of reasons. First, the key characters are flawed, human, and multidimensional. They made this a more interesting story than I usually expect from hard sf--and I do mean hard, given that the discussion of astrophysics was far beyond my grasp.

Second, while science fiction written by scientists typically portrays scientists as the saviors of the human race, Benford offered insightful views of how scientists compete against each other even while working together. He shows them indulging in professional jealousies, often a bit petty, and demonstrates how scientists can engage in politics even while claiming to despise politicians.

The story's emphasis on people--their follies and foibles, their complicated relationships, their cooperation and competition--makes this novel stand out. Hard sf too often focuses on ideas and places secondary (if any) emphasis on characters. Maybe that makes good reading for people of a scientific bent, but for those of us who don't have degrees in astrophysics, it's nice to encounter a novel of hard sf in which people matter.

RECOMMENDED

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

First published in 2006

The Brief History of the Dead is a book that stayed with me long after I finished it. I don't understand why so many readers disliked it. Some apparently had a preconceived notion that the novel would mimic a particular movie or book they liked and were disappointed to find that it was a different story entirely. So be warned: don't expect this novel to be quite like anything else you've encountered. If you take it on its own terms, you might enjoy it. I certainly did.

This well-written, haunting story imagines a virus that wipes out all life on Earth.  The dead reside in a sort of limbo as long as someone on Earth remembers them.  Point of view shifts between the residents of limbo (who are winking out of existence as the people who remember them die) and the last survivor on Earth, a woman in the Arctic who is struggling not with the virus, but with isolation and her unforgiving environment.

Here's why I liked this novel: The concept is imaginative. The nature of the Limbo-like existence of the dead is a stimulating mystery through much of the novel, until the characters in Limbo realize what their continued existence (at least in their Limbo-like state) depends upon. The writing is vivid. The images of Laura Byrd fighting for her survival are haunting. The novel raises intriguing questions about the nature of death and its relationship to the memory of the dead among the living.  As I said, this novel not only held my attention but made me think.

RECOMMENDED

EX-KOP by Warren Hammond

Published by Tor on March 2, 2010

Juno and Maggie are back in another brisk, violent story of life on Lagarto.  The noir atmosphere so masterfully created in KOP is just as effectively rendered in EX-KOP. Particularly strong is a subplot involving Juno's need for money to pay for a new spine for his wife who, hospitalized after a suicide attempt, has no desire to live. Juno wrestles with the moral and personal issues presented by his wife's desire to die, a dilemma that humanizes Juno, making him all the more appealing to the reader. That humanization is necessary given Juno's immediate disregard for the possible innocence of a convicted murderer, whose case Maggie hires him to investigate. Of course, Juno revises his opinion as the novel progresses, and Hammond does a fine job of letting suspense build as we wait to see whether the prisoner will be saved from execution.

The ending of this novel sets the scene for an anticipated third novel in this entertaining series. I look forward to reading it. If you like action and a sense of noir in your sf, you shouldn't miss the KOP books.

RECOMMENDED

Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford

First published by J.P. Lippincott in 1968

Red Sky at Morning is a coming of age novel, albeit a relatively quiet one. Unlike some of the book's fans, I don't think it has the power or emotional depth of Catcher in the Rye, but then, few novels do. There is some intensity in the conflict between the narrator, 17-year-old Joshua Arnold, and the neighborhood tough, Chango, and the absence of Joshua's father that compels his transition to adulthood is well handled. Many of the episodes in Joshua's life are amusing and a few are downright funny, making this an enjoyable read.

So here are my quibbles, preventing me from highly recommending the novel:  Joshua's father builds ships but leaves home to help the war effort more directly.  The father is a likable character.  I enjoyed the banter between Joshua's father and the employee he left in charge of the shipyard, and between Joshua's father and Joshua. But when the same kind of light-hearted sarcastic dialog was taken up by Joshua's friends Steenie and Marcia, it seemed to me that too many characters were speaking in the same voice, as if they had all been cloned from Joshua's father. More importantly, I was left with the feeling that the novel was striving relentlessly to be light-hearted even in the face of circumstances in Joshua's life (unnamed here to avoid spoiling the plot for those who haven't read the book) that should have been tragic. Finally, I didn't buy Chango's character change at all. I can accept that the events in the novel would have had an impact on Chango, but the immediate and extreme alteration of his personality that Joshua describes isn't credible.

I came to this novel late in life. Perhaps if I'd first read it as a teenager or young adult, or perhaps if I had ever lived in the southwest (which is lovingly described), it would have left a greater impression. At any rate, although younger readers who might most enjoy Red Sky at Morning will likely find it a bit dated, I recommend the novel.  I nonetheless feel it lacks the depth that causes some readers to hold it in high esteem; to me it falls well short of greatness.

RECOMMENDED