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Great read

Great read

Love Mr Price esp at this price

The reality of post-war espionage in all its shades of grey is credibly brought to life by Price through the character of his reluctant hero David Audley, more a middle class Harry Palmer than any sort of James Bond. I'll definitely read 'em all.

Good espionage story of the sixties tied to WWII events. First in the series.

Having not read any Anthony Price for a number of years decided to begin with the first in the series. An excellent book, as good as le Carre and Deighton. Strongly recommended.

David Audley is a reluctant field agent (and lover) when a Second World War Dakota reappears in a drained lake in Lincolnshire in the late 1960s. This event attracts spies in a Cold War drama which has a few intriguing twists and turns. The broad mores of the late 1960s come across but the social and political feel of the age is disappointingly thin, particularly given that Price pitches his contribution at the historical and research end of the spy-genre. The Audley-Faith Steerforth relationship is contrived, plot-wise, and is generally embarrassing, though the latter applies to John Le Carré, as well, and I like most of his novels. Having said as much, and added that Audley’s back-story is not especially persuasive, he is an intriguing hero for a spy novel, and there are many sequels, of which I shall try a couple before deciding whether to keep going. I note an earlier reviewer’s advice that “this is the first book in Price's espionage series about British Intelligence's shadowy "Research and Development" department. It pays to read the books in order of publication - they get more complex as you go along”.

Same as previous review about the same author

Dated. Thin on character.

Read a few years ago very good book

An enjoyable read

It was very good but the ending left a you in the air a bit. Being set in the cold war era it was hard to comprehend the importance of the outcome & I was more interested in the treasure.

This is a tense, beautifully written adventure/cold war story with believable characters that you actually care about. Convoluted plot but satisfying too.

This fascinating story based in 1968/9 has simply moved from being the modern thriller of its day in 1970 to an authentic story about the political world of its time, a world of Vietnam War, Cold War, Arab-Israeli War, terrorism, assassinations, Civil Rights Movement, Flower Power, and student riots, to name but a few.

David Audley is one of the backroom brains in British Intelligence, specialising in Middle Eastern affairs, when he is suddenly hauled out of his comfort zone to investigate the recently-uncovered Dakota and pilot, posted missing in September 1945, en-route from Berlin to England. Why? There seems to be an excessive amount of interest from different groups of people, including a senior member of the KGB...

This book is not a 'James Bond' thriller, but rather more cerebral. Yes, Audley has to go out from his desk, and suddenly see the operational side of the espionage world, but he's well aware he's not suited to it: he's afraid; he realises his ivory tower has ill-equipped him for dealing with the kinds of people he now meets, and the kind of pressure he's required to put on some of them to get the information he needs to deal with what has become a current threat, yet throughout it all, Audley's brain is working overtime, he's using all his contacts in the international Intelligence world he does know, trading one piece of information for another, and ultimately - read the book to find out!

For me, this book is much more than the 'airport lounge' fiction of Len Deighton, and the gloomy, frequently depressing style of John Le Carre's George Smiley. It says a lot about the less flashy elements of intelligence gathering, the trading off of classified information between professionals in the hopes of getting something back, and the need to plough through masses of newspapers, other publications, and photographs to find the smallest of snippets, which, when put together, will provide the bulk of knowledge about individual players on the political scene so that their habits, way of thinking, strengths and weaknesses can all be assessed, and used in the future. At the same time, the characters are well-rounded, and will become even more so in the books that follow.

Other reviewers have commented on the anachronistic feeling of this book, and that's right: this is late 70s cold war spy thriller that feels like an early 60s one both in terms of the gentlemanly, intellectual spies and, more specifically, their morals. It's well written and engaging. The only slight issues are the love interest, which doesn't ring true at all, and the ending, which is a little unsatisfactory. I was left wanting a final twist, or at least something that hadn't been obvious 50 pages before the end. Still, the writing is lovely in marked contrast to much in this genre (le Carré aside), and will definitely be sampling later novels in this series.

I have been reading Anthony Price's novels from when they were first published.
As with any paperback that is much read, 'age has withered and the years condemned' so what a joy to be able to load them on the demon Kindle.
Anthony Price is a writer of huge talent. His novels, though now 'of their time' read well, are engaging and are hugely enjoyable.
Not for him the dark melancholy of le Carre' but they do have that edge which makes for a good read that defies the clock – even after all these years and having read them several times before.
I can but recommend them to a new audience, they are smashing novels with good plot lines and characters that are more than plausible. Set in the days of the 'Cold War' they give an insight to those times when the Russian Bear was Red in tooth and claw.
What more could you want in a book.
Well done his publishers for making them available once more.

This book, the first in the series, is set 25 years after WWII. David Audley is a desk man in British intelligence, who is suddenly asked to go into the field. During the war, a pilot was smuggling from war torn Berlin to Britain. He intended to do one last haul, of something so valuable that Russia have been searching for it ever since. His plane crashed on the way home and the pilot,the plane and the secret hoarde disappeared with him. Now, the plane has suddenly been unearthed, and the story has also been unburied. The Russians are still interested and Audley is sent to find out what he stole and where it is.

During his investigation, Audley meets the pilot's daughter and becomes involved with her. He is a very human character and nervous of the violence and danger he encounters. I liked him very much and thought the plot was thought provoking and extremely interesting. The book is set during 1969/1970 (I wasn't quite sure of the exact date), and there is a casual sexism in the way people talk, which placed the novel firmly during that time period. There is also a real feeling for those Cold War years, when suspicion reigned on all sides and the second world war was still something that most of the population remembered personally.

I have to admit that I had never read this author before and it is always wonderful to discover a great author that you have missed. This is an intelligent and well written thriller, a pleasure to read and I look forward to following Audley's adventures.

Set in the world of British secret squirrels in 1970 this book has an astonishing feel of the 1950's. It was only when Audley noticed a male colleague's long hair and his leggy girlfriend Faith's penchant for mini-skirts that I was jolted to the right time-frame.

The book gets off to an intriguing start with a newly discovered Second World War plane wreck and the remains of its pilot. This flight proved to be of interest in 1945 and again now to both the Brits and the Russkies. Were the crew just smuggling whisky and nylons in post war Berlin or something far,far more serious?

Audley is chosen to front the investigation in deepest Lincolnshire despite being 'a back room man' who 'doesn't do the dirty work' and by his own admission is 'not very heroic'. Despite this rather bookish outlook he meets and falls for the dead pilot's daughter Faith with astonishing speed. However, the description of their night of passion in a priest's hole must rank as one of the most inept in literature. He charmlessly follows this by saying of Faith, 'young women set less store on physical relationships these days...it wasn't even her first'.

The plot is really top drawer and an ace idea. It also keeps on twisting just when you think it's finished. For me, Mr Price is not in the same category as a writer. The book pales against Deighton and Le Carre but then again this was the first of 19 novels by Mr Price and maybe the series improves.