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Charles McCarry established an international reputation with the publication of his worldwide bestseller The Tears of Autumn in 1975 and altogether wrote 10 critically acclaimed novels. During the Cold War he was an intelligence officer operating under deep cover in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Maxim Jakubowski's November 2015 Book of the Month. Veteran thriller writer McCarry returns with a poignant spy tale of mixed loyalties, betrayal and the collapse of political idealism in which the conflict between the power of love and revenge anchors a complex plot in reality and fate. Deeply scarred by the CIA's earlier betrayal of his father, a devious but bright American spy determines to get his own back and when he falls hard for the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary it soon becomes unclear who is manipulating who and where feelings become calculations. The complex tale covers much of the geopolitical struggles in the Middle East and South America of the past decades and quickly transforms into a breathless love story allied with a devious spider's web of a thriller. Adding such a fragile human element to a Le Carre-like deviousness makes this a terribly bittersweet read in which a master storyteller chronicles the secret world and anchors it in a melancholy reality. Like a spear to the heart. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
A fast, easy read of espionage and duplicity featuring a new recruit who may or may not become a double agent for or with the Chinese. You know the sort of thing. It’s all very complicated, secretive and colourful. Set largely in China where the author, an ex-CIA agent, served, it’s tautly written and presumably reasonably authentic. Good fun.
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.Often seen as the American Le Carre, McCarry is an understated spy thriller writer who seldom puts a foot wrong. Although his new novel does not feature his eponymous Christopher family, it does not disappoint, a jigsaw puzzle involving Chinese intelligence and a murky branch of the US apparatus, in which no characters are black or white or who they appear to first be.
I became a spy because my father before me was a spy. Although I am, for the time being, hiding something from you. In a rose garden in Buenos Aires, a young American spy meets the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary. They fall in love. But he is no ordinary spy - and she is no ordinary woman. He has a hidden agenda: to avenge his father, who died penniless and friendless on the streets of Washington. And in Luz, he seems to have found an ally. But, as his fate becomes further entwined with hers, he soon finds himself caught in a perilous web of passions, loyalties and lies that stretches back to the darkest days of the Cold War.
I became a spy because my father before me was a spy. Although I am, for the time being, hiding something from you. In a rose garden in Buenos Aires, a young American spy meets the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary. They fall in love. But he is no ordinary spy - and she is no ordinary woman. For he has a hidden agenda: to avenge his father, who died penniless and friendless on the streets of Washington. In Luz, he seems to have found an ally for his secret mission. But, as his fate becomes further entwined with hers, he soon finds himself caught in a perilous web of passions, loyalties and lies that stretches back to the darkest days of the Cold War.
Maxim Jakubowski's November 2015 Book of the Month. Veteran thriller writer McCarry returns with a poignant spy tale of mixed loyalties, betrayal and the collapse of political idealism in which the conflict between the power of love and revenge anchors a complex plot in reality and fate. Deeply scarred by the CIA's earlier betrayal of his father, a devious but bright American spy determines to get his own back and when he falls hard for the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary it soon becomes unclear who is manipulating who and where feelings become calculations. The complex tale covers much of the geopolitical struggles in the Middle East and South America of the past decades and quickly transforms into a breathless love story allied with a devious spider's web of a thriller. Adding such a fragile human element to a Le Carre-like deviousness makes this a terribly bittersweet read in which a master storyteller chronicles the secret world and anchors it in a melancholy reality. Like a spear to the heart. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
I became a spy because my father before me was a spy. Although I am, for the time being, hiding something from you. In a rose garden in Buenos Aires, a young American spy meets the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary. They fall in love. But he is no ordinary spy - and she is no ordinary woman. He has a hidden agenda: to avenge his father, who died penniless and friendless on the streets of Washington. And in Luz, he seems to have found an ally. But, as his fate becomes further entwined with hers, he soon finds himself caught in a perilous web of passions, loyalties and lies that stretches back to the darkest days of the Cold War.
Earth's wealthiest man attempts to save humanity from an impending apocalypse. The planet's first and only trillionaire, Henry Peel, did not make his fortune by being a fool. A gifted inventor and scientist, he possesses an imagination on the scale of history's greatest thinkers, and he has turned it to the problem of Earth's core. Two decades ago, scientists learned that the core spins faster than the rest of the planet, storing up a cache of energy that, if released, could cause an earthquake that would obliterate human life. To begin mankind anew, Henry Peel is going to lead us to the stars. He gathers the world's leading physicists and engineers and asks them to design a spaceship large enough to safeguard a sample of humanity and durable enough to survive a thousand-year voyage. Money is no object, but time is short. The apocalypse is on its way.
Cool, urbane Paul Christopher is the perfect American agent, currently working in deep cover in the twilight world of international intrigue. But now even he cannot tell good from bad in a maze of double- and triple-cross. As a group of international agents embark on a trip in a Cadillac from Switzerland to the Sudan, Christopher knows that he has to find which one is about to unleash bloody terrorism - and God help everyone if he makes a mistake. Originally published in 1973, this compelling and distinctive thriller was the debut of the widely celebrated Charles McCarry and is the first book to introduce readers to Paul Christopher. Finally back in paperback, 'The Miernik Dossier' will introduce a new generation of readers to the work of one of the great spy novelists.
A fast, easy read of espionage and duplicity featuring a new recruit who may or may not become a double agent for or with the Chinese. You know the sort of thing. It’s all very complicated, secretive and colourful. Set largely in China where the author, an ex-CIA agent, served, it’s tautly written and presumably reasonably authentic. Good fun.
From this crisis, master storyteller Charles McCarry, author of the classic thrillers The Tears of Autumn and The Last Supper weaves a masterpiece of political intrigue. Shelley's Heart is so gripping in its realism and so striking in its foresight that McCarry's devoted readers may view this tale of love, murder, betrayal, and life-or-death struggles for the political soul of America as an act of prophecy.
It is the late 1930s, and a young Christopher bears witness to an unspeakable atrocity committed by a remorseless SS officer. When the action moves forward to the height of the Cold War, the SS man emerges out of the ruins of post-war Germany to destroy the last living witness to his crime. It's a case of tiger chasing tiger as Christopher is pursued by the only man who can match his craft or his instincts. With ferocious suspense and masterful pacing, Charles McCarry delivers a haunting parable of a man confronted with the ghosts of an entire generation's brutal history.
Its an election year, and America is polarized between a lantern-jawed liberal and a far-right former businessman with deep ties to the energy industry. Meanwhile suicide bombers, led by an Arab prince made rich by oil, are using passenger airlines to spread chaos and fear. Their goal is the destruction of Israel and America, and they are proving to be almost impossible to find.
Spy Paul Christopher, now retired and living a normal life in Washington, is brought back into the Outfit when his old friend comes to him with a worrying development: someone is kidnapping U.S. agents and pumping them full of a new mind-control drug. It is up to Christopher to work out who is behind this insidious form of warfare and what the enemy is doing with the extracted information.
An American spy in China. Name: Unknown. Status: Sleeper. He's meant to be laying low, polishing his Mandarin and awaiting further instructions from Washington. But Shandhai is a difficult city to sleep in, especially when his nights are taken over by the seductive but enigmatic Mei - a woman with secrets he'd rather not hear. Then he is tasked with a delicate operation. Infiltrate the core of the Chinese intelligence service. Distinguish friend from foe. Report to a single contact at HQ. Trust no one. Tell no one. Pushed out into the cold, in a city of millions he's suddenly very, very alone. But in Shanghai city you're never truly alone. Faceless strangers linger in the shadows, watching your every move. No one is safe from the Guoanbu. Not even a spy with no name...
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.Often seen as the American Le Carre, McCarry is an understated spy thriller writer who seldom puts a foot wrong. Although his new novel does not feature his eponymous Christopher family, it does not disappoint, a jigsaw puzzle involving Chinese intelligence and a murky branch of the US apparatus, in which no characters are black or white or who they appear to first be.
Early one morning in West Berlin, a nervous courier delivers the handwritten manuscript of a dissident Russian novel to agent Paul Christopher; minutes later the couriers spine is snapped by an impact with a passing limousine. Meanwhile in Rome, Christophers wife Cathy takes a lover in an attempt to stir her husbands stoicism. These two seemingly discrete events set in motion a spiral of operational and personal intrigue that leads Christopher from Europe to Africa, as he secretly arranges the publication of a book that could bring the Soviet Union to its knees and races to identify the leak that compromised his messenger and possibly the entire mission.
Retired master spy Paul Christopher goes missing a day after a family dinner. Months later a Chinese official delivers his ashes to the American consulate in Beijing, and a memorial service is held in Washington. But the Old Boys of the CIA are not convinced that their ex-colleague is dead and embark upon a thrilling search that takes them from Xinjiang to Brazil, from Rome to Moscow and finally to an unspeakably dangerous secret.
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