- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Headline; New edition edition (10 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747264244
- ISBN-13: 978-0747264248
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 701,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Lauded with praised by no less than Frederick Forsyth, Flint is a debut thriller of real achievement, with Paul Eddy immediately registering as an authoritative and skilful writer. His publishers invoke Clarice Starling and Kay Scarpetta to persuade us to read the book, but such comparisons are unnecessary (except perhaps as a marketing imperative): the eponymous Grace Flint is a strongly drawn heroine--a resourceful and quick-thinking undercover cop. During an operation to ensnare vicious money launderer Frank Harling, things go pear-shaped and Grace find herself under attack by a dangerous psychotic, leaving her scarred. Fighting the trauma, Grace undergoes surgery to restore her former looks, but she is unable to dissuade her masters from their idea that her personality has been similarly mutilated. But her speciality has always been placing herself in the utmost danger, and she insists on being back in the firing line, tracking down the man who attempted to destroy her. But will she come apart, as her bosses in the force fear? Paul Eddy is fully aware that the very best thrillers establish an inexorable conflict in their protagonists, one that needs to be just as forcefully handled as the mechanics of the plot. And we are made to care quite as much about Grace's state of mind as we are about the tracking-down-a-monster narrative. Eddy has a particular gift for the truly arresting image:
She would had been prepared for the black leather balaclava that reached down to his shoulders--narrow slits for his greedy eyes--for all the previous victims had spoken of it. What she could not have expected was the embellishment he had made to his costume: brass studs embedded across the width of his forehead spelling out his intention. RAPIST. She must have felt the studs on her face as he butted her, sending her sprawling to the ground...--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Not since Modesty Blaise has spy literature seen a heroine as determined and spunky as Flint' (Time )
'A welcome debut with a heroine volcanic enough for a series' (Kirkus Rreviews )
'Slick, ultra-violent thriller' (Literary Review )
'Eddy never underestimates the reader... The attention to detail is intense and the writing's stylish with many unexpected moments' (Mirror )
`Breathtaking' (Independent on Sunday )
'This is an absolutely cracking literary debut reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell at her best...FLINT has a riveting plot, is racily told, and has superb characterisation' (Arena )
`What gives the novel its originality is its combination of the police manhunt and the spy thriller and the skill with which the two are interwoven... FLINT is full of passages that won't easily be forgotten' (The Sunday Times )
'A welcome debut with a heroine volcanic enough for a series' (Kirkus Rreviews )
'Slick, ultra-violent thriller' (Literary Review )
'Eddy never underestimates the reader... The attention to detail is intense and the writing's stylish with many unexpected moments' (Mirror )
`Breathtaking' (Independent on Sunday )
'This is an absolutely cracking literary debut reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell at her best...FLINT has a riveting plot, is racily told, and has superb characterisation' (Arena )
`What gives the novel its originality is its combination of the police manhunt and the spy thriller and the skill with which the two are interwoven... FLINT is full of passages that won't easily be forgotten' (The Sunday Times )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Cannot believe the first few customer reviews of this book. Both my husband and I found it an excellent read, and we rarely agree on any books, let alone thrillers. This book carried you along from chapter to chapter and was unputdownable. The constant shifts between characters, timescales and places was reminiscent of John Le Carre's "Tinker Tailor", but with more action. Demands to be made into a film, women would have a female James Bond for the 21st Century, provided the storyline is not mangled as per too many other great books. Desperately hope Paul Eddy will not leave us too long before we have another book, although part of me thinks "could it possibly be as good as this one"?.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've been meaning for ages to do a review, because I found this book brilliant. I've now read Eddy's next book as well, Mandrake, and can't wait for him to write loads more. This isn't a very useful review, as I left it too long, but I simply wanted to record how brilliant the book was in the thriller genre.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Thus might Grace Flint, possibly one of the most intriguing heroes of recent thriller fiction, be characterized.
Grace is Detective Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard, assigned to the Major Crimes unit as an undercover operative. Three years previous, she got caught in a sting gone awry, during which her partner was killed and her face stomped to a pulp. Now, after extensive reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation, she's back on the job. While on assignment to America, she stumbles across the trail of the man, Frank Harling, who ordered her beating. It's becomes evident that Frank is now involved in an international blackmail and money laundering scheme masterminded by highly placed individuals in the West's intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Not knowing whom to trust, even within her own service, Flint goes underground to track Harling down.
There's actually a second protagonist in this plot, Harry Cohen, who's on an almost equal footing with Flint. Harry, a solicitor by profession, was once MI5's chief legal counsel, but was sacked after recommending against too many operations of dubious legality. Now, Grace's friends bring Cohen back to find Flint before she runs afoul of either Harling again or the criminal schemers within the Establishment that want her investigation stopped. But, are Grace's "friends" really her friends, or are they the Bad Guys?
Flint is fascinating because of the heavy load of emotional and psychological baggage she carries. There are, obviously, the aftereffects of her physical trauma manifested by her obsession with Harling. But also, as the storyline reveals, Grace's mother vanished one day when her daughter was but a young girl, apparently to foul play since the family dog was severely and deliberately injured in the same event. The woman was never found, not even her body. For a period during her adolescence, Grace actually thought that her veterinarian father had committed the murder, and had him investigated by the police - an investigation that discovered nothing. Because of all this, Flint is extremely vulnerable. Yet she remains smart, highly motivated, and terribly good at what she does for the London Metropolitan Police, i.e. being an undercover agent that can completely take on whatever role of the moment she needs to play. In that sense, she's a chameleon, both to her quarry and the reader.
As much as I enjoyed FLINT, I'm only awarding 4 stars because of a major loose end not tidied up at the conclusion - the question of her mother's disappearance. Perhaps the author means to return to the mystery in a sequel. Perhaps not. It seems too curious a thread to leave hanging, and I shall be sorely vexed if a following volume doesn't revisit the incident.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
PUBLISHERS REVIEW [From The Dust Jacket Flap]
I believe that most readers choose a book from the publisher's advertisements, [eye catching, illustrated dust jackets / the publishers review(s) on the jacket flaps]. Read more
Published on 21 April 2009 by R. A. Hylton
Out Like Flint
When an undercover operation goes wrong one officer is dead and another is left horribly beaten. Grace Flint is the officer who managed to survive but the ordeal has left her face... Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2007 by Sam
Reasonable
Paul Eddy has written a readable book and has introduced a new heroine in Grace Flint. Although this book was reasonable , with some good sections (the operation scene in... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2002 by "djenkins3"
Enjoyable story but disappointingly written
The somewhat pedestrian writing style fails to generate any sense of suspense or excitement. Neither does it cause the reader to conclude that Grace Flint is the "resourceful... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2001 by J. Curd
It'll make a good movie perhaps
In a genre packed with some of the very best this offering never lived up to the hype. It's a good plot full of good ideas but complexity barely covers for the lack of depth in the... Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2001 by neale.blackburn@virgin.net
Brilliantly crafted
Paul Eddy has used his immence knowledge, as a former Sunday Times investigative journalist to write one of the most exciting books I have read in a long time. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2001
Not Clarice Starling!
The main character is a British cop, the storyline is intriguing involving worldwide plots. I enjoyed this book but it pales in comparison to John Nance's action-packed... Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2001
Thriller, yes, if you restrict reading to final third
It's the type of reading that pushes one to the next chapter, not compulsive reading, not the "I couldn't put it down", just basic curiosity. Read more
Published on 15 May 2001 by Mr. M. H. Cox
Boys own story circa 1956
My wife bought this book on impulse and we have both dutifully read it. We are now desperately looking for the till receipt so we can return this poor piece of writing to its... Read more
Published on 2 April 2001
A disappointingly tangled web
Towards the end, this book was (almost) interesting. At times, it did slightly grab my attention but these occasions were few and far between, and did nothing to compensate for... Read more
Published on 2 April 2001
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