- Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Orion; New Ed edition (8 Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752808486
- ISBN-13: 978-0752808482
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11.2 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 373,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Old Flames
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Ten years on from BLACK OUT, it is 1956 and the Cold War is at its height. For the first time, Soviet leaders (Bulganin and Khrushchev) visit Britain. The body of a diver is found floating near a russion ship at Portsmouth. Is this the excuse Bulganin and Khrushchev need to storm out and freeze the ColdWar still further? Cheif Inspector Troy, by parentage a Russian speaker, investigates ...
About the Author
John Lawton is a degenerating misanthrope who lives in a remote hilltop village in Derbyshire. He is not entirely sure why. He likes T.C. Boyle, Chuck Palahniuk and Cormac McCarthy - and considers the seminal text of our time to be Myron by Gore Vidal. He is keen on the cultivation of the onion and obscure varieties of potato. He hates tories, teachers and travel (in that order) - but loves to visit Arizona, Florence ... New York ...
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First Sentence
A blurred face swam at the end of a tunnel. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
A blurred face swam at the end of a tunnel. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I couldn't put this down. Ordinarily the way this book was packaged - spies and thrills and all that guff - I would not have bothered to pick it up. But this writer brings so much more to the hackneyed old cold war plotlines. He bends and shapes recent history into an intriguing tale and rounds it out with flesh and blood, believable characters. Forget the thrills and spills it's the depth of characterisation that'll keep you reading. I'm now going out to buy all the others in the series.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Sgt Troy develops from Lawton's first novel, Blackout. There is a particularly well written scene where Troy sees Churchill walking down the corridors of the Houses of Parliament - some read this passage as though they were actually there. Lawton has a wonderful character in Troy: unusual and eccentric family; unorthodox life for a London copper and a broad range of colleagues and friends. Pigs don't fly but they must be fed; and the motorcycle maniac helps out.
Expect nothing usual from John Lawton and you will be enriched as well as entertained.
This book is cold war at an intense stage.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Twelve years on from Black Out, this is (chronologically) the fourth book in the excellent Inspector Troy series (after Second Violin, Riptide and the aforementioned Black Out) and the period this time is 1956 and the visit to England by Krushchev. Troy is tasked with being one of those responsible for the Russian dignitaries security, whilst acting as a spy, due to his Russian background. The story then develops around the disappearance of a diver and a "suspicious" death associated with this disappearance.
Whilst not the fourth book written, the novel involves a number of characters who have appeared in previous episodes within the series, and I think this book was made more enjoyable by having read the previous novels roughly in chronological order, as I felt I "knew" the characters. There are however references to events which, despite having read all the previous novels, I do not recall, so suspect Lawton will bring another episode out set between the end of the Black Out and this novel.
So, what of the book. To be honest, I found the first 100 or so pages fairly slow going - this is a much longer book than Black Out, and some of the scene-setting moved along at a snails pace. However, suddenly the story really kicks in, and I am glad I stuck with it, as it evolves into a real page turner, once again really bringning out the feel of 50s Britain and our hang over from the war (there is a nice scene in a pub in Belper where Troy is listening to people talk about the war, and he wonders whether they will still be recollecting their roles in the 1980's or 1990's!).
Part spy story (in the vein of Le Carre) and part traditional Police novel, beliveable characters, who have developed through the series, it really is an enjoyable caper, once you get past the first 100 pages!
Whilst not the fourth book written, the novel involves a number of characters who have appeared in previous episodes within the series, and I think this book was made more enjoyable by having read the previous novels roughly in chronological order, as I felt I "knew" the characters. There are however references to events which, despite having read all the previous novels, I do not recall, so suspect Lawton will bring another episode out set between the end of the Black Out and this novel.
So, what of the book. To be honest, I found the first 100 or so pages fairly slow going - this is a much longer book than Black Out, and some of the scene-setting moved along at a snails pace. However, suddenly the story really kicks in, and I am glad I stuck with it, as it evolves into a real page turner, once again really bringning out the feel of 50s Britain and our hang over from the war (there is a nice scene in a pub in Belper where Troy is listening to people talk about the war, and he wonders whether they will still be recollecting their roles in the 1980's or 1990's!).
Part spy story (in the vein of Le Carre) and part traditional Police novel, beliveable characters, who have developed through the series, it really is an enjoyable caper, once you get past the first 100 pages!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Too long
I'm currently reading books set in the 1950s and this one seemed to fit the bill. Unfortunately it's too long winded to be really good. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2009 by Book chatter
To catch a spy
Not reaching the heights of his wonderful literary thriller Sweet Sunday, this novel does make an interesting fist of spying and skulduggery in the England of the 1950s. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Cold War Snoozer
awton's second Inspector Troy story (following Black Out), finds the upper class detective in middle-age as the Cold War menaces England in 1956. Read more
Published on 2 May 2003 by A. Ross
His best book - the "perfect" spy novel
When the cold war ended what would become ofthe cold war novel? Were the leCarres and Deightons going to out of a job? Well boys, this is the future. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2000
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