The Book of Spies [Hardcover]

Gayle Lynds is not well known in the UK. Her books tend to be available only as imports from the US, unless she's 'co-authoring' one of the late Robert Ludlum's Covert One novels such as Robert Ludlum's The Paris Option (Covert One 3). She's also not the most prolific author, with The Book of Spies being her first solo effort since The Last Spymaster, first published back in 2006. A 'novel a year' author constantly churning out best-selllers she is not.

Its a shame that she isn't better known in the UK however, because she is a genuinely talented thriller writer. Having read all her solo efforts, from Mosaic, to Masquerade and The Coil there is not a single one I didn't enjoy. She doesn't necessarily break new ground with her writing and she stays very much within the sub-genre popularised by the likes of Ludlum, with the little guy (or girl) uncovering some world changing hidden conspiracy and coming up against powerful forces in the process, but she's very good at what she does.

The Book of Spies just serves to reinforce that. Again this is very much a thriller in the Ludlum tradition, but with some contemporary twists. In Eva Blake you have the typical innocent lead character sucked into a hidden global conspiracy. In Judd Ryder you have the resourceful, competent but honest 'insider' who teams up with the naive Eva to assist her quest. With the titular Book of Spies and the large Library of Gold with the 'book club' who own and maintain it you have, by turns, the maguffin that sets events in motion, a totemic symbol of the conspiracy and the cabal of shadowy figures that is behind it all. Add in a fair quantity of globe trotting, numerous ruthless assassins, some ultra-secret intelligence agencies and lots of chasing & shooting and its all pretty standard stuff for this type of novel.

The fact that The Book of Spies doesn't radically rewrite the formula for this type of book does not mean however, that it should simply be dismissed as derivative or disposable. As I said before, Lynds is a talented writer and she marshalls both her characters and the twisting, turning plot with deceptive ease. The story unfolds logically and at a pace that maintains tension, excitement and the reader's attention but never becomes so breakneck that intelligibility is sacrificed. Key characters, whilst never very deep, are given enough backstory and personality to allow you to care about their respective fates. There are plot twists aplenty but all feel logical and necessary and there are no deus ex machina resolutions. Action, when it occurs, is punchy, direct but clear.

Lynds even manages to inject some freshness into proceedings. As a woman writing in a genre dominated by men Lynds brings a nice female slant to events. For example Blake isn't simply the attractive 'expert' there provide exposition, fall in love with the handsome hero and be rescued by his at the eleventh hour. She's capable, resourceful, independently minded and doesn't fall into bed with Ryder at the drop of a hat. Some readers might also fear that talk of Golden Libraries and ancient books means that Lynds is belatedly jumping on the Dan Brown 'historical mystery' band-wagon but whilst there's a hint of that here and there she mostly sidesteps becoming just another Da Vinci Code wannabe. The Golden Libary and the 'book club' that owns and maintains it are reasonably original, if vaguely implausible, concepts and the latter acts as a potent adversary for the book's heroes. The denoument is also interestingly different, with Lynds avoiding a neat wrap up where our heroes walk off into the sunset together with the bad guys vanquished and the world set to rights. Whilst some protagonists get their just desserts there is also some ambiguity, with plot threads left hanging and adversaries free to continue their nefarious machinations. Its a welcome recognition that not everything can or should be tied up in a neat bow.

Although its not implicitly stated anywhere I suspect that this somewhat open ending is also there to allow for future adventures for Blake and Ryder, with some of the book's supporting characters making their returns too. For me the thought of more time in the company of these people and further similar adventures is a welcome one. The Book of Spies kept me entertained and was a real pick-me up after tackling several less than enjoyable novels. It didn't break any new ground or leave me stunned by its orignality but it kept me turning the pages late into the night, and that's what a thriller of this sort should do. I just hope Gayle Lynds doesn't wait another four years to write the next one.

No one will ever accuse Gayle Lynds' thrillers of being short on dramatic action. Co-author with Robert Ludlum of three Covert One suspense novels, Lynds gained plenty of writing practice with him. Her own real-life credentials as a member of the intelligence community, with top secret clearance, provide her with insights into investigations and knowledge of the resources available. Anyone looking for a fast-paced thriller or a good beach read need look no further. Drawing on the legendary history of the Ivan the Terrible's Library of Gold and the many searches for it over the past five hundred years, Lynds incorporates the story of this collection of gold-covered manuscripts into a fast-paced narrative set in exotic, foreign locations.

CIA covert officer Tucker Anderson needs help tracking down information about this mysterious library. One of his long-time friends, formerly with the CIA, has been murdered after telling him that he had found a mysterious account with twenty million dollars, thought connected to international terrorism--and to the Library of Gold. Enlisting the help of Eva Blake, a manuscript conservator, and Judd Ryder, the son of the murder victim, Anderson also involves the CIA's "Catapult" team on counterterrorism and counterintelligence in the investigation. Working to thwart Anderson is the "book club" of the Library of Gold, ten of the world's richest men, who are the only ones who know where the library is located and what it contains. Their long tentacles have reached into governments and agencies around the globe, perhaps even including Catapult and members of Congress.

The action moves from Washington to Johannesburg, Rome, Dubai, the Sultanate of Oman, Pakistan, Istanbul, Athens, and the Khost Province of Afghanistan, and as the plot becomes more complex, the toll of assassinations rises exponentially. Major characters are kidnapped, beaten, and/or killed, their opponents attacked with guns, grenades, and poison. Clues are sought in a tattoo, in the Book of Spies (the only volume ever to have been removed from the Library of Gold), and in fragments that may be decoded on an ancient cylinder on which a piece of leather is wound to reveal a message. As Anderson and company begin to make headway, they are pursued by trained killers determined to stop them.

With all this high-powered action, the author concentrates primarily on moving the narrative along, writing simply, and including only as much description as the reader needs to imagine the characters and the often well-known locations. The dialogue is sometimes a bit awkward, but here actions speak louder than words, and the increasing body count keeps the reader constantly on edge. The complex story line is relatively easy to follow, with the Library of Gold enough of a mystery in its own right to support the numerous subplots. Tucker Anderson and Eva Blake seem destined to become the stars of a new series by Lynds, and the cinematic possibilities, replete with special effects, are endless. Mary Whipple

Chilling, breathtaking, moving, twisting, eye-opening, stimulating, nerve-wracking, entertaining, challenging, educating, action-packed . . . when it comes to a Gayle Lynds' spy thriller, whatever you can dream up in a literary ride of extreme fascination is what this author delivers. Her "what if" began with an article she read in the "Los Angeles Times " in 1989. Through the next 20 years plus, the mystery of Ivan the Terrible's lost library percolated in the back of her mind to become an obsession she called The Library of Gold. The more she researched it the more it absorbed her. Like Robert Ludlum's conspiratorial elite who lurked through many of his novels, the idea of such a rich and fabled library lent itself to another tale of hidden wealthy powerbrokers manipulating world events to their advantage.

The CIA becomes involved after a vengeance sniper attack on the father of one of its contract agents. In following up the victim's ties to an elite secret book club of the world's most powerful men, they discover a connection between the group's Library of Gold and a terrorist's bank account. To help, they engage Eva Blake, a rare books curator who has been wrongfully imprisoned for her husband's death. They release her. In London, while inspecting one of the "lost" books, she spots her husband alive. He turns on her and tries to kill her. Judd Ryder, assigned by the CIA to protect her, learns his recently assassinated father was a member of the secret book club, and in rescuing Eva joins forces with her in a hunt that takes them from London to Rome, Istanbul to Athens, and even into Afghanistan.

Unlike "The Da Vinci Code," Gayle does not sacrifice pace to burden readers with heavy-handed history--that she contains in her Author's Notes at the end. Instead, she balances character development, plot, action and international settings with fine-tuned precision. In many current suspense and mystery novels, authors have abandoned the omniscient point of view, so it is a treat to return to the thriller master's technique of setting up each chapter from the long view of the camera to pan into the characters so we instantly see them and then of zooming into the close-up of the scene from the character's POV.

In "Book of Spies," Gayle builds characters with idiosyncrasies that evolve from their legends. In this case, her heroine Eva Blake is a museum curator who specializes in ancient manuscripts. To do such work, she must have a retentive memory and an analytic gift. For her to communicate with her husband in Latin phrases is an intellectual game such vibrant minds relish, if only to serve their own egos. That this becomes her instantaneous style of response is not outside the realm of possibility but rather her norm. She has trained her mind in competition with her husband to see Latin one-liners to express what she observes. That she comes from a poor background where she has learned to survive as a pickpocket only proves how clever people with street smarts actually are when inspired to educate themselves by traditional standards. Once, learning karate was unusual for a young woman but even my twin granddaughters take it today. Young people with a goal are environmentally responsible and health conscious. Eva comfortably fits into our modern concept of an ambitious heroine. For Judd Blake, a former military intelligence officer, her quirks are what attract his respect and enhance his curiosity. She is a challenge that unbolts his guarded control. Spies have intellectual powers and skills few of us develop. Gayle engages us to participate in that world between the pages of the "Book of Spies." This novel ties history to greed, power, terrorism and spy chases. I love it! And to top it all off, Gayle has brought back the Carnivore from "The Coil."