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Product Description
Product Description
When an RAF Dakota, presumed lost at sea in 1945, is discovered in a drained lake in Lincolnshire, together with its pilot and a cargo of worthless rubble, it falls to David Audley of the MOD to puzzle out just why the Russians are so interested, and what the plane was carrying that is important enough to kill for.
About the Author
Anthony Price was born in Hertfordshire and educated at Oxford. His long career in journalism culminated in the editorship of the OXFORD TIMES. He is the author of 19 novels and has won the CWA SILVER and GOLD DAGGERS.
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First Sentence
By the time Audley became involved with them, the lake, the aircraft and the man had parted company. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
By the time Audley became involved with them, the lake, the aircraft and the man had parted company. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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, and it is useful to be familiar with recurring characters, particularly the maverick intellectual, David Audley, and the working class Lancastrian soldier, Colonel Jack Butler. I originally read one of the subsequent books first and could not make head or tail of it, but "Labyrinth Makers" sets you up for the others and is relatively straightforward.
Only relatively, though. This is an intricate world of intellectual double- and triple-cross. The fun is in the complexity of the twists as each character tries to gain more information than he gives away. Each book is told from one character's internal point of view, and he can misunderstand others' personality and motives quite fundamentally, as subsequent books may show.
David Audley is the subject character of this first book, and is still quite junior in the department. He is a historian, which is a key factor - in Price's books, the real solution to the mystery almost always lies in the past, recent or remote. He has to find out why a Second World War transport plane, piloted by the con-artist father of a young woman, crashed with an apparently worthless cargo, and why Comrade Professor Panin of the KGB is interested in it.
There is little overt violence and no improbable James Bond-type agent; the conflict is one of information and ideas, and the hero is quite realistically scared of getting hurt. The final twist, as always with Price, is completely unpredictable, and you never know what to believe. As the series continues, things which had been clarified, apparently finally, at the end of one book are sometimes called into question in a subsequent one.
I would very strongly recomment this book, not just as a holiday read but also as the introduction to a realistic and fascinating world, which covers most of the last three decades of the Cold War and the first few years after it ended. (Price, very wisely, seems to have stopped writing as his senior characters retire and the us-versus-them certainties with which they have lived disappear). Read this book, then read all its many sequels.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
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