mystery

Charles McCarry has been my favorite author since I picked up a used copy of "Secret Lovers" on the way to the airport more than ten years ago. For some reason he remains undiscovered by most readers -- his books ought to be appreciated not only by fans of espionage fiction, but by anyone who likes a good story that is beautifully written. I have read all the Paul Christopher books, and a couple years ago, thinking that the last one had already been written, re-read them from first to last. This series has a richness of characterization and story, a unique melding of history with fiction, and a literary style that elevates it above any other author's work. Although a unified series, each book has its own merits. The first, Miernik Dossier, is not a narrative, but rather a collection of reports from the field that dance around the truth, and that brillianty illuminate the type of imperfect knowledge that espionage can provide. Current events provide another example. One of the books is a historical romance. Another has some aspects of fantasy/science fiction. This book, "Old Boys", is the only one written in the first person, and does not have one of the Christophers as narrator. Again, it is topical, and can stand alone as an absorbing novel, but in the context of the entire series serves as a capstone to this family's story. I strongly recommend "Old Boys" -- and urge you to read the rest of McCarry's fiction too -- Let's hope this is not, in fact, Paul Christopher's swan song.

As usual Charles McCarry has produced another exceptional thriller. Although it follows the latest twist in the Christopher family history it can be read on a stand alone basis. McCarry's novels are literate and absorbing unlike much of the genre. Sadly this may be McCarry's final work {according to the WSJ review}.

I have read all of Mr. McCarry's other books with Paul Christopher as the central character, and they are all top drawer. This work, unfortunately, has little plot - and what there is of it is uninteresting - little about Christopher, and at the end, the reader does not really care. His mother is the most interesting though confused person in the book, and at the end, we learn little about her motives. All in all, this book does not measure up, sorry to say.