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persey's review against another edition
2.0
I miss Berlin, that wonderfully evoked image of a city at war that was as much a protagonist of Downing's WWII spy novels as John Russell. I don't know if Downing got it all right, but it didn't really matter; I believed in it.
Belief is coming up short with the first book in his news series. Downing's new spy, Jack McColl, romps about on three continents and Downing likes to show off his research, which is at best perfunctory. So we get a lot of info dumps regarding the headlines of the day, tourist trips around the various cities (and he did get a lot wrong in New York), walk-ons by various famous and semi-famous people such as Agnes Smedley and Caresse Crosby (under her maiden name), and including McColl's medic in the Boer War, who was, wait for it, Gandhi, and the love-interest's college roommate, the future Mme. Sun Yat-Sen. Oh, sure. Moreover these are essentially 21st century characters who are supposed to have lived a century ago. Caitlin is unrealistically sexually active and gets a job as an editor at the famously misogynistic New York Times, while the Oxford-educated Jack uses such words as "Yep" and "Nope." In 1914? I think not.
The lazy writing continued with that fallback of hack spy writers, a series of unrelated short adventures and no over-arching plot. I'm giving this two stars only because I suppose the series will get better now that the war has started, if Downing can focus on one arena of action at a time. I'm not sure I'll be along for the ride, however.
Belief is coming up short with the first book in his news series. Downing's new spy, Jack McColl, romps about on three continents and Downing likes to show off his research, which is at best perfunctory. So we get a lot of info dumps regarding the headlines of the day, tourist trips around the various cities (and he did get a lot wrong in New York), walk-ons by various famous and semi-famous people such as Agnes Smedley and Caresse Crosby (under her maiden name), and including McColl's medic in the Boer War, who was, wait for it, Gandhi, and the love-interest's college roommate, the future Mme. Sun Yat-Sen. Oh, sure. Moreover these are essentially 21st century characters who are supposed to have lived a century ago. Caitlin is unrealistically sexually active and gets a job as an editor at the famously misogynistic New York Times, while the Oxford-educated Jack uses such words as "Yep" and "Nope." In 1914? I think not.
The lazy writing continued with that fallback of hack spy writers, a series of unrelated short adventures and no over-arching plot. I'm giving this two stars only because I suppose the series will get better now that the war has started, if Downing can focus on one arena of action at a time. I'm not sure I'll be along for the ride, however.
rosseroo's review
3.0
This globe-trotting adventure is the entertaining first book in a World War I-era series featuring British Naval intelligence agent Jack McColl. Espionage was a bit of an amateur affair then, and as the pitchman for his family's bespoke automobile brand, McColl has a reasonable cover for running around. The book opens in 1913 China, where he's poking his nose into the German-occupied port of Tsingtao. In China he also meets his romantic interest, an American female journalist who might be somehow connected to the Irish nationalists.
In the manner of many such period-set adventures, her sensibilities strike a slightly too-modern note, but that's a minor distraction amidst the adventures that propel them from Shanghai to San Francisco, Mexico, New York, and so forth. The story roams among various nationalists seeking to throw off the Imperial British yoke: Irish, Indian, and Chinese, nationalists, and the extent to which German support is behind any of it. If you like your espionage to be deliberate and sober, a la Le Carre, or realistic and fatalistic a la Alan Furst, this is probably going to be too zippy and full of derring-do for you. But if you're looking for a fun period adventure series, this is a good place to start.
In the manner of many such period-set adventures, her sensibilities strike a slightly too-modern note, but that's a minor distraction amidst the adventures that propel them from Shanghai to San Francisco, Mexico, New York, and so forth. The story roams among various nationalists seeking to throw off the Imperial British yoke: Irish, Indian, and Chinese, nationalists, and the extent to which German support is behind any of it. If you like your espionage to be deliberate and sober, a la Le Carre, or realistic and fatalistic a la Alan Furst, this is probably going to be too zippy and full of derring-do for you. But if you're looking for a fun period adventure series, this is a good place to start.
clambook's review
2.0
Big disappointment. The writing is flat, characters not fully drawn. Felt like I was coming in late at the movie - Chapter 1 reads like Chapter 6, and from there the narrative just plods along, reading at times more like a walking tour of various cities than a historical thriller. Not many thrills, and even the history is weak - little attempt to draw the contexts of revolutionary China or Mexico, or the Irish-Indian-German pre WWI flirtations.
borisfeldman's review
3.0
First in an expected series. Spying on the eve of WWI. The writing was engaging. The plot, underwhelming. The entire book felt as if it were setting the stage for a series that could be quite good. But the storyline was too thin.
stephend81d5's review
4.0
really enjoyed this first part in a new series of spy thriller based on the eve of WW1 by the author more famous for his station series in berlin in WW2. jack is a spy and starts off in china and go cat and mouse through united states, mexico, Ireland and England as the main character tries to block an axis plot to damage Britain. based loosely on the early days of the intelligence service and reilly the ace of spies.
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