Scan barcode
A review by poachedeggs
Collected Short Stories: Volume 3 by W. Somerset Maugham
3.0
I love Maugham but his work can be a little uneven, and especially so when it's a short story collection (unless one is talking about Raymond Carver or Alice Munro, it's been difficult to find a short story collection that *completely* captivates me).
In this one, Ashenden the British spy - cynical, ostensibly colourless, a keen observer of those around him - hobnobs with ambassadors and royalty, and sends men to certain death. There are femme fatales as well as washed up spies, double agents and traps wrongly sprung. It is all rather exotic - perhaps a little too much so.
My favourite story is "The Traitor", which is set in the Swiss Alps and is an unexpectedly tragic love story.
In this one, Ashenden the British spy - cynical, ostensibly colourless, a keen observer of those around him - hobnobs with ambassadors and royalty, and sends men to certain death. There are femme fatales as well as washed up spies, double agents and traps wrongly sprung. It is all rather exotic - perhaps a little too much so.
My favourite story is "The Traitor", which is set in the Swiss Alps and is an unexpectedly tragic love story.