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A review by heritage
The Miernik Dossier by Charles McCarry
2.0
1959. An intercepted message indicates the Soviets may be sending an agent into Sudan to assist some anti-government rebels. Further investigation points to one man, and the Americans have a plan to turn this to their advantage.
I don't have much experience with epistolary novels, but my limited exposure makes me feel they're problematic, chiefly because I don't believe people write with that much detail in their regular correspondence. There's too much of the novelist in the documents and not enough of the average person writing with a clear purpose. That sentiment certainly holds true for this novel. But, there's another problem.
Part of the reason this novel is written as a series of documents, letters, diary entries, messages, reports, etc. is to show how easy it is for intelligence agencies to distance themselves from the human subject of the investigation. By distancing themselves like this, the decision makers are treating the subject as something less valuable than a human life. And therein lies the other problem with this novel: we just can't make a connection with any of the characters. They're merely the subjects of reports. Very sterile. Congratulations to the author for accomplishing his purpose, but in so doing also making a lackluster novel because of our detachment from the characters.
There are some interesting moments regarding tradecraft, some humor, and a tiny bit of information about Sudan and the desert, but not enough to compensate for the poor characters and writing style. Perhaps the other books in the series are better. Maybe it's possible to skip this one and just read them instead.
I don't have much experience with epistolary novels, but my limited exposure makes me feel they're problematic, chiefly because I don't believe people write with that much detail in their regular correspondence. There's too much of the novelist in the documents and not enough of the average person writing with a clear purpose. That sentiment certainly holds true for this novel. But, there's another problem.
Part of the reason this novel is written as a series of documents, letters, diary entries, messages, reports, etc. is to show how easy it is for intelligence agencies to distance themselves from the human subject of the investigation. By distancing themselves like this, the decision makers are treating the subject as something less valuable than a human life. And therein lies the other problem with this novel: we just can't make a connection with any of the characters. They're merely the subjects of reports. Very sterile. Congratulations to the author for accomplishing his purpose, but in so doing also making a lackluster novel because of our detachment from the characters.
There are some interesting moments regarding tradecraft, some humor, and a tiny bit of information about Sudan and the desert, but not enough to compensate for the poor characters and writing style. Perhaps the other books in the series are better. Maybe it's possible to skip this one and just read them instead.