Reviews

• Your Country Needs you 第一次大戦は遠くなりにけり

  どいうわけか、ここにきて、長い間本棚に鎮座していたanthony priceの作品を読み続けている。本作品はその第五作。 彼の作品は歴史や戦史のエピソードと現代の情報戦が交錯しているところにその特徴がある。もっとも現代とは言っても、その舞台は今では古色蒼然とした１９７０年代の冷戦時代（文中の記述から1973年10月と特定できる）なのだが。さらに歴史のエピソードとはいっても必ずしも欧米以外の読者にはなじみがないものが多い。今回のエピソードは、第一次大戦中1916年のフランスのソンムでの塹壕戦をめぐるものなのだ。 一枚のこの塹壕戦での写真をめぐり、何人かの人物が連続して偶然を装った形で殺害される。そこに本シリーズのdavid audreyが登場するのだ。この１９７０年代初頭、まだ第一次大戦の従軍者が生き残っていた時代だ。彼らを探し出し、そこに潜む謎の解明に乗り出すのだが、その作業は英国にとどまらず、これらの従軍者の生き残りがフランスの現地での追悼ツアーに出かけているということで、david audreyと本作品で初めて登場するpaul mitchelもフランスに向かうこととなる。さてそこから先はネタバレになるので、控える。 最後の50ページほどで舞台は急展開するのがこのシリーズの特徴だ。どれも全編200ページ前後の作品なのだが、そこまでは筋のアウトラインは明瞭に語られることなく、読者には五里霧中の状態が続くのだが、最後はあっという間の駆け足での大上段だ。駆け足ということになると、伏線として張り巡らされた様々なディテールの種明かしはきちんとなされることはなく、これがこのシリーズの欠陥だろうか。本書でも、今回の黒幕の動機などについては、明確な説明はなく、最後には別のsubplotが突然superimposeされるという不自然さだ。 このような欠陥を抱えるこのシリーズなのだが、よくもまー１０冊以上も20年近くにわたって続いたものだ。これは英国人独特の好みなのかな。確かに、この第一次大戦の塹壕戦はその残酷な思い出がくっきりと当時の英国人には刻み込まれているようなのだ。 このシリーズのほとんどは今や絶版だが。このOther Paths to Gloryのみが現在でもPenguinで入手可能のようだ。

• Used book arrived fine, clearly fairly well read, but perfectly acceptable. I have been rereading those books of the series I have, and thoroughly enjoying them. Here I was getting some of the ones missing from my collection. The Audley/Butler novels are well worth a read if you haven't read them

• Not so good spy thriller with literary ambitions . Too pedantic and not very exciting as it's overwritten .The setting is unique but unless you are as much interested in 1st world war battle details as the protagonist, you are likely to chuck it midway .I finished it but frankly it lacks genuine spycraft and not very suspenseful either . Any Gavin Lyall book is better by a country mile.

• Another intelligence thriller from my favourite author Anthony Price as he combines his own background of historical studies with writing a cracking good tale that holds one's atttention to the last paragraph with its last twists and turns. And almost has me shaking the book in case of a hidden page. The Audley intelligence thrillers have an overlapping cast of characters and Paul Mitchell begins as an academic anti hero in Other Paths to Glory during which he is blooded and succumbs to the excitement of the Greatest Game ever played. Paul Mitchell is the closest successor that David Audley ever acquires. His meticulous eye for detail rescues Audley's more reckless plans. But both men share the the same streak of ruthlessness that is a prerequisite for any intelligence officer in the field. I have been reading and rereading Anthony Price's Audley thrillers for over thirty years now and I felt a tinge of personal sadness on learning of his death in 2019.

• Some excellent WW1 historical detail. This was truly gripping; one could sense the horrors of the various bombardments and advances. I also liked the way in which Paul was inveigled into the investigation. I do think many readers would guess the underlying issues and how the crimes would pan out. In addition I thought the female characters were portrayed with far more cardboard than the male . Overall a very good read with the historical areas being far ahead of the " spy " parts.

• From the opening moments, when Paul Mitchell's researches into individual actions in WWI France are interrupted by two strangers who should never have been able to get unaccompanied into the Great War Documents Room of the British Commonwealth Institute for Military Studies, to the end of the book, on the First World War battlefields of the Somme, the pace of this book never slows. There are murders made to look like accidents, clever information-gathering to make a suicide convincing, and a very unusual collection of Intelligence personnel from different countries, but throughout it all is woven the story of that war, its massive casualties (57,000 men lost in one day), the sense of commitment, bravery, camaraderie, and determination to go on, whatever the cost (and no, it's an insult to all the men to say they went on because they had no option, there's a lot more to it than that). The team of Dr David Audley and Col Jack Butler are the true professionals in this game of detection, and it's fascinating to watch Paul Mitchell not only try to work out the relationships between the players, but at the same time bring his excellent brain with its amazing depth of knowledge and analytical ability into play in this bewildering new world. Nothing is simple or straightforward, and the story is on several levels, for there is still the present-day plot intertwined with the battlefields and unexploded munitions being ploughed up annually. All the characters in the book are brilliantly drawn, from the old General to the mentally-limited boy in the garage; I shivered at the menace of the police motor cyclists, shuddered at the portrait of the battlefield tour guide in pink, was very thankful Mrs Mitchell wasn't my mother, and was totally absorbed in Paul Mitchell's thought processes. As always, the tortuous world of national Intelligence is full of suspicion, obfuscation, and is utterly baffling. It must be exhausting for all players. Like another reviewer, I find Anthony Price's books much more lively, more readable, and more human than John Le Carre's. This one is among the best.

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