Old Boys

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Old Boys is just a notch below his very best (like Tears of Autumn), but wonderful and irresistable nevertheless. If this leads readers into his earlier and now out of print earlier Paul Christopher novels, readers will be the better for it. McCarry's insights into the human heart and mind remain as keen and heart-renderingly revealed as ever. Not only the Western heart and mind, I might add. His depiction of other cultures and their values, and other places and times, are penetrating and convincing -- never more so than in this most recent offering. Read it!



Rating:
Summary: Good Premise, Good Characters, Good Story
Review: Suppose that an ancient manuscript exists that proves that Jesus Christ was an unwitting tool of the Romans, part of a covert action that went wrong. To make it even more plausible, the covert operation bears a close resemblance to an incident reported in the New Testament. What would an Islamic terrorist be willing to do to have proof that Christianity is a false religion. -- OK that's the premise.

Now you have to take into account that this is a spy novel. Filled with open questions: What happened to or where is Paul Christopher? Is Paul's mother, arrested or possibly kidnapped by the Nazi's sixty years ago still alive? Is the Muslim terrorist Ibn Awad really alive, the CIA thought that they had killed him many years ago?

Charles McCarry's stories have never really caught on. Only one of his ten novels McCarry's work has assumed almost cult like following. This is too bad, as his novels have had an erie way of predicting history. In The Better Angels (1979), there is a terriorist attack on the U.S. using passenger jetliners as the weapons.

Rating:
Summary: Old Boys
Review: This is absolutely the best spy book I have EVER read - hands down! The background info was as good as the plot - and that's rare. The plot was amazing, engaging and never dull. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I'm buying 4 copies for my kids for Christmas. I'm also going back to find this author's other books.