Re-inventing the spy story for the 21st Century. John Le Carre meets Jason Bourne! Daniel Marchant, a suspended MI6 officer, is running the London Marathon. He is also running out of time. A competitor is strapped with explosives. If he drops his pace, everyone around him will be killed, including the US ambassador to London. Marchant tries to thwart the attack, but is he secretly working for the terrorists? There are those in America who already suspect Marchant of treachery. Just like they suspected his late father, the former head of MI6, who was removed from his job by the CIA. Marchant is treated like an enemy combatant - rendition, waterboarding - but he has friends who are disillusioned with America's war on terror. Friends like Leila, his beautiful MI6 colleague and lover, and Sir Marcus Fielding, the new Chief who resents the White House's growing influence in Whitehall. On the run from the CIA, Marchant is determined to prove his father's innocence in a personal journey that takes him from Wiltshire, via Poland, to India. It was here that the former MI6 chief once met with one of the world's most wanted terrorists, and where the new President of America is shortly to visit. But was that meeting proof of a mole within MI6 or the best penetration of Al Qaeda the West has ever had? And was Marchant's father the keeper of another, darker secret? In a compelling thriller that updates the spy novel for the 21st century -- think John Le Carre meets Jason Bourne - Marchant discovers the shocking realities of personal betrayal and national loyalty, and that love can be the biggest risk of all.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Veteran British newsman Stock (The Riot Act) fuses the cerebral complexity and cool prose of early le Carré with a tough, smart hero modeled on Jason Bourne in this excellent spy thriller, the first in a projected trilogy. Disgraced MI6 agent Daniel Marchant is running in the London Marathon with his girlfriend, Leila, also an MI6 agent, when he notices a South Asian man in the pack wearing a disguised suicide bomber's belt. When Marchant realizes they are near the American ambassador, another marathon runner, Marchant with Leila's aid does what he has to do to prevent the bombing. This act of bravery, unfortunately, leads to Marchant's falling under suspicion of being a terrorist himself. Foreign terrorists, an MI6 mole, and thugs aplenty populate the pages, but it is the ongoing war between the British and American spy agencies that's the inflammatory heart of this suspenseful, elegantly written novel. (Nov.) (c)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Daniel Marchant, a gifted covert operative for MI6, is suspended after the CIA forces the British to dismiss his father from his post as head of England’s intelligence service. Both Marchants are seen by the Brits as regrettable collateral damage in the war on terrorism, but after Daniel foils a suicide bomber in the London Marathon, saving the life of the American ambassador, he’s renditioned to a CIA black site in Poland and waterboarded. MI6 breaks him out of the prison and Daniel must avoid a global Agency manhunt to foil a terrorist plot and salvage his father’s reputation. Dead Spy Running is a turbocharged thriller with first-rate tradecraft, a host of cynical spooks, and evocative portraits of exotic locales. A film version is already in development, and in England, comparisons to le Carré are rampant. The Brits have long been among the most artful players of The Great Game. The CIA may not be as artful, but some American readers may be put off by the wholesale, broad-brush portrayal of the CIA as arrogant, boorish, thuggish clowns. Here’s hoping Stock is simply spinning a ripping good yarn. --Thomas Gaughan
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
For Fans of Le Carre & Bourne,
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Dead Spy Running. Jon Stock (Hardcover)
Ten years ago, I read and loved Jon Stock's debut thriller The Riot Act -- about a young counter-cultural class warrior forced to go undercover. It was lean, taut, and had a corker of an ending. Four years ago, I was rather less taken with his followup, The Cardamom Club, which had problems of pacing, over-elaborate plotting, and somewhat sappy romantic content. Now comes his third book (the first of a projected trilogy), which bears all the hallmarks of the blockbuster international spy thriller.
The story kicks off at the London Marathon, where suspended MI6 agent Daniel Marchant happens to be running with his girlfriend, a fellow MI6 agent. Exciting events transpire, and soon thereafter he finds himself in the custody of his own people, and eventually the CIA. It seems his father, who had been head of MI6, was forcibly retired under suspicious circumstances, and now the son is under suspicion as well. More heartpounding events transpire and Daniel soon finds himself on the run from MI5, MI6, and CIA, all while a plot may be unfolding to kill President Obama (the unnamed "new guy") as he visits India. The pacing problems of Stock's second book are gone, as the story switches back and forth in short bursts between Daniel's attempt to stay alive, flashbacks to his training and relationship with his girlfriend, and the heads of various intelligence agencies snarling at each other in plush offices. While this back and forth construction works for pacing purposes, it also means that the story becomes somewhat fractured between these two fronts, as neither Daniel nor the bureaucrats take center stage. Thankfully, toward the end, these two story lines begin to converge and everything gets a little more fluid and more exciting. Stock's made no apologies for the influence of John Le Carre and the recent Bourne films on this book -- which is a good thing, since fans of either will find themselves on familiar ground. The intense bureaucratic infighting will appeal to fans of Le Carre, while Daniel's attempt to stay one step ahead of the various intelligence services will appeal to fans of Bourne. On the whole, it's a solid page-turning thriller, with all the requisite insider detail and international color. It gets especially good once on Indian soil, as Stock's familiarity with India enables him to bring a lot of local color to the story. Overall, a solid entry in the international spy thriller genre.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something old, something new,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dead Spy Running (Hardcover)
Dead Spy Running begins with Daniel Marchant running a marathon but the story (unlike the runner) takes off at a sprinter's speed. Suspended from MI6, Marchant has personal issues: he drinks too much and his deceased father, the former Chief of MI6, is suspected of having been a traitor. During the race, Marchant observes one of the runners wearing a belt that conceals explosives -- and the runner happens to be trailing near the American ambassador. Marchant's proximity to the suicide bomber is viewed as no coincidence by the suspicious minds at MI5. Soon the CIA fixates on the notion that Marchant is working for terrorists. Even Marchant's spy girlfriend seems uncertain about Marchant's loyalty. The novel follows Marchant as he battles to clear his father's name and his own.
Much of Dead Spy Running has been done before, often by better writers: the son who wonders whether his father was a traitor, by Len Deighton; the spy with a drinking problem by Graham Greene; the mole in MI6 by John Le Carre and many others. Toward the end, however, the plot takes a twist I haven't seen before, saving the novel from being a rehash of tired stories. Dead Spy Running also has an interesting political component that's not exactly new but well done, as MI6 finds itself at odds with MI5 and the CIA. The plot is the novel's strong point. The characters are nothing special. The CIA spooks seem a bit over-the-top in their thuggish ways, eagerly carrying out extraordinary renditions so they can conduct interrogations via waterboard. (Of course, there's a reason America's clandestine community is seen that way, but still ....) Stock's writing style is fine but far from stirring. He does have the ability to describe locations (Poland and India) with the kind of detail that adds authenticity to the novel. The pace is perfect for a spy thriller: a fast start, easing a bit as the plot sets up, then full throttle to an action-filled end. Stock doesn't resort to having Marchant perform superhuman feats to save the world, but there's plenty here for action fans. The ending stretches the limits of credibility but I was willing to accept it because ... well, it was satisfying. I liked this novel and I would recommend it to fans of espionage fiction as a worthwhile blend of intelligent plotting and fast action. I would give Dead Spy Running 4 1/2 stars if Amazon made that option available.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb espionage thriller,
This review is from: Dead Spy Running (Hardcover)
Thirty-five thousand runners are testing for the London Marathon. Two of them work for M16 though Agent Daniel is on suspension at full pay; the other is girlfriend Leila who worries about her lover's mental health since his father's death. However, just prior to the start, another operative Myers called Leila with a warning that electronic chatter says something is going to happen at the event.
About fifty minutes into the race, Daniel notices an Asian runner wearing a belt who seems out of place. He further sees two obvious American Secret service agents with another participant who he thinks is the U.S. Ambassador Munroe. He realizes the Asian is wearing a bomb. He learns the Asian is Pradeep from India and terrorists kidnapped his son with the admonition do the mission if you want your offspring to live. The bomb is defused, but Daniel is under suspicion as a terrorist. Dead Spy Running is a superb espionage thriller, which contains the usual suspects of foreign agents and internal moles. However, what makes the story line super is rivalry between M16 and the CIA, M16 and M15, and the CIA and the Secret Service as each agency fails to work together, but instead prefers front dog status even if it causes problems for their respective country. Fans will appreciate Jon Stock's strong run. Harriet Klausner
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