Customer Reviews

Dead Spy Running. Jon Stock

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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

While I don't agree with the publisher's claim that this is as good as the Bourne novels, this is a perfectly acceptable thriller to pack in your holiday suitcase. Reading it reminded me in many ways of the British TV series Spooks: it's equally fastpaced and equally unrealistic. The storyline centres on Daniel Marchand, an MI6 officer who has been suspended after his father (the former chief) was linked to an Indian terrorist and forced to resign. Daniel and his girlfriend Leila (another MI6 officer) are running the London Marathon together when he sees a man running behind the American ambassador armed with a bomb. He averts disaster, but MI5 and the Americans are suspicious about why he was on the scene and whether he himself is involved with terrorists. So he's on the run, trying to clear his name and his father's name.

The momentum of the book keeps you reading but there are a few structural problems. The main one is that there are two storylines which don't fully come together: without giving too much away, our hero doesn't really play a role in the book's climax. There are plenty of twists and action, but these are often squandered - delivered as throwaways rather than being maximized. Stereotypical characters make silly decisions (the head of MI5 repeatedly being a prime example). Poor proofreading also means that there are some continuity problems that are unnecessarily distracting.

However as I say, it's all quite readable and dead exciting in parts. The ending sets it up for a sequel and if there is, I'll probably read it. But it's not the new Bourne.

Not really in top shape, and a little hung over, Daniel Marchant, suspended MI6 agent, isn't quite sure why he agreed to enter the London Marathon with his fellow agent girlfriend Leila. But his training kicks in when he realizes that the Indian man running near the American ambassador is wearing a disguised suicide bomb.

Risking his life (in the first of many edge-of-your-seat scenes), Marchant defuses the situation, but rather than being welcomed back into the fold, he is suspected - by MI5 and the CIA - of having engineered the plot and of being a terrorist himself.

Reluctantly his own chief turns Marchant over to the Americans who whisk him off in irons to Poland where the CIA runs a clandestine "enhanced interrogation" program, i.e., waterboarding. The descriptions of waterboarding are horrifyingly visceral, but, with a little help from his friends, Marchant escapes and the plot takes off.

Stock, a veteran British journalist with Indian experience, combines LeCarré-style cerebral gamesmanship and bureaucratic maneuvering with the best of thriller action in this character-driven spy novel.

Marchant comes from an old-hand family - his father, posted in India during Marchant's childhood, rose to become head of MI6, then was forced out under suspicion of al Qaeda connections. Marchant's suspension relates directly to this taint and he is determined to clear his father's name, an intention that grows stronger as his own plight grows more dire.

Although backbiting, and score settling still run the services, new blood is changing the old network, as ethnic diversity and Eastern languages take a higher priority, although one British-born parent is still required. Marchant's girlfriend, Leila, is half Iranian, and in Marchant's training class he was one of the few white male blue bloods.

But some things will never change. Stock cleverly sets MI5 and MI6 at odds as ambitious agents battle for supremacy. As for the CIA - cynical, crass brutes with no finesse hardly begins to cover their depredations of character.

A few details at the end strain credulity - arrogant stupidity is hard enough to believe in real life, much less fiction - but word is this is the first of a trilogy and spy fiction fans who can roll with a bit of typical British America-bashing will hope so. Stock's prose is swift and sure, his characters well drawn and the action twisty and relentless. Stock has brought the literary spy novel into the 21st century.

This book has nothing in common with Jason Bourne,either literary or film. That said,it is a very good old school spy thriller remimiscent of very early Le Carre with Deighton highlights. It was comfortably predictable, like an old pair of shoes, and quite fun to read. I look forward to the next one.

A fast-paced spy story. Very little description of characters so I could rarely tell who was who. Very stiff-upper lip British. Almost no reactions to someone being killed, almost killed or beaten up. So a bit cardboard cut-out characters.