Death of a Marionette [Hardcover]

Frank M. Robinson (Author), Paul Hull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1995

The author of The Power and The Glass Inferno follows a blue-collar Vietnam veteran turned U.S. secret agent who must find an aged puppeteer in time to prevent a killing spree.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Neal Morley has closed a case involving an international drug ring to the satisfaction of his superiors, but not to his own satisfaction. And apparently not to the satisfaction of the guys who got away, because suddenly the people Morley's talking to are starting to die violently. A well-put-together thriller with a world-weary middle-aged hero to rival John LeCarre's George Smiley.

From Publishers Weekly

Neal Morley, the protagonist of this gritty, claustrophobic thriller, is a Vietnam vet and operative for a U.S. government agency known as "the Bureau." He is sent to Brussels from London to interview over-the-hill puppeteer Serge Cailleau, who has smuggled six, perhaps seven, terrorists into Belgium to attack an upcoming European Union meeting. When the puppeteer is killed during a performance, Morley's only lead is Bernadette, the woman who played one of Cailleau's life-sized marionettes. But Morley isn't the man he was six months ago, when he suffered a near-fatal beating while breaking up a drug ring. He's slower, warier, jumpier and conscious of his weaknesses and of his mistakes. Moreover, neither the Bureau nor the local police are sure he can handle the job, particularly since they know that he has his own personal agenda?to find the paymaster behind the drug ring, a man whom everyone maintains does not exist. Morley's road to revenge is paved with betrayals, botched interrogations, an uneasy comradeship with his Soviet counterpart and violence born of fear and frustration. Yet thanks to sharp, evocative writing, his story remains, at heart, a tale of character?of Morley's moral confusion. The obligatory romance is handled with skill, the final twist isn't gratuitous, and it all adds up to one tough spy thriller.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge (November 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312859678
• ISBN-13: 978-0312859671
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,711,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reprint of an exciting espionage thriller, May 31, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of a Marionette (Paperback)

Former Nam grunt, American Neal Morley, operates out of London for the shrouded government agency, the Bureau. His superiors send Neal on assignment to Brussels, a city where he busted up an international drug ring at a high cost to his own health. He is to interview a puppeteer, Serge Cailleau, who earns a living smuggling refugees into Belgium. Serge believes that his latest party is actually terrorists planning an assault on the participants of an upcoming European Union meeting.

However, during a performance, someone kills Serge. With little to go on, Neal begins to make inquiries. However, he also uses his time to finish up his mess from last year since the head of the drug ring was never busted. Neal realizes he is not quite the superman he felt he was before the drug ring case, but worse yet, his own agency has little confidence in the agent anymore.

DEATH OF A MARIONETTE is the paperback version of a fabulous espionage thriller released in the middle nineties. The story line retains its crispness even though the EU has moved way beyond that of the novel. Neal is a fantastic character who provides insight into the psyche of the Viet Nam vet, which in turn explains why he needs to stay in the "cold." The support cast adds drama and tension as the audience wonders what each one has up their sleeve and if that individual will betray the hero. Frank M. Robinson and Paul Hull provides sub-genre fans with a triumphant thriller.

Harriet Klausner