Death of a Marionette [Paperback]

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

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2000

U.S. agent Morley, sent back to Brussels to interview an aged marionetteer, has 48 hours to find the man who almost murdered him before. Then the killing begins.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Morley is an American agent whose close call with death resulted from his attempt to penetrate powerful Belgian government connections to the international narcotics trade. Still convalescing, he defies his bosses in the unnamed bureau and returns to Brussels to complete his mission, resolved to find out who betrayed him. Morley wants to question Cailleau, a master marionette maker involved in smuggling people across national borders, about a team of international terrorists rumored to be plotting an assassination attempt on officials of the European Economic Commission. Cailleau is killed before Morley can get to him, and the mysterious woman who was his assistant and artistic muse flees before either Morley or the forces ranged against him can silence her permanently.

Intricately plotted and carefully developed, this international spy thriller offers a deep look into a man whose youthful illusions were shattered by what he did and saw in another war in another country. A burned-out espionage veteran, he goes on with his work in the absence of a compelling reason to stop. Like Smiley in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, he no longer questions why he keeps going, he just does. In one of the book's most powerful scenes, he matches wits with a young Arab terrorist whose own idealism on behalf of his cause offers a strong counterpoint to Morley's exhausted patriotism; in another scene, he encounters an old adversary, a Russian agent with whom he finds he has more in common than he does with his own countrymen. The authors Frank M. Robinson and Paul Hull paint a gray, cold, drizzling portrait of Brussels, which all but ensures that readers without a compelling reason to go there will erase it from their future itineraries. Moody, evocative, and gritty, this is an unsentimental yet quietly suspenseful read. --Jane Adams

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (June 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312872879
• ISBN-13: 978-0312872878
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,898,663 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

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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