After having his cover blown during a prior mission, spy Peter Ashton believes that his espionage career is over, until a mysterious informant insists on dealing directly with him, a request that sends him off on a perilous chase.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Of hero Peter Ashton (A Killing in Moscow) a character intones, "Last time [he] was in Moscow there was bloodshed all over the city." The 30-something British agent does attract more than his share of violence. On the trail of "Valentin," a high-ranking officer (or officers) of the defunct KGB who may want to work for Britain's SIS, Ashton is beaten, in deadly peril more than once and involved in many killings. With the turning of a retired Red Army general and the capture of an English-born KGB hit man, our hero appears close to netting Valentin. But a believable twist lands Valentin near the top of the Kremlin heap and Ashton's further adventures are assured. His private life takes a turn, too, when his fiancee, Harriet Egan, wounded in a firefight, seems ready to quit the SIS, where her rising star is opposed to Ashton's career struggles. Egleton's latest thriller is filled with vivid detail: WWII history; the color of Moscow, Berlin and London; CIA-SIS rivalry; the rise of the Russian mafiozniki; the assassination of a neo-Nazi. But it is just exposition to place Valentin in or near power and prepare us for the next book.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Another outstanding espionage thriller from one of the masters of the genre. Egleton's Ashton, the consummate spy, is hot on the trail of a mysterious Russian agent code-named Valentin. With the help of his fiance{‚}e, Ashton delves into Russia's past to track down the identity of the elusive Valentin, who may have been an army deserter turned double agent during World War II. The hunt for Valentin takes Ashton from London to Russia, Germany, and Eastern Europe and sends him undercover as a manufacturer's rep turned arms dealer. Outmaneuvering a host of latter-day KGB thugs with 007-like panache, Ashton eventually wins yet another post^-cold war victory--albeit a somewhat hollow one--for our side. Egleton's stories never cease to entertain, his plots are always fresh, and his characters are real classics of the genre. His books--every one of them--deserve a place on the shelves of every library. Emily Melton
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The third Peter Ashton novel,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Death Throes (Hardcover)
True to the form established in the first two Peter Ashton novels (Hostile Intent and A Killing in Moscow), Death Throes begins with a death. A Russian using the name Valentin has contacted SIS and asked to meet with Ashton in Bulgaria. Ashton goes to Sofia to meet Valentin's contact, only to find him dead in his apartment. Ashton is soon taken prisoner by the KGB and interrogated about Valentin. Escaping and returning to London, Ashton finds himself caught between Valentin, who wants to sell secrets in exchange for money, and some members of the SIS who want to use him as a pawn to uncover Valentin's identity. The plot takes Ashton to Estonia for another meeting with Valentin (but is it the same Valentin?) and to Berlin, where a related story unfolds concerning a former KGB hit man who assassinates a neo-Nazi leader.
Intricate plotting is Egleton's strength. The story in Death Throes sometimes seems a bit convoluted -- I often found myself reviewing earlier chapters to refresh my memory concerning the many characters who come and go as the plot develops -- but it all comes together by the novel's end. The downside to this novel is Egleton's writing style, which is sometimes less than graceful. In addition, Egleton has a tendency to bombard the reader with information that isn't particularly useful, like the price SIS paid for a safehouse before the market fell. And while I understand the need to provide background information from past novels so that this one can stand alone (which it does), Egleton sometimes overdoes it. Do we really need to learn (again) that Harriet (Ashton's love interest) obtained "a good upper second in Geography at Birmingham University" before taking the various positions that led to her current employment with SIS? Perhaps as a result of the digressions about educational backgrounds and job histories and real estate markets, Death Throes does not move with the same pace as the earlier novels (despite a few well written action scenes), and it suffers from the same occasional clunky prose that troubled me in Hostile Intent. There is also less development of Ashton's character in Death Throes than there was in A Killing in Moscow, although more attention is paid to Harriet and to Ashton's relationship with her. All told, I liked Death Throes, but not as much as Hostile Intent and certainly not as much as A Killing in Moscow, which I consider the best of the first three Ashton novels. I would give Death Throes 3 1/2 stars if Amazon offered that option.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
