Customer Reviews

Empire State

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Empire State is a dreadful book - devoid of suspense, with a muddled plot and a cast of cardboard characters who communicate chiefly via cell-phones and laptop computers. Instead of compelling action, we are subjected to endless exposition describing foreign intrigues, whose significance the reader can only guess at. Even the connection between the opening attack and the events that follow is unclear. What did it accomplish? Was it a diversion? Who done it? You got me.

According to the cover blurb, Robert Harland, the hero of A Spy's Life, returns in Empire State, assisted by female MI6 officer, Isis Herrick. In fact, Herrick is clearly the center of this novel, whereas Harland, relegated to infrequent walk-on's, is hobbled throughout by indecision and chronic back pain. As for the book's sole romantic encounter, it is a tepid interlude, over before it begins. I guess even spies grow old.

If Empire State is "an espionage thriller for the new millennium", then give me back the cold war. In Mr. Porter's brave new world, the Americans and the Brits are ever at each other's throats, the bad guys' intentions are murky at best and the confusing array of British Intelligence Services (SIS, MI5, MI6, etc.) persist in wasting their time in-fighting.

I recently reread Porter's first book, Remembrance Day. Now there was a real thriller: suspense and action galore, good locales, minimal gadgetry, believable protagonists and very nasty villains. A Spy's Life was a notable come-down from that book, and Empire State is not in the same league at all.

"Empire State" opens with Vice Admiral Ralph Norquist, the head of the American NSA, landing at London Heathrow under the name "Larry Catuzo". Norquist is apparently travelling on a secret mission, with his schedule so classified that even his wife doesn't know where he is or who he'll be meeting. Unfortunately, despite the secrecy, the `bad guys' are onto him...Norquist is plucked out of his line on arrival by Peter Chambers, an agent from MI5, who informs him his security has been compromised. Despite their best efforts, however, Norquist doesn't survive too much further...while he makes it out of the airport by a secret escape route, an ambush on the motorway ensures he doesn't see it through the night. Naturally, this is big news - and the obvious assumption is that Norquist was the target of an extremely well-informed terrorist cell. One line of enquiry will look at a woman who'd been ahead of Norquist in the queue coming through immigration. Something about her had made Norquist suspicious and, after she'd dropped the contents of her bag, he had managed to swipe the SIM card from her phone.

One of the book's two lead characters in working at Heathrow at the time - though she's not part of the Norquist operation. Isis Herrick - an Arabic speaking MI5 officer - was working with several MI5 and Special Branch officers, observing Youssef Rahe, an Arab bookseller. (However, before long, all but Isis have been removed from the operation - the Norquist situation and the mysterious woman who "lost" her SIM card needed numbers quickly). Rahe, who was heading to Kuwait, isn't seen as a significant player. In all honesty, the security forces didn't even know if he was an insignificant player...all they know is that a suspect once bought a book from him. Alone, Isis keeps following the Rahe case and, on the CCTV footage, notices that someone else takes Rahe's place on the plane. (It was someone wearing Rahe's jacket, with Rahe's passport and boarding card...but it wasn't Rahe. Somehow or other, the switch had been made where the security cameras couldn't see). A little more poking about, and Herrick soon realises that something very big has happened at the airport that day....something that could easily have been missed due to a high profile murder. (The book's other lead character arrives late at the party. Robert Harland, who is currently working with the United Nations in New York, has a bad back. Thankfully, the Secretary General has managed to get him an appointment with a very highly-regarded doctor called Sammi Loz...)

Meanwhile, in Macedonia about 10 miles from the Albanian border, a group of travellers are breaking camp breaking up after a night's rest. There's little doubt that a number of the travellers have a shady past...Karim Khan, for example, has spent several years fighting as a Mujahad in Afghanistan. However, while his belief in Allah remains strong, his belief in sacrifice has waned. He now hopes to make his way to Greece and return to the life he once led. Unfortunately, the group of travellers run into a border control...and only Khan makes it out of the encounter alive.

An easily read book overall, and one that doesn't avoid dealing with extraordinary rendition and torture. (Those who argued in favour this approach included a couple of goons - officially guardians of freedom, truth and justice, no less - who seemed to take great pleasure in that line of work; Herrick, it seems, was there to provide the counter-argument). Khan, I'd imagine, wasn't quite the monster some would have preferred...though, having said that, he wasn't an entirely believable character. Isis proved to be a likeable character - more so than Harland, I thought, and proved to be someone that you couldn't help rooting for. However, I do think both she and the book were badly let down by the climax and the closing scene - Porter would have done better to have come up with a significantly different ending.

I am almost finished reading Empire State and it has really been a struggle to get this far. I am still waiting for some type of connection between the opening attack and the subsequent events. But having just read another review of this book, I am not sure I will find one.

The maze of British intelligence services and their various personnel is confusing and quite difficult to follow. And the heroine Isis Herrick, who is suppose to be the "best of best", continually screws up at almost every step along the way.

But what I find most annoying is the author's apparent ignorance of how North Americans speak. The phraseology used by American characters just doesn't cut it. When one American puts some money in another's pocket to pay him off, he says "Here is a little something to be going on". Maybe in England but on this side of the pond it would be something like "Here is a little something for your efforts". There are many other such instances which make the characters seem artificial.

But I will perserve to the end and just maybe by then it will all make sense.

This item was received on time in great condition. Thank you for your prompt service.

Parts of this book are descriptive, entertaining and informative in a Scotland Yard procedural sense but the heroine -
an Oxfordian educated super woman - is a corrogated cut out who
the author inexplicably fails to describe. Tall? Beautiful? Leggy? Buxomy? Forget it; the reader will not find out. Just accept this female James Bond as a super woman and let it go at that.