When four top operatives die mysterious deaths, Quiller, the Bureau's top intelligence agent, follows the world's five deadliest men from the French Riviera, to Rome, to Cambodia, to New York, and to Brazil. Reprint. NYT. PW.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid 70's Quiller Espionage Adventure,
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This review is from: The Kobra Manifesto (Quiller Series) (Paperback)
I agree with the reviewer from Ohio that this isn't Hall's finest Quiller novel, but I think he is being much too harsh overall. Kobra Manifesto is still vintage Quiller, with all the psychological and technical detail we've come to expect from this premiere "thinking man's" spy series. I especially enjoyed the 1970's perspective on international terrorism; Carlos the Jackal, the PLA, airplane hijackings, etc. seem positively chic compared to the grim islamic suicide bombers of today. The scene in Phnom Penh as the Khmer Rouge was closing in on the Cambodian capital was another great snapshot of that turbulent era, very vivid and well done. I agree that the ending lacked a certain punch, and the terrorists weren't the most interesting characters (other than the Polish nymphomaniac). Still, for me this was another solid Quiller adventure, which takes us from Italy to London to Cambodia to Washington to Brazil, with assassinations, skyjackings, honey traps and explosions along the way. What's not to like?
5.0 out of 5 stars
Along for the Ride,
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This review is from: The Kobra manifesto (Hardcover)
If there were a theme song here--in a minor key that is, since several of his fellow 'shadow executives' come to the end of their own roaming, fairly quickly--it might be 'Roam (Around the World), by the B-52s.Anyway there is a USAF base involved. Given the stark realties of the new century, when to prevent a deed judged worse an airliner full of passengers would be brought down without much ado, the main premise of this bicentennial terrorist spectacular, involving the safety of a single person, rings a little quaintly. But it also gives the hero, since the person in distress is a she, a chance to shine as a little more than the ferret-nonpareil that is his usual bit. Facing an all-star side of bad guys, watching from afar as his own squad gets carted off the field, surviving perhaps the biggest--one of the only--tradecraft mistakes he will ever make, the hero is mostly favored by...well, a general lack of frostbite as a threat...though the issue--frostbite, and in Brazil (at 30,000 feet)--does come up for consideration. Also his thespian skills are certainly put to use, for instance in his hamming it up while sprawled out on a midnight curb in what might be one of the scariest places ever, mid-seventies New York City. Spoiler alert: he doesn't disappoint.
2.0 out of 5 stars
It's Quiller versus Kobra The Enemy?,
By
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This review is from: The Kobra manifesto (Hardcover)
Unfortunately, Elleston Trevor's (a.k.a. Adam Hall's) ill-conceived "Kobra Manifesto" begins by placing the ever-ragged Quiller in an uneven series of disjointed events that lead from one location to the next with little cohesion. This is quite an erratic and disappointing break from the masterful storytelling readers of the series have grown to expect. We go from a plane crash in the south of France, to a KGB break-in of Quiller's flat, to a car chase in Rome, to, most originally, an assignment that takes place during the US evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia in April 1975. All this is abandoned before Trevor settles on what becomes an unbelievable kidnapping and hijacking plot.It is often said of adventure series like this that the strength and credibility of each story can only be as good as its chosen antagonists. Unlike previous novels, the villains this time around are top terrorist figures from around the globe. Trevor seems as far off his game in his characterization of this group of "Kobra" terrorists as Quiller is in battling them. The rogue's gallery that eventually makes the rendezvous in Brazil has little in the way of an ideological bond - there is a vague mention of Arafat and the PLA, but only one of them is actually Palestinian. Likewise, the size and scope of Kobra seems to morph as the book progresses, sometimes being portrayed as a far-reaching global network that operates as a legitimate intelligence agency, but eventually settles on a clandestine group of six. Villains, characters, and the agents following them are eliminated or simply drop dead with little to no impact on the resulting plot. Based on everything that even lay persons have come to understand about the nature of terrorists post-9-11, it becomes inconceivable that these mercenaries would ever have the will to put their own lives on the line for what becomes, a foolhardy, suicidal pact that stretches believability to paper-thin proportions. Moreover, it doesn't help that Trevor dismisses the intelligence of his villains and denies them any clever plot twists or saves. "The political terrorist is a man who could create new and better worlds if he could express his dreams with intelligence; having none, he can only express his frustration," Trevor writes. Though most would agree, the notion does little to add to the narrative. Satynovich Zade falls short of mastermind status and there is no one left for Quiller to adequately match wits against. Trevor struggles to make the scene realistic, but it is to little avail. It becomes too unlikely that an American Secretary of Defense would act this way (why call in the British in the first place?) and too much for even the looniest terrorist group to demand of him. What is left is simply a war of nerves punctuated by a series of gritty and violent events that ends abruptly and offers no levity or resolution to its numerous hanging threads. It's a shame, because the narrative keeps providing interesting premises before abandoning them. For instance, the deadly scenario in Phnom Penh is uniquely exciting and the steamy romp with Shadia and its aftermath is a deliciously imagined subplot. The pieces though never fall together in any satisfactory shape. One keeps hoping for Kobra to work in a manner that pits US government interest against that of their British allies for an explanation of why all this was going on or for the Bureau to simply order Quiller to assassinate Kobra's hostage (leading to the kind of moral dilemma provided in the next book). Or, failing all that, for some explanation as to what Heinrich Fogel or Erich Stern had to do with anything. Ultimately, "The Kobra Manifesto" is simply Quiller penned on autopilot. In other words, it's a no go.
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