Praetorian [Hardcover]

Thomas Gifford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993

Assigned to wartime London, American correspondent Rodger Godwin learns, during an interview with Churchill, of a plot to assassinate Field Marshal Rommel. By the author of The Assassini. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After perambulations through wartime Europe and Africa in the 1940s, a flashback to Paris in the '20s, numerous subplots, lots of characters and even excerpts from the hero's 1930 book, the final revelations of treachery and double-dealing come quick, pat and predictable in Gifford's ( The Assassini ) overblown espionage thriller. American columnist and radio reporter Rodger Godwin is having an affair with English concert violinist and movie star Cilla Hood, wife of hero Gen. Sir Max Hood, who "rode with Lawrence" in Arabia. Churchill makes Max leader of Praetorian, an assassination operation against Rommel, and includes Rodger in the team to get the U.S. into the war. But Praetorian is betrayed, leaving Max dead and Rodger seriously injured. Mending and guilt-ridden, Rodger vows to find and kill the traitor, and while his affair with Cilla heats up, cools and heats up again, he faces danger in London, Africa and the Ardennes. Believing he has avenged Max (twice!), he marries Cilla and only then discovers the truth. Rodger is an obtuse obsessive and a mediocre journalist, judging by the bland snippets of his work, while Cilla is a willful Cleopatra type who turns gooey and maternal in the end.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author of The Assassini (Bantam, 1990) begins his latest novel in 1940s London with a love triangle that involves internationally renowned journalist Rodger Godwin, who cuckolds his old friend General Max Hood with the decorated hero's wife Cilla, a young actress. At Winston Churchill's request, Hood and Godwin embark on the ill-fated secret mission that gives the novel its title. Their goal is to kill Rommel in North Africa, but the men have been betrayed and fall victim to a Nazi ambush that only Godwin survives. Guilt and revenge drive him to pursue the traitor into a labyrinth of double-dealing. Based on an actual World War II desert mission, the narrative stimulates the reader with illicit romance, adventure, and a suspenseful plot, although some of the flashbacks are rather pedestrian and too long. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/92. --Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 495 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1ST edition (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553093711
• ISBN-13: 978-0553093711
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,099,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun trip, August 3, 2000

By 

Kendall (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Praetorian (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this novel because it took me to a time and era that I enjoy reading about. There is a good mix of mystery, intrigue, love, and adultry not to mention a war or two. This novel did exactly what I expected it to do. It transported me to a diferent time and place and that is why I like to curl up with a good book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gifford's best. Not great literature, but fun nevertheless., December 29, 2004

By 

Richard Townlin (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Praetorian (Mass Market Paperback)

Gifford's books always sound so good based on their descriptions on the back cover, but I think his books have either been spectacularly average or a snore fest. Except for this one. This one is a guilty pleasure. Yeah, some of the characters are stereotypes (and some are so superfluous that they break up the narrative). Yeah, Cilla's mental state bouces back and forth and makes us wonder why every man falls for her. And yeah, it's a little long. And yet Gifford managed to make me care about the main characters by following their journey through the years. Gifford does a nice job of placing us in the time. You get a feeling for London in the 40's and Paris in the 20's. The mystery doesn't require a complete suspension of disbelief (like some of his other books do). Characters act because of real motivations, not because the story requires them to do so.

So yeah, if you're looking for a fun mystery/soap opera love story/war story with a historical flavor you can do a lot worse than this.

1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, tedious and oh so many words, July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Praetorian (Mass Market Paperback)

Why write a 716 pages "thriller", which does not start "thrilling" until page 148 and even then is just one cliche after the other. The author being American the story is mainly about English people and the chararcters are all paper thin (Englishmen go to Eton and say "old chap", they dine in the Ritz, bla, bla). Who are reading these books? Housewives in Idaho who never had a chance to cross the state border? I gave up halfthrough and I will never know who the traitor was! Oh, gosh. Yawn, yawn. How about no stars at all..............