Special Forces [Hardcover]

Ted Allbeury (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Now that the cold war is over, it's interesting to pull out an old spy novel, one written at the height of the chill, and remind ourselves just how devilishly confusing the whole thing was. This absorbing novel, first published in 1976 in Great Britain as Moscow Quadrille, is one of genre veteran Allbeury's earlier efforts, but it's as accomplished as his later work. It's a convoluted but thoroughly engrossing tale of a Russian spymaster who targets a British ambassador only to discover the ambassador has known all along about the Russian's scheme and doesn't seem to mind too much. The ripped-from-the-headlines plot now reads like history. Wisely, Allbeury has not "updated" the novel by introducing new technologies and changing politics and language to reflect current thinking. The novel's appeal for today's reader derives, in part, from its period feel, its portrait of a time that no longer exists. For lovers of spy thrillers, and for Allbeury's fans in particular, it offers an indispensable look backward at the way the world was not so long ago. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Allbeury was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army Intelligence Corps. After the war he worked in sales, advertising and radio before publishing his first novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727858572
• ISBN-13: 978-0727858573
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,250,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Back To The Cold War, Eh, Comrade?, December 29, 2002

By 

Louis N. Gruber "Author of Jay" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Special Forces (Hardcover)

This short, compact novel was first published in 1976 in the U.K. and is now ((2002) reissued in the U.S. When it was first published the cold war was still going on, the Soviet Union seemed indestructible, and Yuri Andropov (remember him?)was head of the KGB. As the story opens the Soviets have grandiose ideas of pushing Britain into a virtual coup d'etat. All they need is a little more influence, a little more leverage on the British government, and they think they may have found it in Sir James Hoult, the British ambassador. The Soviet plan is essentially to seduce the (apparently) naive Hoult with a highly trained female operative, get him to compromise himself, and then use him to extract information and to plant pro-Soviet advice in the ear of the Prime Minister.

Of course nothing goes according to plan, the law of unintended consequences takes over, suspense grows as things spin out of control, taking you to a horrifying surprise ending.

Allbeury creates a believable story out of this essentially unbelievable situation, creates characters you can connect with, makes you care about them, draws you in until you can't put the book down. For the book is not really about geopolitics after all, but about flawed individuals caught up in a mad system.

If you really think about the story, it is absurd; on the other hand, it is gripping and most entertaining. And although the book is only twenty-six years old it already has a quaint aura of fading history. I think you will love it, comrade. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber