Customer Reviews

Watchman

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ian Rankin is a top author, no question about it. His Inspector Rebus books are brilliant so I was hoping this early book of his (written in 1988) would be readable.

I found that the book starts off very well with a fast-paced narrative and an interesting lead character.

The problem lies in the middle of the book when the real adventure commences and the story becomes less of a character story and more of an adventure story. I felt that the author got out of his normal routine and entered a field that he was not comfortable with.

The action was a bit muddied and far-fetched at times and I didn't really enjoy it.

All in all, a book for the fans of Ian Rankin only.

Reviewed by Diane Snyder

He's a watcher. He's a listener and he is good at what he does -"trained to near perfection in his art."

Miles Flint is a spy for MI5 in London. He doesn't use a gun. He uses things such as pens - one that can covertly pick up conversations several feet away. It is 1988, computers are not yet the norm and no one has a cell phone. Miles belongs to the group known as the Watchmen for that is what they do. They do surveillance and make reports. Miles has been doing it for many years, but there has been a shift in his life, both at work and at home with his marriage. Known among his peers as the Invisible Man because he can make himself seem to disappear by appearing innocuous as possible-an attribute Miles has always seen as an asset in his work-but he has suddenly become noticed, and not in a good way.

His latest assignment has gone all wrong and someone was murdered - someone he was supposed to be watching. Miles is suspicious of a mole in MI5 but when he begins to look at the others including his wife, he finds he is also under suspicion. Now the Watcher is being watched.

First published in Great Britain in 1988, this is not your typical spy story of great gadgets and suave agents. It is much more realistic as the characters are aging, petty, paranoid and destructible. The author's ability to portray deep and complex characters tsets this book apart from other spy novels. Watchmen has an edginess that depends less on the problem presented and more on the action and interaction of the characters. It's a rush to follow Miles as he pulls himself out of his comfort zone to become a high-wired manipulator and a hero where it counts the most - to himself and his wife.

As intricate and devious as the plot is, Rankin has a good grasp on his story and smoothly guides you through to the end - which is, of course, unpredictable.

Armchair Interviews says: If you like Ian Rankin and you like spy novels, this is a must-read. They just don't get much better.

I had never heard of Ian Rankin before, but found this book prominently displayed in the bookstore under "New Releases" in mystery. The book is not really a new release, nor is it a mystery. It was initially released in 1988 but the first American release was in 2007. This review is like a euology for a person dead twenty years.

The novel is a spy thriller that takes place in the UK in the era of IRA bombings and prior to cell phones and ubiquitous video surveillance. The central character is Miles Flint, a refreshingly unassuming and anti-glamorous domestic spy. Flint stumbles into a scandal within his agency that takes him from London to Ireland and Scotland. It is easy reading but plods along for the first two thirds. The prose is simplistic with few memorable quotes. The plot becomes a little bit convoluted as is common in this genre, but the denouement is implausible and has holes.

This book is OK for a quick read if you don't have anything else at hand.

This is an early novel by Ian Rankin, who went on to write the highly successful procedurals about Inspector John Rebus. The popularity of those must have inspired the reprint. But this one, a spy novel intended to rival Eric Ambler, John le Carre etc., isn't in a class with those at all--it reveals its earliness in its less-than-convincing characterizations and poor plot development. I lost track of the roles of some of the characters early on, and finished it only out of inertia. Not really bad, but not as good as the later books lead one to expect of Rankin. I'm not sure that re-publishing it was a good idea.

In the introduction to WATCHMAN, being published for the first time in the United States, Ian Rankin tells readers that the book is a spy novel and that he used his "page-a-day" diary from 1986-1988 as source material. This, he maintains, was because it allowed him "to place [the narrative] in historical context. He says that in 1988 he was ready to write his second novel, either "Rebus 2 or The Watcher." As he thought this through, he was drawn to the spies, and the result is WATCHMAN.

Rankin goes on to say that both his new hero, John Rebus (KNOTS AND CROSSES), and Miles Flint of MI5 are "worldly wise," yet "The difference between the two men is that while Rebus is a man of action...Miles...is a professional voyeur." And as this book unfolds, Miles is transformed from being only an invisible watcher into "real ruthless activity."

As in most spy novels, nobody really can trust anyone else. Each man (back in 1988, and still today, few women cavort in this genre) is out for himself and will do almost anything to get closer to a promotion. The tangled webs woven by both the good and bad guys somehow tend to weave themselves together, creating tension, suspense and fast-paced plots. Such is the case with WATCHMAN. As in the novels of John le Carre and Graham Greene, things at the agency are not what they seem, and the word "mole" finds a new meaning. Rankin's anti-hero, Miles Flint, is most similar to the Smiley of the Circus novels, albeit not quite as cerebral or intuitive.

Film buffs may remember the spy-spoof movies of the 1960s whose main character was also named Flint: In Like Flint and Our Man Flint. Rankin says, "I'm guessing that Miles Flint took his surname from [that] character." Another "Flintism" is his interesting if strange hobby --- beetles! He attaches the personality traits of his colleagues to the variety of creepy crawlies he keeps. Despite his years as a spy, he has been able to maintain a certain level of "innocence" --- until now.

Like Smiley, Miles is in a dissolving marriage and has become expendable to his masters. While knowing "something stinks in the state of" MI5, he has trouble believing that his colleagues are as corrupt or more so than their enemies. When he finds himself in league with a killer who may be after him, he finds inner strengths to fight his foe. As WATCHMAN unfolds, Miles at first is seen as neurotic and perhaps a bit paranoid; he drops a piece of silverware, to get a peek under the table and see if a bug is planted there, and naively believes that no one is on to him. Readers may be reminded of the sign that hangs in Agent Mulder's X-Files office: "TRUST NO ONE."

People at work are suddenly retiring, being sent on strange dead-end missions or just displaying bizarre behaviors as Flint looks on. How is it possible for "his last suspect to know more about Miles's assignment than Miles did?" His loss of innocence and his own investigation may be the only way for him to survive his own execution. Even his wife is appalled when she realizes that her husband is now an outcast and, in some sense, a rogue agent bent on dismantling the agency.

Another important "character" in this book is terrorism in the form of IRA bombs exploding in London. People are getting killed, and ironically the perpetrator might be an Arab, code-named "Latchkey." On the night when the watchmen set out to capture him, everything goes wrong and an Israeli diplomat is murdered. Miles is blamed for the "cock-up," and his time in the firm may be coming to a dismal and deadly close. When he is sent on a mission to Belfast to arrest two supposed terrorists, he soon realizes that he has been duped into taking on a suicide mission and has only two choices.

With the re-release of WATCHMAN, Rankin said in an interview: "Re-reading the book recently, I was struck by how fast it moves, cutting quickly from one scene to another, its elliptical, breathless style marking it as a young man's work, a story by someone in thrall to the possibilities of narrative. Strange, too, that it should be such a period piece: almost no one owns a mobile phone, and Miles doesn't even own a computer. I was pleased to see so many in-jokes along the way."

Twenty years after bursting onto the literary scene as a composer of poetry and writer of short stories, one of which became the first Rebus novel, Ian Rankin's star hangs high and shines brightly. Clearly he is a master of language, plot, characters, narrative and creating suspense. His work is no longer pigeonholed as genre fiction; rather it has risen to the level of literary fiction.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Some reviews liken this to Len Deighton, but Rankin was clearly much more inspired by the ambivalent, grey-ish men of Le Carre and Greene. In fact the first part of the book, where a series of intelligence operations go suspiciously wrong and MI6 seems plagued by a mole, is pure Smiley's People and feels derivative. But then the writer Rebus fans will know starts to emerge from the pages and as Miles Flint, the central hardly-man, gets sent to Ireland to be disposed of, the book grows into something more original.

It's always interesting to look back at a writer's early works, and Rankin is one who has consistantly grown and developed rather than a flash and burn writer peaking young. Watchman shows signs of all that is good in Rankin and at least the elements that are derivative are drawn from sources of the calibre of Greene and Le Carre. It's a sign of Rankin's youth at the time of writing that he allowed himself to make Flint's cuckolding so much like Smiley, and the big boss so much like control at the end of his days, but it doesn't diminish the pure thriller pleasure to be had. I also think it shows that Rankin himself knew Rebus to be a more original creation and chose to develop that series instead of going more deeply into spook central.

Ian Rankin first wrote this book in 1988, and it is re-released in 2003 with a new introduction by the author. This was his second novel, and it was novel of the times. A novel about the British Secret Service, a Spy or Watcher Service as called in the MI5 Surveillance Service.

Miles Flint, a cynical, worldly-wise spy has spent twenty years in his trade. He is a professional voyeur who becomes a more ruthless activist during this novel. He is married to Sheila, whom he met while in college, and they have a son, Jack, who is off to the University of Scotland. Miles and Sheila's marriage was born in love but the lust has dissapated. They have become stranges who meet in the night. Jack has a good relationship with both mom and dad, but not at the same time. Miles is proud of his son but not much mention is made of the years that they all spent together.

The action is fast paced in this book. Miles is part of the Latchkey group- surveilling an Arab with the codename, Latchkey. Someone was setting bombs all over London, and Latchkey was the prime suspect-it all goes bad when the suspect kills an Israeli official while Miles misses the clues. The Office is not happy with Miles and he is moved to a new job "Harvest". During this time, Miles understands that something is not quite "cricket". He fears a mole has infiltrated his section, and he proceeds methodically to find this person. As Miles develops his action plan and reads the files of all of those involved in the section, he understands that at the same time "they" are doing the same. No one is above suspicision

Miles goes home early one day and as he turns the corner he sees a man leaving his gate. The man has a fmailiar walk and Miles recognizes him as a colleague, Peter. He goes into his home and finds small clues that arise his suspicions that Sheila is having an affair. Miles deftly confronts his colleague , who admits to seeing Sheila, but only to talk. Miles leaves his wife and holes up in the watcher house- an empty home that is used for watching the group across the street. This turns sour and Miles decides to go home. He and Sheila unite and decide to start their marriage anew. Just as these decisions are made the phone rings.

Miles is asked to go to Northern Ireland to accompany a group of soldiers while an arrest is made. This new job is a demotion and Miles knows that he must be careful and silent. The trip turns out to provide the clues and the answers Miles is looking for. He connects with a man in Northern Ireland who is also looking for answers and together they return to London. Their worlds are turned upside down. The action is fierce and brilliant. The MI5 Section and the Watchaman Section will never be the same.

Ian Rankin's second book is fast paced, cutting quickly from one scene to the other. It wasn't until the middle of the book that I could put all he characters together. The characters were well developed and sometimes funny. A good book, not Ian Rankins greatest book, but you can see his writing develop with each successive book. I liked Miles Flint, would like to read more of his exploits. I wonder if this re-release is a phrophet of books too come? prisrob

As a fan of both crime fiction and Scottish fiction, I've always been meaning to give Ian Rankin another go. Years ago, I read his first Rebus book, Knots and Crosses, didn't really care for it, and never returned to him. This republication of his 1988 espionage novel (his second book) caught my eye, so I thought I'd try him again. The story revolves around Miles Flint, a blandly unmemorable mid-level surveillance expert (aka "Watchman") for MI5 (Britain's rough equivalent to the FBI).

When the story starts, he's involved in the surveillance of a suspected Arab hit man that goes wrong. Something about it niggles at him, and he starts his own private internal investigation of the foulup, while being detailed to watch a suspected IRA cell. (The story takes place in the midst of an IRA bombing campaign in London, something that didn't really happen in earnest until the early '90s.) The first 2/3 of the book are achingly tedious, as Miles is buffeted by the treacherous waters of departmental politics, not to mention his own rocky marriage.

Things pick up a bit when Miles is sent to Ireland to observe the arrest of some IRA members, a scenario which the reader will have seen the perils of well before Miles. From there, things get a little more interesting, as Miles is forced out of his normal shell to save his skin. This transformation isn't totally credible, hewing too closely to the fantasy of the everyman who is able to tap hidden inner courage, cunning, and skill in a time of great need. On the whole, it's neither thoughtful or entertaining enough for me to recommend it. I suppose Rankin fans may find more to like, but it didn't work for me.

Ian Rankin is such a great writer and it is refreshing to read a novel which shows him in the early stages of the writing process. A great book, and a departure from his Rebus series, but you can feel that he was heading in that direction.

After the success of the first Rebus novel, Ian Rankin decided to write a different book. Instead of the hard-boiled detective, the protagonist was a cynical, worldly-wise spy. It was first published in Great Britain in 1988 and now makes its first appearance in the United States. It is a tale of an unlucky spy who gets one last chance at redemption.

Miles Flint, the spy, has been guilty of all kinds of mistakes. [In his last assignment, a foreign official died in London.] His troubles include a suspect who seems to know more than he does. And the agency for which he works is faced with many operatives quitting. Miles undertakes an investigation on his own despite misgivings by his colleagues and wife. Then Miles is sent to Belfast on a routine mission, despite the fact that he is not a "field agent." There he confirms his suspicions. And his life is threatened.

The book's original reception was less than enthusiastic, but then Rebus came to the rescue. Nevertheless, from an historical point of view in the development of the author's work, it should be read. It is well-written and enjoyable, and is recommended.