The Well-Mannered Assassin [Paperback]

Aline Romanos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995

A former OSS agent encounters a charming businessman in Madrid and realizes that he is an infamous terrorist playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, in a story of intrigue and danger written by a real-life model-turned-spy. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This stilted first novel by former OSS agent Romanones ( The Spy Wore Silk ) is a transparently veiled account of what the author claims were her real-life adventures with legendary international assassin Carlos the Jackal. Laden with luminaries (Ava Gardner, the Duchess of Windsor, General Norman Schwarzkopf) who have little or nothing to do with the central plot, the tale, set mostly in the late '70s and featuring Aline as its narrator and heroine, moves from one jet-set home or event to another. Despite the objections of her often duped but invariably tolerant husband, Aline agrees to help her former "spymaster," John Derby, to keep materials and designs for the manufacture of nuclear weapons from falling into terrorist hands, and soon she's teaming up with a former KGB agent to save the world for democracy. Carlos, depicted as utterly charming and courtly except for his unfortunate penchant for homicide, shows up often, even saving Aline's life while she's helping to rescue a friend from an evil husband. Guns rigged to backfire, arms deals and murders punch up the action as Aline spies just as hard as she can. But in spite of some essential plot twists, Aline leaches her narrative of excitement by broadly forecasting many events and by stuffing it with trivia (the type of tobacco in Carlos's cigarettes; the makeup routine of Libya's Khadafy). For all of the author's apparent ambitions, Aline the fictional spy is no Jane Bond--and Aline the writer is no Ian Fleming. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this first novel, the author of three volumes of memoirs based on her experiences as an intelligence agent during and after World War II offers a fictionalized account of the illegal traffic in nuclear weapons materiel. The story features the exploits of Carlos the Jackal-one of the most deadly international terrorist-assassins-whom the author personally became involved with in the late 1970s. Moving from Marbella to the Arabian Peninsula to Toledo and on to St. Moritz, the story is peopled with fictionalized scions of industry as well as famous movers on the international jet-set scene such as Ava Gardner. There is much name-and place-dropping and overlong descriptions of meals, rooms, and clothes, but the reader's interest is held by the dry, detailed accounting of events surrounding this episode in the further adventures of Carlos the Jackal. Recommended for general fiction collections, particularly where the author's earlier works are popular.
--Erna Chamberlain, SUNY at Binghamton
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Jove (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515115339
• ISBN-13: 978-0515115338
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Started out as fact...but fiction wove in, February 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Well-Mannered Assasin (Hardcover)

In the beginning in the book, Countess confesses as having started this as a non-fictional account involving Carlos the Jackal. But when she heard that he might still be alive...she had to weave in fiction to protect herself and others. This was a wonderful story, and it is amazing, how a well-mannered young man, is a assasin. This was a fast paced book, nothing was boring.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Well-Mannered Assassin, January 9, 2003

By 

Lindsey Watters (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Well-Mannered Assassin (Paperback)

The Well-Mannered Assassin was a suspenseful book with lots of thills and great detail. Aline Romanones, an American Beauty, goes back to her days at the OSS as a spy. She decides to help out her old spymaster John Derby when she finds out she's been befriended by an international terrorist; Carlos the Jackal. It's a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that will keep you coming back for more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Well-Mannered Assassin By Aline Countess of Romanones, September 15, 2005

By 

Janet K. Gallagher "Word Crafter" (MO,USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Well-Mannered Assasin (Hardcover)

I loved this book. I had just re-read The Spy Wore Red, The Spy Went Dancing, The Spy Wore Silk from the same Author, and had decided I wanted to buy them. When I entered them I found this one that I had previously known nothing about. I was very excited to find it.
This womans' Spy work is so interesting. The locations these stories cover and the opulant living are great. This Book took the stories further and was a delight.
I love a quick moving book that grabs your imagination right away.