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The Man with the Baltic Stare: An Inspector O Novel Hardcover – Bargain Price, August 17, 2010

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James Church (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 22 customer reviews
Book 4 of 5 in the Inspector O Novels Series
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (August 17, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312372922
  • ASIN: B005GNL7GC
  • Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,454,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars"Consider me a candle with nothing left to burn, no flame, all consumed."
By Mary Whipple HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on October 7, 2010
Format: Hardcover
(4.5 stars) Author James Church takes his series of mysteries set in North Korea in new directions with this surprising fourth novel. Church, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. government, has spent much time in Asia, and presumably North Korea, and he makes a foray here into speculative fiction-not speculating on life in North Korea in the far distant future, but in the very immediate future. When this novel opens, it is 2016, and Inspector O, the iconoclastic officer who has been the fascinating main character of the three previous novels, has been happily retired from action, living in blessed isolation on a mountain top. Suddenly, he is brought back to Pyongyang for a special assignment.

Church uses a great deal of (rare) tongue-in-cheek humor and irony here to show how much Pyongyang has changed since O's retirement five years ago. He doesn't understand the concept of tipping, of "turndown service" in his hotel, or the expression "Pleasant dreams." He is even more mystified by his assignment to work with, and take orders from, Major Kim from South Korea, who is in North Korea to bring permanent co-operation between the countries. As confused as O is, however, so, too, is the reader, who learns along with O what circumstances have brought about such momentous changes. O's first assignment is to go to Macau to investigate the murder of a woman in a hotel room. The "killer" has been apprehended, but it is essential to the future of North Korea that this man not be the killer. O's assignment is to wipe out any tracks that might connect this man to the crime.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsPerhaps the most subtle and insightful of the Inspector O Series
By Merrily Baird on September 5, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
As previous reviews of the Inspector O books indicate, James Church weaves into his mysteries set in North Korea real events that he once tracked as an intelligence officer and now observes as an academic. In one book it was North Korea's dealings through its Gold Star Bank in Austria, in another the Israeli attempt to halt North Korean missile sales to the Middle East. In "The Man with the Baltic Stare," the fourth of the novels, the focus is quite different and turns to two issues of strategic importance: who will succeed the current leader of North Korea and will North Korean survive as an independent nation.

"The Man with the Baltic Stare" is set in the indefinite, but not too distant, future, with the action unfolding in P'yongyang, Macau, and Prague. As it opens, the potential collapse of North Korea has led four neighboring countries to begin nibbling at the edges of North Korean sovereign rule. Chinese and South Korean officials are the most aggressive in trying to assert their authority, and the appeal of this novel is enhanced by how well Church handles the motivations of his multicultural cast as O tries to sort out an overseas murder that may involve the heir apparent. As the investigation proceeds, Church also uses the interplay of Inspector O with the South Korean and Chinese interlopers to define what it means to be North Korean, even for someone like O who has always marched to his own drummer.

Common to the Inspector O novels is an overwhelming sense of paranoia and tension, both hallmarks of life in North Korea. In reading "The Man with the Baltic Stare," i shared that sense of tension and unease. Until the end of the novel, I understood relatively little of how the characters related to each other and what O was trying to accomplish, and ultimately I felt that I walked in the shoes of the equally disoriented O. This, more than anything else, may testify to Church's skill in crafting this book.
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2.0 out of 5 starsI get lost
By mjh on October 22, 2012
Format: Paperback
I have read four of the Inspector O novels and the same thing always happens. They start off really well and I'm hooked by the descriptions of North Korea and the espionage tradecraft. As the books wear on and the plot thickens, I find myself forgetting what got the story started in the first place. About 2/3 of the way through the book, the author will start to introduce elements to the story that seem unrealistic or seem not to fit. In this book, for example, what did the character "Richie" have to do with anything? For another example (without giving anything away) the actions of the character "Zhao" at the end of this book seemed totally unrealistic. If he didn't have the sense to do something more, Zhao could not have survived as a gangster.

It seemed to me that each of the four Inspector O novels started to drift about 1/2 way through, and by the end I wasn't sure why I was continuing to read. You never really find out how everything fits, or what gave rise to the story in the first place. In this book, what DID Kim want from Inspector O? Often important changes in the action will happen without any real introduction, so if you skim over the one key line you will wonder what happened, and will have to go back and figure it out. I think if the author slowed down and did not try to add too many twists to teh story, these books would be better.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat series. Well worth the read
By Sandeep Rao on October 4, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Great series. Well worth the read. The writer has been stated to be a former intelligence operative who has covered this secretive nation as a career. The context given shows this (although I wouldn't know since I know very little about the DPRK).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsVery well written book - full of suspense

Interesting international yarn. Very much suspense and a twisting plot with interesting set of characters. Highly recommeded for all Inspector O fans.

Published 2 months ago by spaceteddy
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Complex narrative/story. Not an "easy read" but well worth the investment of your time and thought

Published 7 months ago by Evern Kay
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Not his best, but still good.

Published 13 months ago by James A. Larkin
5.0 out of 5 starsJames Church has a distinctive writing style. He seems ...

James Church has a distinctive writing style. He seems to capture the thinking of the Oriental mind, and especially as here, the North Korean one. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Roberta L. Marro
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

very good!!

Published 17 months ago by Michimasa Takai
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent

This has been a great series to read. Lots of info about North Korea yet instead of being a political novel you would expect there is actually little about actual everyday life in... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsSeems Like Church has been Visiting Strange Places

To say that this book is bizarre is to be making an understatement. To begin with, during the book at least three different characters mention that what is going on is... Read more

Published on February 27, 2014 by Grey Wolffe
4.0 out of 5 starsAlways a great read

I am a fan of James Church's Inspector O novels. They are always filled with interesting twists and turns in the plot, and this novel is no exception to this rule.

Published on October 12, 2013 by Lloyd Colson
4.0 out of 5 starsRetirement for Inspector O

There is no such thing as retirement in North Korea if you are as talented as Inspector O, so they take him away from his little mountain shack, and put him right back in the... Read more

Published on May 2, 2013 by Barbara A. Falcon
5.0 out of 5 starsAnother good Inspector O novel

Better than the last one, and reprises the Kang character and the Irish interegator. Also introduces O's nephew. Good return to form.

Published on March 24, 2013 by Bennettsaline

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