Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars A New Novel From One Of The Father's Of The Genre
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 21, 2012
From the prolific writer of the Johnny Fedora spy novels comes this most recent offering that delves into much more modern subjects setting the story in the fictional "Fariq", a country torn by political unrest, dominated by oil mines and carefully watched by both Britain and America.When an underground pseudo- political group begin plotting to overthrow the current ruler and replace him with one of his own relatives, a man who has been under house arrest for several years, the drives of political power, lust and jealousy begin to seethe under the desert sun.Several incidents that would not be out of place on today's news, kidnapping, bomb attacks and violent rebellion cause the protagonists of Cory's newest novel, British, Australian and American spies and embassy workers, Colonel Alan Foster, Kevin Bone and Chuck Harvey to be pulled into the fray.On the Gulf like the earliest Johnny Fedora books published sixty years ago is a novel packed to the teeth with tension and intrigue. The subject matter might seem a little too familiar for those used to the fantasy of the Nazis and the French Alps of his earlier work but these people should note that Cory has always been a contemporaneous writer. He bases his novels on the issues currently of importance in the world and throws his characters and readers right into the middle of them. His writing is an absolute pillar of the genre; relying on all the tropes and stereotypes that Cory himself established in his early Fedora stories.Though On the Gulf might not have the same fantastical or exotic that some enjoyed so much in Secret Ministry or This Traitor Death it is still a hugely enjoyable and captivating read.