Review: Desmond Cory Does It Again "On the Gulf"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 1, 2012
With 40 books to his credit, you have to wonder how award-winning author Desmond Cory does it. His work "On the Gulf" is as fresh as anything Cory has written. It's another page-turner that keeps you reading -- far later into the night than is good for you -- as he takes you to a new world. Yes, there's intrigue but Cory has really stretched his writing chops. He does keep his comfort zone nearby -- the intelligence service -- but he adds to his repertoire by exploring the psychological motivations that of his characters, taking them from from two dimensional to three dimensional. There's Col. Foster, Kevin Bone, CIA operative, and Chuck Harvey of the U.S. Embassy, each of whom has an interest in the leader of the revolution, Hamad, a rather bored executive who wants the "excitement" of leading an Iranian-style revolution, putting a relative of the present King on the throne of Fariq (Shaik Rashid); and his group of "revolutionaries." They stage ths usual anti-Western attacks, starting with an attack on Polly Sage, an oil executive's widow (who also happens to be gorgeous, you have to let Cory have something). Things spin out of control and the people who thought they had everything under control find they do not. The revolution spins its own way (they do that). I'll let you figure out how things end up as I don't want to give too much away. I will say that Cory is an excellent writer who has made the leap from his comfort area to a new zone as he explores the psychology of his characters, giving them added dimension, making his even more real. This is one you'll want to read again -- I already have.