The Prisoner's Wife
Many of today’s spy novels draw equally from le Carré and the noir tradition. Both are seedy and full of treachery, pessimism, depression, and broken men, but the noir influence adds a kind of burned-out romanticism. Macdonald’s take has all the ingredients in place: a disgraced American spy, overfond of both booze and sex. A mission—rescuing a kidnapped terrorist who may have information about the worst WMD ever. And a beautiful woman of ambiguous motivation who joins the hero in his quest. There’s much political commentary, sure to please those who believe that, for most of the last decade, the U.S. was ruled by the administration from hell. Fights, too. And chases. Insider Iraqi war stuff. And readers wondering why this book never really sparks. Flashbacks within flashbacks don’t help, nor does a style so clipped and understated it seems to mumble and talk to itself rather than to the reader. Recommend this to those who will relish the genre, and to those who will enjoy the description of the former veep’s “saurian” eyes. --Don Crinklaw