It is 1913, and those who follow the news closely can see the world is teetering on the brink of war. Jack McColl, a Scottish car salesman with an uncanny ear for languages, has always hoped to make a job for himself as a spy. As his sales calls take him from city to great city Hong Kong to Shanghai to San Francisco to New York he moonlights collecting intelligence for His Majesty s Navy, but British espionage is in its infancy and Jack has nothing but a shoestring budget and the very tenuous protection of a boss in faraway London. He knows, though, that a geopolitical catastrophe is brewing, and now is both the moment to prove himself and the moment his country needs him most.
Unfortunately, this is also the moment he begins to realize what his aspiration might cost him. He understands his life is at stake when activities in China suddenly escalate from innocent data-gathering and casual strolls along German military concessions to arrest warrants and knife attacks. Meanwhile, a sharp, vivacious American suffragette journalist has wiled her way deep into his affections, and it is not long before he realizes that her Irish American family might be embroiled in the Irish Republican movement Jack s bosses are fighting against. How can he choose between his country and the woman he loves? And would he even be able to make such a choice without losing both?”
I expected a spy novel that takes place right on the brink of WW1 to be more exciting/interesting than Jack of Spies was. It felt more like a romance than a spy novel, which would have been alright had it been marketed as a romance, but it wasn’t. Even at that it wasn’t a believable romance either. I just wasn’t impressed.
Jack’s a good guy and a mediocre spy. It’s a dangerous game he’s playing, but the danger never seems real, even when he’s almost killed. It just doesn’t feel urgent. I never cared about him, and sometimes I just wanted to roll my eyes. Maybe I just don’t like a cheesy romance messing up a potentially good book. The actual espionage portions had potential, if he hadn’t been brooding over how it was going to effect his relationship with the woman. Because of course her family’s involved.
Jackson was okay as a narrator. I especially appreciated the accents he used, both for the characters and when Jack emphasized his Scottish background rather than his Oxford English. I do wonder if his reading style was part of the reason it didn’t quite seem as thrilling as it could have. Maybe it was bit matter of fact, which I prefer to overly dramatic, but maybe there’s some middle ground.
I guess this is the first in a series. I don’t think I’ll be picking up the second. It did make me add an Alan Furst book to my to-read list. Do you have any favorite spy novel authors?
It’s been a while since I’ve read a good espionage book. I’ve read a couple of barely mediocre ones, but that’s beside the point. My library had The Cairo Affair available on audio and the title rang a bell, so I borrowed. Turned out that was a really good choice. It’s nice to start of the new year with a winner.
The story is told through several viewpoints, but it was always clear whose eyes we were seeing situations through. It was interesting, although not surprising, how much the same event could vary from viewpoint to viewpoint. The characters were all real, there were not over the top superagents, no too good to be true loyalists, no overly intelligent office worker able to predict everything. They are all doing the best they can given their abilities, limited knowledge and resources. Okay, maybe “the best” is not quite true, because we do have people willing to kill, to betray their country and lovers, and they are not necessarily the people we would naturally suspect. The story also jumps back and forth in time, telling how we came to this point. I, personally, found the transitions clear and well interlaced into the story, even on audio.
I’m rather embarrassed to admit that my knowledge of current affairs in my own country is sadly lacking, let alone what happens in Egypt and Libya. I don’t know much about the Arab Spring and I only remember bits about Muammar Gaddafi. The Cairo Affair gives enough background so I could understand what was going on, but also left me wanting to learn more in general about the time period in the region. It did make me feel like I need to do more non-fiction reading.
I have to imagine this had to be a tough one for the narrator. The cast of characters is huge and it jumps back and forth, but he did a good job with it. He kept me involved in the story and I was rarely, if ever, confused about who the focus was on at the moment or who was speaking. I don’t have any idea if his accents were good or not. I do always find the American accents funny, so flat compared to others. Or is that the book I’m listening to now? Both probably.
This one is definitely worth listening to/reading. It’s a slow book though, don’t expect all the action and shoot-outs of some spy novels. It’s tension-filled but not a nail-biter. For me, that worked well, given the topics and people. It seemed more realistic. For fiction, it felt like a glimpse inside the world of global politics and espionage.
Olen Steinhauer grew up in Virginia, and has lived throughout the US and Europe. He spent a year in Romania on a Fulbright grant, an experience that helped inspire his first five books. He now lives in Hungary with his wife and daughter.
Steinhauer is one of my favorite living authors. I read this one and loved it. Very glad you enjoyed it.