Book Review: The Last Spymaster

Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM

The Last Spymaster     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Gayle Lynds
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Espionage   Government Agency   Thriller
St. Martin's Press Hardcover Fiction : June 2006

It's been a while since we saw Lynds in print, with the exceptional espionage thriller 'The Coil' back in 2004; so I had been expecting something rather special considering the time gap [and I was not disappointed]. We get an exceptional post-modern existential spy-thriller that has been well worth the wait. The best part is that this thriller is fast, and I mean very fast - starting in top gear and maintaining the narrative through the twists, turns, bends and shadowy halls of power that haunt the world of international black operations and deception.

The title refers to the cold warrior Jay Tice, a man who was part espionage legend and part traitor who worked for the CIA until he was imprisoned for compromising US security. Like an espionage- agent version of Hannibal Lecter, he is kept under maximum security [in Pennsylvania] due to the latent threat to US and world security. So for the CIA in the post 9/11 world, where politicians use the security services as a target [when blame needs proportioning]; the ultimate embarrassment is Tice vanishing literally into thin air. If Tice's disappearance gets into the public domain, it could spell serious trouble for the beleaguered CIA. Enter Elaine Cunningham, an old hand at The Company, and one tasked to track down Tice within 48 hours before the bells and whistles blow in Langley. The problem is that Cunningham has issues from her past, but is a fine tracker of those who don't want to be found; problem is that others are also hunting Tice, and these others have their own agenda[s]. Lynds' then stirs in a dollop of irony because a new threat is noticed on the radar, and one that perhaps only Tice [the traitor as well as spymaster legend] can thwart, but Cunningham may also hold a key. The past then bleeds into the present, so forget trench-coats, forget shady alleyways, and the theme tune for 'The Third Man', because Lynds is twenty first century, so the tradecraft and technological research is bang-on, and worryingly so with the new threats to our world coming from all angles.

Often fast pace results in a reduction of character depth, as velocity can push plot faster than character; not so in The Last Spymaster. This is a real return [considering the wait] for Lynds and shows that she is at the top of her game. If you liked the nostalgia of Robert Littell's The Company, but want to know what the CIA is like today, then The Last Spymaster is the book you need to grab, because it is in my opinion definitive.

Ali Karim - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM

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