Do you read spy novels? For my money, John le Carré is the one author who gets it right. Maybe he’s a little heavy on the Heavy-Handedness of the State, but I can tell you from recent experience, the life of a spy is as le Carré depicts it. The agent is mired in a constantly shifting farrago of confusion, self-doubt, anxiety and boredom. The personal qualities of decisiveness, clarity, and resolve are found only in the secret agents who populate Hollywood epics and mass-market novels.
- p. 11
For Friday 56:
"I have an uneasy feeling your inquiries are going to attract the wrong kind of attention.”
- p. 56
"I have an uneasy feeling your inquiries are going to attract the wrong kind of attention.”
- p. 56
About How Existentialism Almost Killed Me: Kierkegaard Was Right by Michael Bernhart*: This is the final novel in a series that examines the nature of evil. Remnants of the Khmers Rouges provide the face of evil, and they do a fine job. The plot revolves around drug counterfeiting, which was a daily challenge when the author ran a healthcare project in Cambodia. This by way of saying that the context and problem are faithfully rendered.
The protagonists, Max and Sally Brown, are looking at middle-age, an empty nest, and wondering if their lives of ease and privilege add up to much. They are herded into a trivial assignment for the CIA which morphs into a dangerous job which pits them against the KR. Woefully inept, they leave a trail of corpses until they get up to speed. The battle is joined on elephant back, in a Thai brothel, in Cambodian minefields, and Khmer Rouge strongholds.
The genre is nominally cozy thriller, with a brush with chick-lit, and philosophy.
Giveaway (open international!)
Michael is giving away 2 e-books (.mobi or pdf) of his book How Existentialism Almost Killed Me: Kierkegaard Was RightTo enter:
Leave Michael a question about his guest post or his book in the comments section of this post.
No comments
Post a Comment