Spies

Spy novels are a literary staple and a personal favorite. Here are a couple that I've read lately. The first is just out (March 10) and is set in the present era of global terrorism, and the other came out in 2006 and is set in World War II.

Corsair: A Novel of the Oregon Files, by Clive Cussler with Jack du Brul. Putnam, $27.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-399-15539-0

The prolific Cussler and collaborator Brul return with the sixth (following Plague Ship) thriller in their popular "Oregon Files" series.

This time out Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo and his team aboard the high-tech Oregon are chasing a cunning terrorist whose nom de guerre, Suleiman Al-Jama, is borrowed from a 19th Century Barbary pirate and jihadist.

The world is on the brink of a negotiated Middle East peace accord, and American Secretary of State Fiona Katamora, one of its architects, is flying to Tripoli, Libya, for the final negotiations. Al-Jama is determined to derail the process. Having infiltrated the Libyan government, he plans to kidnap and behead Katamora and deploy a squad of suicide bombers against the peace conference.

When Katamora's plane is forced down in the Libyan desert, Cabrillo, a former CIA agent whose Corporation does security work for the Agency, is detailed to rescue her and foil whatever plot is afoot.

What follows is an Indiana Jones chase on steroids. Cabrillo doesn't have a bullwhip but he does have a prosthesis with a built-in .44 caliber pistol. Along the way, Cabrillo and his intrepid operatives have more close calls than a Saturday matinee serial: a close-quarters battle at sea, a harrowing race through an underground labyrinth complete with elaborate and deadly traps, and a gunfight against unseen foes in a pitch dark subterranean chamber. There's even a lost archaeological treasure and a magical talisman: the Jewel of Jerusalem that is alleged to contain a drop of Jesus' blood.

The whole thing is wildly improbable and appears to have been hastily written. Its singular virtue is a frenetic pace that ensures a quick read.

**************************************************************

Restless: A Novel, by William Boyd. Bloomsbury, $14.95 (324p) ISBN 978-1-59691-237-3

Boyd's literate, enthralling story of betrayal and vengeance strips away the glamour to reveal the "particular, unique fate" of the spy: "to live in a world without trust."

On the eve of World War II, Eva Delectorskaya, a twenty-something Russian émigré living in Paris, is recruited by British spy Lucas Romer. Rechristened Eve Dalton, she's trained and eventually posted to America where she's part of a propaganda effort to draw the United States into the war. Along the way, she begins an affair with Romer, who's her superior. Romer's number one rule for his charges is simple: "'Don't trust anyone.'"

Ironically, it's Romer—who's actually a Russian mole—who betrays Eve and sets her on the run. Managing to evade detection, Eve makes her way home to England, changes her appearance, and adopts a new identity.

Three decades later, Sally Gilmartin [a.k.a. Eve Dalton] is a 66-year-old grandmother with an agenda: to expose Romer after all these years. To this end, she enlists the unwitting help of her daughter Ruth, a 28-year-old single mom and Oxford graduate student.

As she reveals her past, in pieces, to Ruth, Sally sets in motion a plan to finally confront Romer and exact a measure of vengeance—and justice.

The story has two discrete strands—one set during World War II; the other in 1976—and Boyd alternates between the two until they finally merge in the culmination of Sally's plan. The tactic works well enough, but it does slow the narrative at times. It doesn't help that the second act doesn't match the first for intrigue and suspense.

Nevertheless, this is an addictive tale of spy craft that's worth discovering.