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Not only an
award-winning writer of Spooks/MI-5 he's also a espionage thriller
writer!
Although I have not seen either
show, no matter what their name is, I have read (at the time of writing)
his first book, Good News Bad News. Wolstencroft can write a good
book.
While saving us from the endless
minutia of spy gear, he seems more intent upon fleshing out the characters.
How they feel and where they come from are much more important than the dimension
of the satellite dish on top of the super-secret bunker. You get the chance
to get inside the characters through conversations and backgrounds that seem
common enough to think that you or your friends could actually be a spy or
more perhaps that spies are real people, too.
While I can only expound on the
one book he's written, I would have to say that Wolstencroft also does
a fine job of injecting a dry, understated British humor to a genre that
seems to be pretty arid in that department. Yes, humor can be in a spy
novel and not be Casino Royale, he shows us. As well as it can
come from everyday life, just like ours.
Don't get me wrong, the espionage
stuff is all there, in spades – which is what we all want. He is also very
good at the plot twists and is amazingly capable at placing them in such a
way that although they are rather out there, they almost seem matter-of-fact.
Keep in mind though that the twists and the plots aren't Moonraker-esque,
but more on the lines of The Bourne Identity.
If you'd like to see how 'common'
spies live and would be intrigued by what happens in between those fantastic
car chases or even what goes through an agent's mind while he waits, this
author may be for you. It would also be helpful if you'd like to read about
a 'buddy movie' in the real world. |
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