The Scholars of Night, by John M. Ford

[rachelmanija]

A clever (perhaps too clever for its own good), twisty (ditto) post-Cold War thriller by the late, great John Ford. I think this is his only non-sff novel, though it is arguably alternate history and possibly sf of the techno-thriller variety

Comments

[marzipan_pig]

Your commentary/questions makes me both want to read the book and not at the same time; good job! :)

[mrissa]

Have you read Anthony Price? Because that's a lot of what he's referring to with this one. Also Anthony Price books are awesome.

[rachelmanija]

I have never even heard of Price. Please enlighten me.

[mrissa]

They are a whole series of British spy novels. The first one is The Labyrinth Makers, and it's usually pretty widely available used. I found them to be basically what I wanted LeCarre to be that LeCarre wasn't (and not just because there are women in Price's spy network).

[coffeeandink]

Price has a series of books loosely centered on a spy named David Audley, which can be read in almost any order. (There are a few later books which work better if you've read specific earlier books first.) They are not written in chronological order, they take place in any time period from WWII to the 80s, and most of them combine some kind of historical investigation with an espionage plot. I tend to like the ones not so focused on Audley better. There are things that are tragic only if you've read other books, and unnoticeable if you haven't. It's a lot easier to follow than Ford.

[tool_of_satan]

Unfortunately it has been too long since I last read this to answer any of these questions except possibly the one about the body in the jeep. The body is the American officer we see in a flashback scene who was working with or stealing something from (or both?) General Gehlen. I can't remember what they found in the jeep with the body, but whatever it was had something to do with Gehlen (and presumably his post-WWII anti-Soviet spy organization).