On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming

May 31, 2020June 5, 2022Leave a comment

Who could talk of a spy novel or thriller without mentioning one of the best writers in the genres, Ian Fleming.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming is one of the most famous of his works.

James Bond, United Kingdom secret agent with a licence to kill, had been involved in hunting down the SPECTRE organisation and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the boss. They had hijacked nuclear devices in order to blackmail the governments of the West. Bond had a disagreement with the British Secret Service in the running of the matter and he writes a letter of resignation to M, the head of the service.

Bond saves a beautiful Contessa by paying the gambling debt she cannot fulfil but they are captured by criminals. Her father is Marc-Ange Draco, the boss of the Unione Corse crime organisation.

Draco tells Bond that Blofeld is in Switzerland after which Bond returns to England to filter fact from fiction. The College of Arms in London discovers that Blofeld has taken on the persona of Comte Balthazar de Bleuville to mask his identity.

Bond pretends to be a member of the College of Arms, Sir Hilary Bray. He visits Blofeld face him and to ascertain his right to the title, finding that Blofeld has undergone surgery to cover up his identity.

Blofeld has been brainwashing women into carrying biological warfare agents to destroy the agricultural economy of the British Isles. Bond escapes by ski from Piz Gloria, as he believes he has been uncovered. He is chased and kills some of his pursuers. Exhausted he reaches the local town where he is helped by the Contessa.

Draco’s Union Corse help Bond to attack Blofeld’s clinic. The clinic is destroyed and Blofeld escapes. Flying to Germany Bond marries the Contessa. They drive away on holiday only to be machine gunned by Blofelds team. Bonds new wife dies.

James Bond, otherwise known as 007, is probably the most famous spy to have worked on behalf of the Queen and the Union Jack flag.

A classic spy novel from one of the worlds finest espionage writers. I am looking forward to the next film with Daniel Craig, No Time to Die. The Queen’s best agent and a real Made in England hero!.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

October 9, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

American writer Dashiell Hammett wrote the classic novel The Maltese Falcon.

It was originally serialized, like many of Charles Dickens’ works, in the Black Mask magazine in 1929 to 30. The book was made into the classic film of the same name with actors Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Sydney Greenstreet and incredible Peter Lorre.

Sam Spade is the main character and practises as a private detective, in partnership with Miles Archer, in San Francisco.

A glamorous beauty, Miss Wonderly, hires them to follow a man called Floyd Thursby, who she says has run away with her sister. Archer sets off to follow Thursby, but winds up dead that night. He’d been shot. Next Thursby gets himself killed and the police suspect Spade.

Miss Wonderly is unmasked. She is actually called Brigid O’Shaughnessy. It transpires that she is on the hunt for a very valuable black statue of a falcon. She is not the only one. A shady Greek called Joel Cairo and Casper Gutman are also after the falcon. Gutman has in his service, one Wilmer Cook, a young, volatile, gun-totting thug. O’Shaughnessy will not spill the beans to Spade, though she is desperate for his help.

I can’t tell you the rest as it would spoil such a wonderful plot.

It is a story which is full of mystery, intrigue and thrills set off with a touch of the exotic.

Dashiell Hammett wrote this best seller novel, The Maltese Falcon, while living at 891 Post Street in downtown San Francisco. As an homage I visited the spot when I lived there. He is one of the worlds finest writers of detective novels and his work endures.

There’s no escape by Ian Serraillier

October 17, 2013August 27, 2021Leave a comment

Best thriller book

Ian Serraillier was born on 24 September 1912 and died on 28 November 1994. He was a British fiction novelist and also a poet. Probably best known for his children’s books, he also wrote thriller novels for adults such as There’s no escape which was published in 1956. . He was born in London and in 1918 his father died in the flu pandemic when he was six years old. He went on to be educated at Brighton College and next took his degree at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and becoming an English teacher. He was granted conscientious objector status in World War II because he was a Quaker. His first children’s novel was published in 1946 and was quickly followed by several more adventure stories. His best known work,

In There’s no escape Maclaren, who is the chief of secret agents, arranged to parachute Peter into war-torn Silvania (nominally an unspecified county in the Balkans), where he was tasked with rescuing Dr Helpmann before the enemy caught him and extracted information about his new discoveries. Peter agreed to go reluctantly.

This is a fast-moving adventure story by Ian Serraillier, set in wartime Europe with a dark cloud hanging over it. The book is an easy read which has a taut plot featuring parachutes, inventions and secret codes. One of the first novels I ever read and many times since, re-read.

Ian Serraillier 生于 1912 年 9 月 24 日，死于 1994 年 11 月 28 日。他是英国小说家和诗人。最著名的可能是他的儿童读物，他还为成年人写了惊悚小说，如 1956 年出版的《无路可逃》。他出生在伦敦，1918 年他的父亲在他六岁时死于流感大流行。他继续在布莱顿学院接受教育，然后在牛津大学圣埃德蒙霍尔获得学位并成为一名英语教师。由于他是贵格会教徒，他在第二次世界大战中被授予依良心拒服兵役者身份。他的第一部儿童小说于 1946 年出版，随后又出版了几部冒险故事。他最著名的作品，

在密不可分的麦克拉伦 (Maclaren) 中，特工首领安排将彼得空降到饱受战争蹂躏的西尔瓦尼亚（名义上是巴尔干半岛的一个未指明的县），在那里他的任务是在敌人抓住他并提取有关他的信息之前营救 Helpmann 博士他的新发现。彼得勉强同意去。

这是 Ian Serraillier 的快速冒险故事，背景是战时的欧洲，乌云笼罩着它。这本书通俗易懂，情节紧凑，包括降落伞、发明和密码。我读过的第一本小说之一，此后多次重读。
Ian Serraillier shēng yú 1912 nián 9 yuè 24 rì, sǐ yú 1994 nián 11 yuè 28 rì. Tā shì yīngguó xiǎoshuō jiā hè shīrén. Zuì zhùmíng de kěnéng shì tā de értóng dúwù, tā hái wéi chéngnián rén xiěle jīngsǒng xiǎoshuō, rú 1956 nián chūbǎn de “wú lù kě táo”. Tā chūshēng zài lúndūn,1918 nián tā de fùqīn zài tā liù suì shí sǐ yú liúgǎn dà liúxíng. Tā jìxù zài bù lái dùn xuéyuàn jiēshòu jiàoyù, ránhòu zài niújīn dàxué shèng āi dé méng huò ěr huòdé xuéwèi bìng chéngwéi yī míng yīngyǔ jiàoshī. Yóuyú tā shì guì gé huì jiàotú, tā zài dì èr cì shìjiè dàzhàn zhōng bèi shòuyǔ yī liángxīn jù fú bīngyì zhě shēnfèn. Tā de dì yī bù értóng xiǎoshuō yú 1946 nián chūbǎn, suíhòu yòu chūbǎnle jǐ bù màoxiǎn gùshì. Tā zuì zhùmíng de zuòpǐn,

zài mì bùkěfēn de màikè lā lún (Maclaren) zhōng, tègōng shǒulǐng ānpái jiāng bǐdé kòng jiàng dào bǎo shòu zhànzhēng róulìn de xī ěr wǎ ní yǎ (míngyì shàng shì bā’ěrgàn bàndǎo de yīgè wèi zhǐmíng de xiàn), zài nàlǐ tā de rènwù shì zài dírén zhuā zhù tā bìng tíqǔ yǒuguān tā de xìnxī zhīqián yíngjiù Helpmann bóshì tā de xīn fāxiàn. Bǐdé miǎnqiáng tóngyì qù.

Zhè shì Ian Serraillier de kuàisù màoxiǎn gùshì, bèijǐng shì zhàn shí de ōuzhōu, wūyún lóngzhàozhe tā. Zhè běn shū tōngsú yì dǒng, qíngjié jǐncòu, bāokuò jiàngluòsǎn, fāmíng hé mìmǎ. Wǒ dúguò de dì yī běn xiǎoshuō zhī yī, cǐhòu duō cì zhòngdú.

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The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall

October 8, 2013August 27, 2021Leave a comment

The Quiller Memorandum espionage thriller

This is one of the first and best adventure spy novels I read and I became a firm fan of Quiller and Adam Hall.

The Quiller Memorandum which was also known as The Berlin Memorandum was written by Adam Hall in 1965. Hall introduced Quiller in this book as a British intelligence officer in the very secret body known as ‘the Bureau’. Quiller was also said to have been in the secret services during World War II. The Bureau is a shady organisation whose purpose was originally to prevent any possible increase in German militarism, such as a fourth Reich.

Quiller was a specialist in Nazi clandestine organizations such as the ‘ratlines’ which were used by Nazis to escape trial. The book is set in the mid-sixties where Quiller is seconded by the Bureau to give secret intelligence information to the Z Commission which is West Germany’s war crimes investigatitive agency. Quiller is persuaded by the bureau to investigate the plans of a secret Nazi secret. He readily does so, as the Nazis have killed one of his friends.

Adam Hall was a wonderful writer of espionage fiction. A classic read that is sure to enthrawl.

Aquesta és una de les primeres novel·les d’aventures i espies que vaig llegir i em vaig convertir en un ferm fan de Quiller i Adam Hall.

El Memoràndum Quiller, també conegut com a Memoràndum de Berlín, va ser escrit per Adam Hall el 1965. Hall va introduir Quiller en aquest llibre com a oficial d’intel·ligència britànic en el cos secret conegut com a “l’Oficina”. Es va dir que Quiller va estar als serveis secrets durant la Segona Guerra Mundial. L’Oficina és una organització obaga que el seu propòsit era originalment evitar qualsevol possible augment del militarisme alemany, com ara un quart Reich.

Quiller era un especialista en organitzacions clandestines nazis, com ara les “ratlines”, que eren utilitzades pels nazis per fugir del judici. El llibre es troba a mitjan anys seixanta, on Quiller és secundat per l’Oficina per donar informació d’intel·ligència secreta a la Comissió Z, que és l’agència d’investigació de crims de guerra d’Alemanya Occidental. Quiller és persuadit per l’oficina per investigar els plans d’un secret secret nazi. Ho fa fàcilment, ja que els nazis han matat un dels seus amics.

Adam Hall va ser un meravellós escriptor de ficció d’espionatge. Una lectura clàssica que segur que engrescarà.

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