| Jávea Grapevine February 2015
JGV Review of
the latest
George
Thomas Book
‘The Deadly
Diplomat’
When I thought about doing Book
Reviews again in the Grapevine
Magazine, I decided that I should
always express my real feelings
about the books I chose, good or
bad.
I was a little uncertain how I would
cope with a book that sounded like
a reverse Bond with a Spetsnatz
undercover agent wreaking havoc
in the Middle East. I needn’t have
worried - this is a solid thriller
with believable characters and
a good storyline. I remember the
Middle East in the 1980s (when
this book is set). The tension and
political undercurrents make the
real and well researched history
a very interesting backdrop to the
adventure.
OK - this is an espionage thriller
set in the 1980’s, but it is inspired
by many actual events in Syria,
Lebanon, Iran and Ethiopia, the plot
weaves the political tension of
the day into an gripping
thriller. Posing as
a Soviet Cultural
Attaché, Alexei
Guliyev
carries
out a series of
Black Ops. For those
unfamiliar with the
term - Wikipedia advises
that “A black operation
or black op is a covert
operation by a government,
a government agency, or
a military organisation. Key
features of a black operation
are that it is clandestine, it has
negative overtones, and it is not
attributable to the organisation
carrying it out. The main difference
between a black operation and
one that is merely clandestine is
that a black operation involves a
significant degree of deception,
to conceal who is behind it or to
make it appear that some other
entity is responsible” (“false flag”
operations). In other words, as
an undercover Spetsnaz officer,
Alexei defintely does quite a lot
of havoc wreaking wherever he’s
posted in the Middle East.
Playing against the CIA, the
French and any other world power
that tries to intervene, Alexei still
finds time to deal with personal
vendettas, manipulating them into
his larger plans like a true master.
Even though, like many books
published these days, there are
odd typos, these are not irritating
because the flow of the book is
so fast, the reader barely falters
before being absorbed in the next
twist of the plot.
What
makes
it
particularly
interesting is that this is a prequel
to George’s other successful
books - Nemesis in Spain and
Nemesis in Asia. Both Nemesis
books feature Alexei in later life,
after he retires from Spetsnaz as he continues a life of intrigue,
death and destruction. So, no-one
needs to worry about reading this
book out of sequence - because
it is technically the beginning why Alexei is driven in later life to
behave as ruthlessly as he does...
This is the sort of book I will be
happy to recommend to my adult
sons who will enjoy both the pace
and the plot of the book. It is a book
intended to appeal to fans of the
Bond genre - it is certainly full of
action - but I think, with its more
rounded and believable characters,
it will also appeal to the le Carré
generation of readers - especially
with its well researched geography
and historically accurate political
allusions.
The video preview, below, is a
taster.
http://youtu.be/_gcgCSBMcGc
To see more books by George you
can check out his website
www.georgejthomas.com