The Memory Trap

Dr David Audley & Colonel Jack Butler #19

by Anthony Price

Even in the era of glasnost a defector is worth having, especially if he is a senior computer specialist in Russian military intelligence. But when the defection goes wrong, the British are left with three bodies and two inadequate clues to the nature of the information they might have been offered, and which now lies buried somewhere in the collective memories of David Audley and his one-time colleague Major Peter Richardson.

But what is the secret Audley shares with the half-Italian Richardson, now frightened into hiding somewhere in Italy? For once David Audley has no idea and the race is on to find the elusive Major. But Audley's objective is fast being overtaken by modern political imperatives - ones very different from the black and white certainties of the old Cold War days . . .

Genres: Fiction, Espionage, Mystery

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Born in Hertfordshire in 1928, Price was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Oxford. His long career in journalism culminated in the Editorship of the Oxford Times. His literary thrillers earned comparisons to the best of Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, and Robert Goddard.

Reviews

[Anelle Kloski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never set out before to read all the books of one author, as I just did with Anthony Price and his British intelligence novels. It was a remarkable experience, and now I am trying to find other authors who might be as rewarding. These books about David Audley and his associates have just the right touch of suspense, action, and involvement with history (both ancient and more recent) to be fascinating on many levels. While the main characters might not always be admirable, and the political reasoning somewhat obscure, the total effect is unlike anything else I have ever read. Even reading individual Price books is rewarding, but taken all together they were particularly powerful for me. The memory Trap seems to be the last written, though the books do not have to be read in order to enjoy them.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of Price's series dealing with Jack Butler and David Audley. It ends in a bit of a whimper as glastnost overtakes the spy game as played by Audley. But they survive to see the end of the Cold War. Do not start with this volume, but rather The Labyrinth Makers or The '44 Vintage which is where I started. Enjoy

[Barry Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Memory Trap (1989) by Anthony Price. The nineteenth and last in an espionage series featuring Dr. David Audley, a British counter-intelligence agent. The story begins in the early days of Glasnost on the eve of a visit to London by Gorbachev. After a Russia defector, Oleg Kulik, is killed by a terrorist group in Berlin, Audley tries to unravel the threat by searching for a former colleague, Major Peter Richardson. An attempted meeting at Villa Jovis, the ruins of the palace of Tiberius on Capri, fails when Russian Colonel Zimin turns up instead. Both men suspect that General Lukianov is betraying his country by assisting Abu Nidal. Audley and his colleagues are next drawn to the the Cotswolds and eventually to Wales where memory, audacity, and luck prevent a major terrorist attack.

Anthony Price, who has been favorably compared to John le Carré, was recently described in a NYT obituary as “among several thriller writers who moved the espionage genre beyond the slick shenanigans of early-period James Bond as the Cold War calcified.” Unlike many contemporary espionage novels that feature action heroes, Price depicted the real world of intelligence driven by logic, information, and history.

In the fictional words of David Audley, “It all came down to memory. And not to damned computer-memory, which was no better than common coinage in the pockets of anyone who had access to it, but to private memory, which he alone possessed now.”

[Beth Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually read via the Audible audiobook, but no Goodreads listing for that. This is the last of the series, and has all the hallmarks of the earlier books, but the plot seems to rely a certain amount on coincidences of timing. It's mostly an ave atque vale to the political climate that inspired the series, and a recognition that the future belongs to the younger generation.

[Derek Nudd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just finished re-reading Price's David Audley novels in chronological sequence, an entertaining exercise. Some of his phrasing wouldn't pass a modern editor but his dense plotting and storytelling is as good as ever. One thing that does strike me is that with the last two - this and A Prospect of Vengeance - he knew he was coming to the end of the line. 'Vengeance' tidied up the loose ends of Frances Fitzgibbon's life, and perhaps should have been subtitled Yesterday's Ghost. This answers the question, 'Whatever became of Peter Richardson?'

Having sorted out the R&D old guard and passed the baton on to a rising generation, introduced in previous books, he leaves the survivors to fade away knowing they have done their best and kept the monster from the gates for another day. And the monster just might be us.

So, don't expect clearly defined heroes and villains, with trumpets and triumph for the good guys. Audley sees his contemporaries - dangerous old men - come out of retirement one last time and feels his own encroaching mortality. In Price's final words of the series,

'And, whether you were young and beautiful, or old and stupid ... survival was a virtue.'

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so they end... no more Audleys or Butlers... no more cosy chats around the cottage fireplace or in the kitchen... or the pub. Anthony Price's last book in what in my opinion is pure genius continues to please and enthrall. There is something so English about his world of espionage that really should be kept alive even in a "Slow Horse" universe.
I shall miss these books.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A defector gets assassinated early on, and trusty old MI6 has to unravel who did it and why before something very, very bad happens.



The Good

A good Cold War thriller in the style of Le Carre. Has a decent amount of suspense, and is original in that it's set in the age of glasnost.



The Bad

Characters that are difficult to tell apart, a convoluted plot, and dialogue that is a little too cryptic and allusive for my tastes. When the plot is as intricate as this one, I need things spelled out for me. But Price is less confusing than Le Carre (I've finished entire books by him without ever figuring out who was who.)

[George Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have complete series of Anthony Price books about Audley and Butler. Not much action but excellent characterisation and intelligent plots.