A Good Thriller discussion

Always makes me think of those Infiniti commercials talking about how all the great villains seem to all be played by Brits.

It's the accent, I think.

Is that because the leading roles go to you guys, and the second best challenge is always the antagonist? :)

Good question.

Actually, there are quite a few exceptions. Cary Grant… Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard etc. and on to a Le Carre theme in The Russia House film it was Michelle Pfeiffer alongside Sean Connery. What a nice little transatlantic alliance?

Amber wrote: "It's the accent, I think."

I don't know, Mark Strong makes a great villain no matter what accent he uses.

BREAKING NEWS! Presumably after seeing the retried novelist and semi-retired journalist Frederick Forsyth pen his own memoirs, British spy David Cornwell has decided to try his hand at writing his own.

Which is strange, considering he collaborated on an authorized biography last year. Oh well, suppose it's a matter of 'if you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself.

“Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I’m sitting now.” - J. Le Carre, Intelligence officer.

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/boo...

Thanks Samuel. Let's hope he has a good editor. It's always harder for autobiographers to cut the parts they are fond of, and others have less interest to read, than it is for a 'ghost' to give it a bit more focus and pace. Still, quite a feast for Le Carre fans to tuck in to presently!

“Power sits uneasily on those one has grown up with. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Spy.”
― John le Carré

Two advanced copy reviews.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Samuel wrote: "Two advanced copy reviews.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..."

Looks great!

So apparently John le Carré’s ‘The Spy Who Came In From The Cold’ is to be developed as a limited series by paramount TV... That I will look forward to seeing.

Sounds more spooky to me, Tim. Wasn't it Shakespeare who originated what we say about the truth being "stranger than fiction"?

Not all of us, Tim, but enough of us are to give the rest of homo sapiens a bad name...a VERY bad name.

Thanks to Kirsten for reminding me of a Bond book to read… ‘Casino Royale’. So here is hers and Mike’s reviews to whet the appetite…

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I love the Bond movies but have never read the books, Paul.

Also, I agree that Shakespeare did have his finger on the pulse....very much indeed.

Cosmos wrote: "I love the Bond movies but have never read the books, Paul.

Also, I agree that Shakespeare did have his finger on the pulse....very much indeed."

You must read the books. Flemings writing style is without equal.

Tim wrote: "As this is a thread about British intelligence, I thought I'd add an interesting thing that happened: at my mother's funeral not long after I had finished Delphian (focused on British intelligence)..."

I like to intertwine actual events within my writing.

Adam wrote: "Cosmos wrote: "I love the Bond movies but have never read the books, Paul.

Also, I agree that Shakespeare did have his finger on the pulse....very much indeed."

You must read the books. Flemings..."

I will get around to reading them soon, Adam. Thanks so much for the recommendation.

Adam wrote: "Tim wrote: "As this is a thread about British intelligence, I thought I'd add an interesting thing that happened: at my mother's funeral not long after I had finished Delphian (focused on British i..."

That's an awesome idea, Adam!

"Shocking. Positively shocking."
Movie: Goldfinger (1964)

A review of 'Tinker Tailor…' by John le Carre.

‘Tinker, Tailor...’ is an enduring Cold War thriller given fresh life by the 2011 film and Gary Oldman’s performance as George Smiley: brilliant spy and totally inadequate man…

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

So, wow! Le Carre is bringing George Smiley back in his next work ‘A Legacy of Spies’ to be published on September 7th this year. https://www.johnlecarre.com/

Holy cow, that will be a treat.

I thought I read that John Le Carre retired from

I thought he retired from WRITING.

Maureen wrote: "Holy cow, that will be a treat."

Too right :)

I have yet to read Le Carre's 'A Legacy of Spies', but the reviews have been flying up for the new book since the start of the month...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I'm reading it now.

Maureen wrote: "I'm reading it now."

Look forward to your review (or thoughts about it) if you post Maureen.

Just started reading LeCarre's new one, which takes Smiley protege Peter Guillam (and Smiley) back to the botched operation in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Chickens coming home to roost.
I was surprised to see one of the members didn't like The Perfect Spy, which is my favorite, partly because it's a disguised biography of LeCarre and his lying con man father. They made a British miniseries of it that's hard but not impossible to get. try Ebay. not as good as the Smiley stuff was, original or the remake. But nice.
in comparison, I find Fleming pretty dated and one dimensional. Good fodder for movie scripts -- like most Grisham novels. But that's about it for me.

I tried watching 'The Perfect Spy' Patrick hoping it might be on a measure with some of the other BBC productions of the time (in which Peter Guillam pops up), but just found it a little too heavy going, though I accept its autobiographical value. 'The Night Manager' is by many accounts one to see...

I loved The Night Manager, even with the changes. Rumor is they were trying to position Hiddleston to take over Bond from D. Craig when it's time. Works for me.
I wish they would remake Little Drummer Girl. What were they thinking using Diane Keaton all those years ago.

Yes, Night Manager was pretty swell as a mini-series. Little Drummer Girl, not so much. LeCarre hated it, I've read.

I finished it. gave it 3 stars. could have been 3.5. I reviewed it and say it was more of a whydunnit than a whodunnit. I was looking for more reveals about all the duplicity going on back when the Wall was up. only 275 pages.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Patrick. Interesting.

Paul wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I'm reading it now."

Look forward to your review (or thoughts about it) if you post Maureen."
I gave it four stars.
It was close to forty years ago when I read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I remember being appalled by it.
For some reason it was one of my first lessons in treachery from those who are supposed to be on your side. It was fascinating to read the the backstory.
A Legacy of Spies was just another lesson in treachery.
I did love Peter's escape from them. The FU he gave them.
I would like to have known more about his life with Catherine and Isabelle.
Once again I was totally beguiled by Le Carre's rhythm, his verbal flow. I'm not saying it very well, but it's one of the reasons I reread Little Drummer Girl so often.

I must pick up the latest Le Carre. I'm in The Bahamas at the mo (lucky old me - plot research, book 4). We had coffee at The One and Only Ocean Club on Saturday - and got back the house and had to watch Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. Much of it was filmed there. It's a long film, but DC is easily the best Bond at that time.

Finished Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

We shall finally see the little drummer girl on TV. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvan...

Samuel wrote: "We shall finally see the little drummer girl on TV. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvan...-..."

Something to look forward to Samuel ;)

Roland wrote: "I must pick up the latest Le Carre. I'm in The Bahamas at the mo (lucky old me - plot research, book 4). We had coffee at The One and Only Ocean Club on Saturday - and got back the house and had to..."

Hope you tried 'the drink'... shaken... after the coffee...

I do like this quote:

“Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.”

― John le Carré

Paul wrote: "Samuel wrote: "We shall finally see the little drummer girl on TV. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvan......"

This is wonderful news. The team for Night Manager was outstanding.

Some spies live, some spies die.

But to become a legend, as the man who became the blunt instrument for Queen and Country found out, you have to live................Forever And A Day.

The job begins with 007 dying......but not our 007........

‘M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily. “We have no choice. We’re just going to bring forward this other chap you’ve been preparing. But you didn’t tell me his name.”

“It’s Bond, sir,” the Chief of Staff replied.

“James Bond.”’

The sea keeps its secrets. But not this time.

One body. Three bullets. 007 floats in the waters of Marseille, killed by an unknown hand.

It’s time for a new agent to step up. Time for a new weapon in the war against organised crime.

It’s time for James Bond to earn his licence to kill.

This is the story of the birth of a legend, in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera.


http://www.ianfleming.com/forever-and...

Samuel wrote: "Some spies live, some spies die.

But to become a legend, as the man who became the blunt instrument for Queen and Country found out, you have to live................Forever And A Day.

The job b..."

Anthony Horowitz more than earned his retainer from the Fleming estate with his awesome Trigger Mortis novel. So this challenge he's set himself is going to be rather interesting. Making a compelling story about how the literary James Bond may have became a 00.

Samuel wrote: "Samuel wrote: "Some spies live, some spies die.

But to become a legend, as the man who became the blunt instrument for Queen and Country found out, you have to live................Forever And A D..."

high risk, high reward, but if anyone can do it, it's Horowitz.

Samuel wrote: "Some spies live, some spies die.

But to become a legend, as the man who became the blunt instrument for Queen and Country found out, you have to live................Forever And A Day.

The job b..."

A tasty titbit of Bond intelligence :)

Just finished... Diamonds are Forever.
To discover just who is filching British diamonds from an African mine, James Bond is sent undercover along a smuggling pipeline…
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Paul wrote: "Samuel wrote: "Some spies live, some spies die.

But to become a legend, as the man who became the blunt instrument for Queen and Country found out, you have to live................Forever And A D..."

Isn't it just? A true diamond. Old school Fleming elements that the world has forgotten. Gangsters, the South of France, a story where Bond hasn't gone up against Russia's finest or a capitalistic non - state actor but rather some very murderous and monstrous criminals who even if they're not trying to remake the world, can be just as evil as a crazed Communist spy.