The Quiller Memorandum

You will be hard put to find any writer who can jack up your heart rate the way Adam Hall manages to in these relatively few pages. His story is a marvel of relentless pacing. With sentences that read something like Hemingway under the influence of bad speed - a steady drumbeat of monosyllables, phrase after short phrase linked by "and," an economy of language - and a first-person voice that Hall maintains pitch-perfectly from start to finish, this book is one of the best-written thrillers ever. It doesn't resort to bloated descriptions of technical gadgets or exotic locales; nor is its protagonist a super-hero. (He is smarter than the average bear, and physically tougher, too, but believably so.) It does use the Nazi-comeback formula - imagine how many millions of paperbacks in how many hundreds of airports the ancient swastika image has helped to sell all these years! - but I imagine that in the early 1960s, it was actually one of the first books to explore this now-overused plotline. Hall's description of Quiller's foe-induced, near-psychotic drug experience is particularly gripping - I've looked repeatedly, and I still don't understand how he made this description so convincing that it would likely persuade any reader to just say no. I look forward to reading more in the Quiller series.

...this author did to the spy thriller--don't be put off by the number of pages, each is fast-paced and the writing style is both accessible as well as being completely original--with all the hoopla over Brosnan quitting the Bond series, Broccoli and co. could do no wrong using this character and series as a template--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Quiller, the shadow executive for a British undercover agency is sent on a mission to Berlin that requires him to uncover the plans of Phoenix, a Nazi group. Quiller is beaten and battered but finally uncovers several planned exercises in terror. The novel is a synthesis of a James Bond novel with the best of Len Deighton. There is plenty of action for the Bond fan, but taut believable plots for the more serious spy aficionado. No supervillains, but a shadowy ominous realistic group of villains. Quiller Memorandum gives you the best of both worlds.