The Coil

THE COIL by Gayle Lynds Review by Jillian Abbott Any comparison between Gayle Lynds and Robert Ludlum - one of my all time favorite thriller writers - is unfair to Lynds. Ludlum is a consummate entertainer. Lynds is just as entertaining, but also imbues her novels with a passion for politics, an astute understanding of international affairs, and a goodhearted desire to make the world a better place. In these ways, she is more appropriately compared to John Le Carre and other masters of suspense who deliver such tales wrapped in the deceptively plain wrapper of a summer read. Lynds is a masterful writer in the very best tradition of the international thriller. Lynds' newest offering is THE COIL. When Liz Sansborough is dragged back into the world of international espionage, she discovers that her father's legacy still haunts her. Known as the Carnivore, Sansborough's dad was the Cold War's most notorious assassin. His files - which could expose many, including powerful corporate leaders - are the spoils of this tightly crafted thriller. The more Sansborough discovers in her search, the less she understands. In a nice post-modern spin, all the characters in this book are actors, each taking on multiple roles and identities, leaving Sansborough - herself masquerading as her own kidnapped cousin - alone and able to trust no one. Working with Simon Childs, a childhood friend and MI6 operative, Sansborough sweeps across France and England determined to expose The Coil, a shady conglomerate of powerful corporate potentates. Sansborough, who readers first met in Lynds' best selling MASQUERADE, is a delightful heroin; strong and decisive, yet feminine and vulnerable (on discovering a tracking and listening device in he cell phone, she feels violated). Lynds honed her craft during her years writing Nick Carter adventures. THE COIL pays off that apprenticeship. The ebb and flow of the plot is near perfect; each sentence, paragraph and chapter compelling us to put off cooking dinner and continue reading. THE COIL, the sequel to MASQUERADE, and Lynds' third stand-alone thriller, proves once again that her position as the queen of international espionage is well deserved.

I thought I knew what was happening in this book. There are some files, dangerous files containing explosive information that could topple corporations and governments. The rich and powerful men of the ultra-secret group known only as The Coil want those files. And they think Liz Sansborough knows where they are. After all, the files belonged to her father, the notorious assassin known only as The Carnivore. Sounds pretty simple yeah? Rich bad guys want files, they go after our heroine to find the files, chase, escape, yes yes, I can see where this is going.But I was wrong. The book constantly surprised me. Yes, it rockets along as any thriller should, ratcheting up the tension with every new page, but there is so much more. Every time I thought I knew where the book was going, it took me in an unexpected direction. Who is good? Who is evil? You can't always tell, and those added layers of complexity and ambiguity make this novel a richly satisfying read.Lynds' clearly puts an incredible amount of research into this book, and her deep knowledge of places, institutions, and history add yet more to the story without slowing down the plot for an instant.I haven't read Lynds' work before, so I am excited to find that she's written other books, I can hardly wait to read Masquerade!

"OH MY!!! Gayle Lynds has written yet another masterpiece! The suspense novel, The Coil, quickly capture's the reader's interest through complexities in both the intricate plot and the richly developed characters. She weaves in the presence of a powerful but shawdowy international secret society involved with past and current CIA members and introduces truly likeable heroes and heroines into the thick of this non-stop action thriller. The main protagonist, Liz Sansborough, returns from Lynds' first novel, Masquerade, and continues evolving morally and emotionally due to her changing life circumstances. To say that this author has an incredible understanding of human motivations as well as a finely tuned imagination, is quite an understatement. She has brilliantly created a smartly written, fast-paced espionage novel that has heart. Run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore and buy The Coil. From the opening sentence to the very last page, Lynds will have her way with you and you'll be glad she did!"

"The Coil" is Gayle Lynds' fourth solo novel (she has also written three others with Robert Ludlum). "The Coil" is the sequel to "Masquerade" and features Liz Sansborough as the protagonist. This novel takes place approximately five years after "Masquerade", and Liz Sansborough is now a college professor teaching out in California. She is a former CIA agent who was deemed far too compromised as an agent to ever be allowed to return. Liz is the daughter of the notorious assassin, The Carnivore, and it is because of this connection that she was unable to return to the CIA. Liz teaches a course on the psychology of violence and now views violence as one of the great evils of society and that violence should be avoided at all costs, even in self defense. This is who Liz is, but the novel opens with Liz's friend, Sarah Walker, being kidnapped while on vacation and Sarah's husband being shot during the kidnapping. The kidnapper tells Asher (Sarah's husband) to get The Carnivore's files. At the same time this is happening, Liz is attacked and almost killed when she is out running. Liz is eventually contacted by the CIA to help them find her father's files and to save Sarah. This pushes Liz across two continents in a race to find the files before the kidnappers and to rescue Sarah Walker. The first thing that I appreciated about this novel is that it wasn't necessary to have read "Masquerade" to understand who Liz Sansborough is or what is going on. Gayle Lynds does an excellent job in setting up the story that all the necessary background is provided in a way that does not feel like it is just dropped into the novel in a big chunk. Rather, the background info is revealed to us in bits and pieces in such a manner that it is appropriate to the story that is being told. Another thing that I liked was how fast paced the story was. I have not read many espionage novels, but the image of what they were like was dispelled by "The Coil". This story moved! There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, and I was never entirely sure where the story was going. Lynds also kept the body count high enough that I didn't know who was going to live and who was going to die, and this kept up the tension and suspense. Not having read any of Gayle Lynds' work, I had no idea what to expect going into "The Coil." I was pleasantly surprised. One of the higher compliments I can give is by saying that "The Coil" was good enough that it made me want to read her other novels (specifically "Masquerade").

Gayle Lynds, a talented colleague of Robert Ludlum, has penned a slick, clever and cerbral espionage thriller in "The Coil". Lynds using an impressive knowledge of geopolitics, developes a fast moving plot replete with well developed characters.The main protagonist, Liz Sansborough is a professor at U. California at Santa Barbara and also the hostess of a cold war TV series. An ex-CIA operative, she was set up in the prestigious professorship by a foundation that served as a CIA front to keep her safe and under surveillance. Astonishingly, Liz's parents, who are now deceased, were an assassination team. Her dad was an elite contract killer with the moniker of The Carnivore.While at the university, attempts were made on Liz's life. Through investigation she learns that secret files kept by her notorious father have been stolen. They are being used to blackmail certain influential members of government, finance and industry resulting in a plethora of curious mishaps and accidents. Probing further, Sansborough learns that her cousin Sarah, an almost identical look alike, and her husband Asher, a CIA operative have been kidnapped. Extending her inquest to Europe she teams up with another cousin, Simon Childs, a British M16 agent to try to unearth the blackmail scheme. Childs' father, Robert, an influential member of Parliament committed suicide under suspicious circumstances.They uncover clues that point to a group called The Coil, a small bunch of wealthy politicians and industrialists who secretly shape world policies is an effort towards globalization of industry, to maximize their own financial interests.Liz and Simon Childs proceed on a globe trotting search to rescue Sarah and Asher and recover the stolen Carnivore files. What results is an exhilarating plot that concludes with some unexpected plot twists that left this reader very impressed.