The Last Spymaster

Gayle Lynds best work to date, The Last Spymaster straddles the hazy void that separates The Cold War and The War on Terror, and sets the scene for a new generation of spies to inhabit our imagination. In this wonderfully written and breakneck paced novel, Lynds demonstrates that however menacing the treat of terrorism is, the gravest threat to Western nations is our abandonment of conscience. Whereas honor once defined Western masculinity, those who still claim it as their own are few and far between, and more often than not very old men, or women. Deftly interweaving the public and private lives of her characters, Lynds demonstrates that private life is the foundation of morality and that true morality begins with the commitment to the mother one's children and to those children themselves. But is the man who is true to his family, most often the man who is true to his country? You'll have to read The Last Spymaster to find out. Jay (great name for a leading man) Tice, Spymaster and traitor's escape from Federal prison triggers the reactivation of a group of Cold War warriors set on hunting one of today's most lethal and fanatical terrorist organizations. But each step is marked by betrayal, and in a plot that twists and turns more energetically than a worm with a fork through its middle, Lynds reveals her characters ambitions, loves and disappointments. This is an exciting, entertaining and meaningful thriller; one I'd have no hesitation recommending.

I was once told by a friend who had been offerred the job of CIA Director and declined, that there "are no more spymasters." Well, thanks to Gayle Lynds, he was wrong. There is one. His name is Jay Tice and he has just broken out of prison. One he was put into as a result of traitorous activities against the United States. One that was considered escape proof. To try and tell you much more than that can be to spoil the story which is full of deception, intrigue and suspense. There is a huge illegal arms sale afoot. If completed it will shift technological advantage in sophisticated weaponry to the terrorists. Stopping that sale is the objective of the good guys in the book. But, which ones are the good guys? That is for the reader to discover. Ms. Lynds tells this story in a most believeable and entertaiing way which makes the act of reading a pure pleasure. This is a keeper.

This novel's release was delayed by the illness, then death, of the author's husband, Dennis Lynds (aka, Michael Collins). The novel was worth waiting for. Espionage is a shadowy world having two parts. The first part is gathering information. The second part is deception, i.e., giving misinformation to your enemies. The second part is undoubtedly the trickiest. To deceive the enemy, how much do you sacrifice to validate the deception? Do you sacrifice lives, maybe even your own? If you are using double agents, who are they really working for? There are large amounts of money floating around, and some people work both sides of the street. Jay Tice, former CIA, was convicted of being a traitor and sent to a federal prison. Now he has disappeared from his cell. Elaine Cunningham has a specialty in finding people. She has been sent by the CIA to track him down, but all is not as it seems. There are other players in the game, and some people want Tice dead. There is a major international arms deal going down, selling stolen high tech. People with knowledge of the deal are having accidents, and someone tries to take out Elaine. Moles abound. Jay needs to activate his old group, bringing people out of retirement for one last mission, but who can he trust. The group was betrayed in the past. People appear from his past including a former lover and a dangerous terrorist. There is an information source known only by the code name Moses. As the situation develops, Jay has some assets of his own, including a few surprises. He played in the major leagues, and can still hold his own. The novel is well researched and well written. The reader is drawn into the plot as the situation develops. Perhaps the novel is being released at the optimum time, as the CIA is changing leadership, and questions are being raised about intelligence activities. Readers who like this novel may also be interested in Joseph Finder's latest novel, "Killer Instinct," where similar skills are applied in a corporate environment. Readers are also referred to the short story, "The Old Spies Club," by Edward D. Hoch which will be found in "The Best American Mystery Stories 1998," edited by Sue Grafton.

In THE LAST SPYMASTER, Gayle Lynds' riveting suspense embedded with literary finesse eclipses thriller stars John Le Carre and Robert Ludlum at the peak of their form. Unlike Le Carre's exhaustive angst and Ludlum's lengthy detours into topics or causes that fascinated him, Gayle's economy of language makes her political point without wasting a word while engaging the readers' eyes, ears, nose and heart. Sprinkled throughout are awesome examples of: ALLITERATION--Dense forests flowed dark; as the dark night deepened toward dawn; footsteps echoing in the emptiness; SIMILES--She seemed to shrink, grow calcified, as hard as a tombstone; METAPHORS--Bolts of silver lightning speared the distant Alps; IMAGERY--She found a slot in which to wedge the Jag; sunlight filtered down in strawlike rays; and POETIC RHYTHMS--His family. But not his family. A charade, a farce, a travesty of the living and the dead. His eyes felt hollow. Such literary devices are what writing groups and English professors can use as models of powerful literature, but if readers miss them, it is because they are stitched in seamlessly to Gayle's prose. THE LAST SPYMASTER is a classic because no one element or technique stands out over another--the sum of the parts makes it one great read and Gayle's best work. She gives us superb storytelling at supersonic speed and sets the bar, not only for her own future novels but also for every other author in the thriller genre. In character development, for instance, individual idiosyncrasies that distinguish her previous heroines in `Masquerade' (Asperger's syndrome), `Mesmerized' (cellular memory), `Mosaic' (conversion disorder) and `The Coil' (a peacenik aversion to violence) make way for broader scope. This time she tackles the universal flaws of globalization within today's political framework in her portrayal of power brokers--whether greedy or altruistic--competing in the war on terrorism. Jay Tice, one of the legendary chiefs of the CIA in the Cold War, is a turncoat. Convicted of selling secrets, he's languishing in the formidable Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex in Pennsylvania, when he suddenly disappears. His locked cell is empty. Current CIA Deputy Chief Lawrence Litchfield engages a top CIA hunter, Elaine Cunningham, to track him down. She's a woman with her own psychological baggage, but gifted in probing the psyches of her prey. As she zeroes in on Tice, she becomes his target, and discovers nothing is as it seems. Instead, she finds, in the clandestine world of black ops, there are illegal arms dealers, information traders and cover-ups far more dangerous to the free world than one man's treachery. She joins forces with Tice to hunt down the real traitor before terrorists take possession of a shipment of top-secret, cutting-edge technology that can destroy automated intelligence networks worldwide and throw the `infidels' into chaos. Using her characters' perspectives and personal agendas, Gayle masterminds a

With the debut of _The Last Spymaster_, veteran novelist Gayle Lynds has soldified her reign as the true "Queen of Suspense". Jay Tice is a seasoned "spymaster" who is serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary. Somehow, against all odds, he escapes and is now being tracked by Elaine Cunningham, an intelligent, but washed-up CIA "hunter". Elaine must get to Tice and have him captured before his escape is made public. As she follows clues that lead her closer and closer to Tice, she becomes an unwilling participant in an even wider conspiracy. Those she trusts are savagely murdered as her own life hangs in the balance. The hunter now becomes the hunted; and how it all ends is absolutely ingenious. Every chapter of this novel plays a crucial role in the unraveling of the plot. There are no extraneous words or characters. Gayle Lynds takes us on a roller coaster ride through many international (and some surprise national) settings and introduces us to a myriad of colorful characters. I am stunned at the sheer genius of this work. It reminds me of Ludlum when he was at his peak. I seriously would not wait to pick this up at the library. If you are a devoted thriller fan, then this one belongs on your shelf alongside the best of them. A couple of caveats: Lynds takes her time to give you a complete and thorough lay of the land in the first part of the book. Stay with it. Everything she does here serves a bigger purpose. The pace picks up very quickly shortly thereafter, but without this thorough "briefing" you would miss a few important nuances as the story unfolds. Secondly, watch what the characters DO as well as what they SAY in the first part. Their meticulous actions lay the foundation for an electrifying conclusion. It just doesn't get any better than this. Enjoy!