A Gentleman's Game

Queen & Country novels #1

by Greg Rucka

Tara Chace may be the most dangerous woman alive. She can seduce you into believing she’s the woman of your dreams—or kill you with the icy efficiency of an executioner. As the new head of Special Operations for British Intelligence, she no longer has to court death in the field—she wants to.

Throw away the old rules, the old school, the old-boy network. The world of international espionage is about to learn the hard way that spying is no longer merely…
A Gentleman's Game
Greg Rucka’s electrifying thrillers have pushed the boundaries of suspense fiction to where few have dared to go. Now, in A Gentleman’s Game , one of the genre’s most fearless writers brings readers of international espionage his most
fearless heroine a no-holds-barred woman who’s as lethal as an assassin’s bullet.

When an unthinkable act of terror devastates London, nothing will stop Tara Chace from hunting down those responsible. Her job is stop the terrorists before they strike a second time. To succeed, she’ll do anything and everything it takes. She’ll have to kill again.

Only this time the personal stakes will be higher than ever before. For the terrorist counterstrike will require that Tara allow herself to be used as bait by the government she serves. This time she’s turning her very life into a weapon that can be used only once. But as she and her former mentor race toward destiny at a remote terrorist training camp in Saudi Arabia, Tara begins to question just who’s pulling the trigger—and who’s the real enemy. In this new kind of war, betrayal can take any form...including one’s duty to queen and country.

Based on the graphic novel series that won the coveted Eisner Award, A Gentleman’s Game is an electrifyingly realistic, headline-stealing thriller with an unforgettable protagonist—one who redefines every rule she doesn’t shatter.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Mystery, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Action

528 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 28, 2004

About the author

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

Reviews

[David - proud Gleeman in Branwen's adventuring party · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review to come...for now I'll just say that I had more fun reading "A Gentleman's Game" than this bear is having playing tetherball!

[Gopal · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book pal book of the month. Well the first book anyways. This was on my to read shelf since I don't know when. So thanks Diane for California Ming up with that innovative way of picking books for us to read.

Tara Chace is Minder One. A highest trained SIS operative who can carry out government sanctioned assassinations. She's quiet possibly the deadliest woman alive. When London gets bombed, the government clamors so for assassinating those responsible for the atrocity in a tactical response. Chace carries out the mission with elan; but when an terrorist aiding, philandering Saudi junior prince gets caught up as collateral damage in the attempt, the same government that wanted the deed done agrees to hand over Chace to Saudi's so that the terrorist camp being operated inside Saudi can be dismantled.

Chace goes on run with limited options and not too many choices. Her options are waging a 1 person war against the training camp in Saudi Arabia or leading a life on the run as a PNG (person non grata) forever. Needless to say which option is chosen by Chace. The end is quite good and Chace suffers a personal loss at the end of the mission, leaving her questioning herself. It sets up the second book in the series quite well.

I quite liked the female protagonist in the book. In one the scenes she asks “I drink, I smoke, I swear, I can’t cook, I don’t do laundry, I won’t clean, and I don’t like children,” this sums her up very eloquently I must say.

I liked the premise, the plot and the way the book flows, the pace is good and the author holds the interest. Overall it is a very good look at the spy business which no thanks to the MI & Bond franchise always looks like a glamorous and picnic-y job. This one throws that out into the garbage bin where it belongs go and shows the real day to day stuff that happens behind the an op.

I rate this one a solid 3.5 stars and would like to read the next one in the series.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this book were a movie, the main character would be played by Angelina Jolie in kick-ass mode, with her Lara Croft British accent in place. I haven't read any of Rucka's graphic novels with the Tara Chace character, although I have read some of his Wonder Woman and Batwoman story arcs. He doesn't seem to have any problem with strong women. Without having read any of her graphic novel adventures, I'd say Rucka managed to smoothly transition her into an exciting novel. I don't read a lot of spy thrillers, but I enjoyed this one and will definitely check out the second in the series. This may be typical of spy thrillers in general, but I was reading this enjoyably enough in snatches during very little spare time until I hit about 2/3 of the way through the book. Everything kicked into high gear and it became a page-turner that I finished quickly. Entertaining, with a healthy dose of Britishness that I tend to like in mysteries and thrillers.

[Diane Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Gentleman's Game:A Queen & Country Novel

This is a really good book. Action packed. It's a realistic 21st. century James Bond type of tale. James is actually a real woman named Tara Chace who excels at her job. The characters are all well developed. The gentleman's game is a major part of the book. It takes place behind the scene and alters Tara Chace's life in unimaginable ways. When I finished this book I wanted more. I wanted what came next.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

NO GENTLE GAME

"I had four or five love affairs, like most people – but only one that really mattered, and that ended in death, unfortunately." - Daphne Park, UK Secret Intelligence Service Officer.

Female protagonists in spy thrillers are now all the range in the Post 9/11 World. In a world of progressive values and what not, authors in the genre are now giving us some tough customers who look pretty and can cap a fool in the face with 5.56mm lead. In the past, it was very, very rare to have a female hero in a spy novel. The boys got all the fun and the women were either the arm candy or backroom support. And the ones who had a chance to pick up a gun usually almost all the time cracked under pressure and hysteria the minute the first bullet flew. The general male centric focus in espionage fiction at times has translated to portrayals of spying. James Bond didn’t quite help in this regard, not did the George Smiley series. However, actual espionage has always had prominent female intelligence officers even before the recent appointment of Gina Haspel, the first female CIA DCI and the first professional intel – officer in more than half a century to reach the top of the Company.
In Britain during the Cold War, the legendary Daphne Park, a woman born to poverty and considered the lowest of the low amongst a class-conscious establishment distinguished herself as one of the most brilliant case officers of the entire war and ended her career as one of the seven operational comptrollers at the SIS, the group of people only answerable to “C”, the director general. Her counterparts, Remington and Buller in MI5 became director generals in quick succession. And of course, from the USSR, we have the legendary Ursula Hamburger who dodged Chinese KMT and Japanese operatives in Shanghai. Long before the sexist misogynist dinosaur got his first bollocking from the new “M” in 1995, the spying business has long since stopped being a “Gentleman’s Game.”
Two British thriller characters helped pave the way for the current wave of badass female protagonists in spy novels. Both were forgotten by writers and should be given their due. The first, was Modesty Blaise, the mysterious European gun for hire who danced across the criminal underworld of the swinging sixties and cynical seventies. Badass, independent and defiant in outraging the social and cultural norms of her time, Blaise was the origin point for the modern, contemporary female thriller hero. But it’s the second Englishwoman which today’s review focuses on, the one who more than any, is a true unsung hero to the genre and deserves far more attention and prestige than she got in her run.
Meet Tara Chace. Created by the American comic book artist, Greg Rucka, Tara Chace was the first badass Post 9/11 spy fiction protagonist and the star of the first great espionage comic book series, Queen and Country. A paramilitary officer of the Secret Intelligence Service, Chace worked for a section of D – Ops known as “The Minders”, a trio of killers who were capable of fighting small armies single handily if need be as unlike the CIA, D – Ops was no Special Activities Division and the minders had to resort to quality over quantity due to the danger of their work. Chace was no different, being supremely trained and equipped with all the skills needed to lie, steal and kill her way across a hostile environment while gathering intelligence for her majesty’s government. As the comic book series ended, Rucka wrote a trilogy covering the conclusion of Chace’s career as a British spy. Now to the review. What happens when the spy has to run, not into the cold, but the heat of death?

A Gentleman’s game begins with a dramatic terrorist attack. At rush hour in London from the eyes of an Islamic jihadist, several tube trains are set on fire in a synchronized act of arson. While not initially devastating like a bomb would be, the smoke takes advantage of the long-standing security vulnerability in the London Tube’s natural ventilation system and proceeds to spread across ¾ of the entire network. Hundreds die in the proceeding hours and a Whitehall Mandarin who refused to have safety measures implemented has his career cut short as punishment.

Across London, Tara Chace, former SIS officer goes about her Lunchtime routine. Not on assignment, she’s reflects on the hobbies that Minders eventually pick up to keep themselves from going insane in the spying business. In her case, it’s painting. Called into the office in the middle of some messy pastels, Chace heads over to Vauxhall Cross where she meets her boss Paul Crocker, the director of operations at the SIS. After the blame game dies down retribution is agreed upon and Chace is tasked with uncovering and hunting down the plotters of the attack.

In Saudi Arabia, a group of Western Jihadists including an Englishman meet up with the plotters of the attack in question. The English Islamic terrorist is singled out for special attention. In Israel, two of the most powerful men at Mossad discuss an ongoing concern, namely an assassination that even their service would be unable to complete. They decide to phone a friend and Chace soon finds herself on a plane to Yemen. Meanwhile “C” the SIS chief begins having one of his bad moods and soon The Minders find themselves in peril. All these threads come together in a great betrayal that rocks the heart of British intelligence. From London to Yemen to Tel Aviv and the terrorist land of Saudi Arabia, Chace and one man she can trust go on a suicidal hunt for the terrorists who need to die so they can live. But as the odds in their favour shrink, only one question remains. How can one female spy survive the ultimate rigged Gentleman’s Game?

In terms of plot, “A Gentleman’s Game” is a fine Post 9/11 thriller. Written in the first decade of the war on terror, the story was a harbinger of things to come in the genre. More brutal, more vicious and far nastier than the Mitch Rapp and Scott Harvath books, the story of Tara Chace also surpassed them in complex geopolitical gambits, real world research and complex, visceral action scenes. None of that comforting American Jingoism in sight, Queen and Country brought the cut throat moral ambiguity inherent in the British tradition of spy thrillers, put a Glock 17 in its hand and told it to go out and break the hearts and preconceptions of readers everywhere. A Gentleman’s Game lives up to this promise and more. Bursting with that glorious British cynicism, full of more back stabbing than a kitchen knife holder, it’s a complex, story where the world is out to get a tough British spy and she has to constantly prove with every bullet fired at her than she can beat the “Gentleman’s Game” and live to fight another day.

Action and setting? Outstanding as usual. Rucka was a writer, not a comic book artist, but he knows how to capture the realistic fast paced life or death violence that is part and parcel of Chace’s job as a British super spy. From the opening deaths at lunchtime in London, to the meticulous stalking through Saana’s souk and a later infiltration into one of Yemen’s biggest Mosques, we also have one heck of a running fist fight between Chace and her opposite numbers in London. The backdrops are brought to life with sufficient competence and local colour. From the claustrophobic London Tube stations, to sunny safe houses in Tel Aviv, a particular highlight in the story is the portrayal of Yemen where a key portion of the action takes place. Rucka gets the local details of Pre – Arab Spring Yemen down perfectly, culture, customs and security threats included.

Research? This is what made Queen and Country one of the best spy fiction franchises in the Post 9/11 era. Rucka’s comics showed that comic book series didn’t have to be restricted to the escapist and the fantastical and could even be the basis of mature espionage drama, bigger in scope than the old James Bond newspaper comics. The level of detail he brought to Gentleman’s Game is a case in point, deftly matching other established contemporary spy thrillers, perhaps even more so. Whether it be the inner workings of the new breed of cheap, cheerful and devastating terrorist attacks, tradecraft, assassination planning and the dynamics of inter – service rivalries between foreign services and the general mistrust and paranoia that goes on when national interests and pride are on the line, Queen and Country has the perfect level of real world detail that enriches the moral ambiguities and complexities of the story even further. Rucka, while an American is able to give a more British flavour to the book, making it a far, far different beast from “Memorial Day” or the more recent “SPYMASTER”.

Characters? Superb, superb. So many standouts but I’ll focus on two. First, Tara Chace, our anti – heroine. Chace fits all the usual qualifications for the tough, strong female protagonist. A drop-dead stunner who has been given superb combat training and tradecraft tuition, she can seduce any man to bed or gun down several Jihadists single handed in the sands of Arabia. She’s no Mary Sue however, Rucka is a much better writer than that. Chace is someone who would envy the luxuries that Scott Harvath and Mitch Rapp gets, such as cast-iron political protection and a lot of Gucci firepower. Chace constantly has to deal with the looming spectre of the SIS chief second guessing her unit, her best laid plans going catastrophically wrong, and being all the time at constant near death injuries or worse.

Chace suffers during her job, something that defined her from her male counterparts who at times, had it rather easy in spite of the world ending stakes they may have faced. Rucka gives Chace a very rich characterization. Someone who knows she’s the best at her job but is full of self-loathing at all the terrible necessities she’s had to do for Queen and Country over the years, but is resigned to keep doing them as someone has to get those jobs done. Badass, highly relatable and compelling all the way, the current crop of female thriller protagonists like Jennifer Cahill of Brad Taylor fame owe a massive debt to the one, the only Minder One, with interest.

Secondly, we have Landau and Borovsky. Landau and Borovsky. Directors of analysis and operations at Mossad, they are two major secondary characters who play a key role throughout the story. While at the start, it seems that Landau is the meek professional while Borovsky is the boisterous hard man, over the course of the story, they switch roles, with Landau exposing cowardice born of political expediency while Borovsky demonstrates surprising moral fortitude for a high-ranking intelligence officer. This clash of ideals and their musings on the infuriating political binds international terrorism puts counter – terrorism operatives in are among the highlights of the story and it’s a real shame that as this was the concluding trilogy of the franchise, they only appeared in this book.

Constructive Criticism? The length. I have some quibbles with the structure. Some scenes were a bit overdrawn here and there but apart from that, the book was near perfect. It wasn’t perfect however as its sequel blew it clean out of the water.

Overall, “A Gentleman’s Game” is an outstanding spy novel that at times surpasses established bestsellers and titans of the genre. Featuring a sterling plot that captured the true complexities and pain of the Post 9/11 spying game, a cast of brilliant characters, one in particular who blazed a trail with few realizing it, realistic action sequences and impressive real world research and moral ambiguity, the first act in the concluding trilogy of Queen and Country deserves to have been given more attention by spy novel enthusiasts. The next book in the concluding trilogy is even better than this one. Tara Chace will be fighting a private war for someone she’s grown to despise but can’t escape.

RECOMMENDED.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book never really drew me in at all. While I marginally like the character I think I liked more what she could have been. The idea of a female action protagonist is a good one but I find few are really handled well.

The parts of this book I liked were largely the sections concerning the weapons used and the operational details. This is a terrorist threat plot with some interpersonal stuff tied in.

Tara (By the way that's the name of the character on the British TV show The Avengers who was supposed to replace Emma Peel. Don't know if that tied in here or not.) Tara is a rising star and she sort of put me in mind of a female cross of James Bond and Mitch Rapp. She's dangerous and a trigger puller like Rapp. Like Bond she'd actually make a poor agent as she stands out a bit.

Ever think of that? Bond is a "secret agent" yet any where he goes heads turn and everyone notices him. What's up with that?????

This book is okay but I never really got involved in the story. When i laid it aside I didn't even think about getting back to it. I don't plan, at least for now, to follow it up with more from the author. So...not one I hated but 2 stars.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an interesting twist on the thriller/spy/assassin genre in that the main protagonist is female. Greg Rucka writes a fast-paced, complicated, and entirely believable book about a British female secret agent/assassin and how she is sent to assassinate an Islamic terrorist and is disavowed by the British government. The numerous characters are interesting and while character development is a little flat (a common weakness in this genre as most authors are too busy blowing things up to flesh out the characters), this is only the first of a series of books about the main character, Tara Chace, and there are more opportunities to delve into her personality. (Which does give away the fact that she survives this first book's adventure.)
Make sure you have plenty of time to finish the final 75 pages in one sitting, or you will find yourself with jobs neglected, laundry undone, and meals uncooked to find time to see how the book ends. It's a spy thriller at its best, especially for those readers who want to see how a woman protagonist measures up in this very male-dominated genre.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through Bookreporter.com I was a lucky recipient of an advanced reader's copy of Greg Rucka's A Gentleman's Game. This is a regular novel that spun off from Rucka's successful graphic novel Queen and Country series. I found the set-up phase of the story longer than I would have liked and the switches back and forth in point of view from chapter to chapter made reading the first third of the book easy to put aside. Knowing I like Greg Rucka's Atticus Kodiak books, I stuck with the first part of the book with an open mind. After the story settled down with all the players in place I was hooked and found the last half of the book to be a fast paced page turner with a powerful ending. The book has an espiongae theme and involves actions by contemporary terrorist groups -- one of the several point of views expressed throughout the story is from a terrorist's outlook. This was difficult to read, and even more so for reading the book on September 11. I gave A Gentleman's Game a good 8+ rank in my journal in large part for the gut wrenching suspense in the last part of the book.

[RavenT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tara Chace is a kick-ass protagonist. I'd call this series of novels a must read if you enjoyed the comics. And if comics aren't your thing, and you love spy/action stories, then this series is going to make you sit up. I found the complex politics enlightening.

[Jim]

So I find I have low tolerance for books that don't captivate me in the first 50 pages or so. And I'm afraid this one didn't. There is too much to read to squander my time on something that will disappoint so I gave up on this one early. I guess my fair chance is no longer fair. Although in the interest of some fairness I will refrain from rating or critcizing this book. It just wasn't for me.

[Jdetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series, and this book is an excellent addition. It does a great job balancing the typical spy action with the political maneuvering behind the scenes, making the latter just as interesting as the former.

[Matt Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a man's world.

No spoilers on this, but I will preface by saying that while I think this book is FABULOUS AND YOU SHOULD READ IT you really shouldn't read it without the previously reviewed/discussed Queen & Country graphic novels by Greg Rucka. This novel slots in right before the final arc of the comic series (and the collected editions warn you as such) and reading this in a vacuum would work, but so would watching Serenity without ever having seen Firefly.

Anyways...

I've been reading Greg Rucka books for over a decade at this point, and I've always been drawn to this similar sorta character he keeps writing, this rough and tumble badass woman, typically hard drinking, broody, sexually promiscuous... It's Sasha Bordeaux, Tara Chace, Renee Montoya, and even took a spin writing two Perfect Dark novels that tie into the video game series. And with this novel, Rucka has the narrative real estate to really dig into the politics exploring the ramifications of being one of these sorts of characters in a male-dominated society.

As it turns out, this world that Tara Chace lives in, that she partakes in, that she (at the end of one particularly harrowing sequence in the tale) finds herself laughing with absolute joy, is cruel and it is harsh. Being a Minder in Special Section is cruel, and it is unfair. She is, quite literally, objectified, treated as an object for this "Gentleman's Game" that Rucka references early on. Regardless of how good she is at her job, how collateral the damage may be, she will always simply be a tool in the eyes of the myriad men above her who view her as a pawn.

It is, of course, not without hope. The men around her, the ones who have been in her shoes, the ones who work with her, they are the ones who treat her well, who look out for her, who try to help. At the forefront of this is Paul Crocker, the absolute epitome of bitter adopted father if ever I've seen one. Crocker is not so much a grump as he is a raging asshole. He is not a nice or kind person, but he is shockingly competent and he trusts his Minders with his entire professional career, asking only that they trust him with their lives. Drama! Stakes! Drama!

What follows is a fascinating parable of society in an international playing field and watching Rucka navigate and paint a global tapestry of gender politics is the delight of this book. That he wraps it up in a thrilling and gripping spy novel that excites and rips your heart out and is supremely cool and dramatic and well done? Well, that's why he's one of my favorite writers and I'm sorry I ever doubted him even for a minute.

[Michael L Wilkerson (Papa Gray Wolf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you what I don't like about Greg Rucka; he starts a series, draws you in to it making you want more and more and then he ends the series. He did that with Atticus Kodiak and then again with Jad Bell. Now I've come across his series featuring Tara Chace. I'm on the second book and there's but one more after this and already I'm ruing that there won't be a fourth.

Tara is a secret agent, specifically a 'minder' which is to say that she's one that is sent in when danger abounds and hopefully wet work won't be required but often is. Tara is smart, pretty, flawed in that she drinks and smokes too much. . . well, at times at least though some things happen which curtail both.

She does her all for Queen and Country and at times is betrayed by that same country, shortened to HMG, Her Majesty's Government. And when I say betrayed I mean the very worst kind of betrayal.

I read this, the first book and now well into the second of the series, Private Wars and I'm trapped, trapped I say! I can't put the damn book down and will start the third in short order only to finish that one and want more that will never come.

Curse you Greg Ruka, curse you! And thank you so much for sharing such great characters with us.

[Ensiform · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Queen & Country novel, in which hard-drinking, tough-as-nails, dead-inside MI6 agent Tara Chace is ordered to assassinate an incendiary imam in Yemen after a disastrous attack by Islamic radicals on the London Tube. It’s a clean hit, but a Saudi VIP is in the wrong place and wrong time, and because the service values political expedience over its agents’ lives, Chace is forced to go rogue and undertake a highly dangerous mission in order to put things right.

Rucka is the master of the taut, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it paced political thriller; this book is easily as entertaining, and a lot more cosmopolitan, than his best Atticus Kodiak books. It’s thoroughly informed, smart, and all too realistic in its understanding of to what extent governments serve themselves, as well as chillingly realistic when it comes to depicting the confused, hate-filled mind of the zealot. Masterful and engrossing entertainment.

[Nick Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Queen & Country is a series featuring in both comics and through novels, this being the first novel. They feature a small assassination team in British Intelligence, headed up by a rather lethal female, Tara Chace. After a terror attack on the London tube system, the team is tasked with a revenge killing, but Tara finds the bigger picture may involve her not surviving.

I don't think the author has a British background but it felt like a very “British” novel. The civil service type bureaucracy, the process and almost the resentment that they have to use assassins. Also some entertaining inter-service rivalry as well both between the Brits but also with their allies in the CIA and Mossad.

I thought it all came together very well, good characters, realistic setting and with some good action. I’ll be picking up the next one in the series I suspect.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this thriller; especially when it turned from your average, run-of-the-mill espionage story in foreign parts to a thrilling UK-based manhunt. Or womanhunt, I suppose - Tara is the lead and yep, she's sure a she.

My only issue with further stories, which I think there are, is that were I in Tara's shoes, it'd take something pretty damn big to have me come back to work after her government planned to - well, you either know, or will, so I'll stop that thought right there.

I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat much, but this is certainly a worthy opening instalment.

[Scott Vout · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am truly sorry Mr. Rucka.

I had hyped myself up for this book. Goodreads has been recommending it to me for some time. I finally got my hands on a copy of it and I just could not do it.

I got through the first 60 or so pages and just could not go on.

I don't know why, I cant put my finger on it. I love this genre. Spies and snipers - it normally just doesn't get any better for me.

I cant explain what turned me off. It just didn't feel right, I wasn't drawn in, the characters did nothing for me.

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation and deeper dive into the characters and their backstories. I'd been reading the collected graphic volumes and came to the point in the third book that mentioned "A Gentleman's Game". I paused reading of the graphic series and picked up this book. I was not disappointed.

Should stand well on it's own for someone that has not read the comic series. For those that have, it adds some information about the players and their interactions and missed opportunities in their lives.

[Burton Olivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible stuff. I think this worked way better as a book than it ever did as a comic. But it's been awhile so I'll have to revisit the comic again sometime.

[Michael J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on Rucka's award-winning comic book series Queen & Country (Oni Press), this novel provides an intriguing peek at the British Special Operations Directorate of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service and it's head agent, Minder One Tara Chace. She's the most dangerous, lethal, and calculating agent in charge of covert operations, and eager to be the first one to stride forward into the path of danger.
This novel, first in a series featuring Tara Chace, while written in 2004 couldn't be more pertinent to current times. The news is awash in details of the assassination of a journalist that seems to implicate the Saudi government. At the core of A Gentleman's Game is the existence of a terrorist training camp within the Tabuk Province of Saudi Arabia.
Following a series of deadly fires within London's underground rail system, Chace is dispatched to find and kill the suspected terrorist leader behind the attacks. Soon after, Chace finds herself as a bargaining chip between the British and Saudi governments, and has to go into hiding. What she needs to do to clear her name and regain her position seems nearly impossible. The excitement is in reading how she manages to pull it all together.
The novel starts a little slow, bogged down by operational details and office politics, but it later becomes clear why Rucka devoted so much of the book to covering that. It's all about the procedures and politics.
It's necessary to the story and well worth your time to wade through this, absorbing all the details. The last third of the book moves quickly emptying out at a quick clip like an assault weapon. You won't be disappointed, and left thinking about this long after reading the final page.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently the author has written by now a whole collection of titles in this series but it's only now caught my eye. Reportedly, this originally appeared as a graphic novel and upon the success in that format was redone as a traditional text novel. The serious hook for me was that the basic premise of three "Minders" in the British intelligence service came as a call back to the classic Sandbaggers TV series, a personal favorite when it was run on PBS in the US (though they only introduced a female 'sandbagger' towards the end of the series' run. That previous series was very much in my mind as I read this novel and colored my response to what is in many ways a very dark story filled with violence, killing, death, and betrayal at the most basic level. I have to wonder how much of that darkness reflects its roots in the world of graphic novels.

I'll probably try at least one or two of the next titles in the series to answer my question of SPOILER ALERT - why she doesn't just go back and take down the leadership of her agency?

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is episode #1 of Greg Rucka's reveting series starring "Minder One" Tara Chace. The #1 tells us that she survives this story involving betrayal by her own service and the CIA. They believe their best national highest will be served if she is turned over to the Saudis after she killed a Prince with known ties to Wahhabist terrorist groups, in Sana'a, capital of Yemen. Her boss indirectly suggests that she turn to the Isrealis. They want to exact their own price as payment for their assistance. If she is successful, the Isreali's will help her, surreptitiously of course, leaving no finger-prints at the site of a terrorist training base inside Saudi Arabia. Danger, thrills, terror and suspense abound........

[Brett Bydairk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Rucka is one of my favorite authors of comics; his stories are always realistic, gritty tales. Queen And Country is a series of stories involving operatives for one of the British Intelligence groups. This is the first prose entry in the series, after several stories in comic form. Now, I had read his first prose novel, and was not impressed. This book, however, is very good. It tells the story of Tara Chace, and her mission to take out a terrorist group, on Saudi soil.
Originally published in 2004, it still resonates with its terrorist cells, and the government attempts to find and eliminate them, or at least retaliate against them.
The characters are well-defined, and we see what drives those on both sides in this conflict.

[Kevin Purvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Rucka is one of my favorite authors and I read the entirety of his Queen and Country series from Oni-Press. It was great to read the continuing adventures of Tara Chace. Although this book is over 470 pages, it read pretty quickly. What I love about Rucka’s writing is that you can tell that he is well researched. I loved how we get two concurrent stories, one from Tara’s side and her journey. The other from Sinan, one of the villains in the story. We get to watch as these tales begin to intersect. I would gladly recommend this to anyone else and I will be reading the rest of the novels in this series.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this book Because I had a lot going on in my personal life however I finally finished it and I'm glad that I did!

A very entertaining and interesting read. I Love how there's travel, excitement, interesting facts and a strong female character. The story moves at a great clip and doesn't seem run-of-the-mill at all! I'm looking forward to reading another book by Greg Rucka who I recently discovered is a local author. (I had hoped that this book was one that featured a character with a private eye office inside Union Station, but it wasn't so I'll keep searching.) ;)

[Xine K · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little annoying to read 7/8ths of Queen & Country as comics and then have to duck out and read a novel to follow the last 1/8th. But this is as taut, meticulously plotted, and exhilarating as Queen & Country usually is, with a devastating ending that rivals The Sandbaggers. Reading a War on Terror novel in 2021 is depressing as hell, but this at least handles it deftly, and, remarkably, depicts the activities of a Wahabbist terrorist w/o Orientalism or Islamophobia. Quite readable even if Rucka's shortcomings become clearer in prose.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally read one of the insurgent chapters and ffs. Really? You're going to go all "oh, he finds love just like Chace in the strangest places but then he ends up blowing her up because of his faith." I get the parallel between the two stories but it's was really ridiculously done. I mean, the same fucker who made her after her assassination ends up being the same person who killed her lover? Parallels, oooooo.

Ugh.

Still love the comic series, so I got that going for me.

[Winterborn · Rating 1 out of 5]

First prose work I've read by Greg Rucka, I've previously enjoyed his work in comics but this was really, really poor.

Also from what I've read and seen elsewhere he has western converts to Wahhabist Islam wrong. Four Lions(which is a comedy movie!) is a more accurate portrayal.

If I really need something to read I might give Greg Rucka another chance in this medium, until then I'll try not to let this colour my opinion of his mostly very good comics work.

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't going to give this a five (solid four), but I really liked the strong female lead character. Emotional and yet she was a tough as anyone else in the book. Most of the action scenes seemed a bit short - almost secondary to the rest of the story. Nothing wrong with that, but I can't help but wonder if the author's work in graphic novels might have played a part in that aspect. Writing action scenes is different from drawing them, I suppose.

[Joe Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't recommend it enough. The storyline entails a woman protagonist that's a spy, and licensed hitmen (think of a female James Bond) who is used as a tool by secret operations within the English government in eliminating various threats around the world. All I cans say is that this was very well done. The characters and action kept you turning page after page. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.