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The File on Devlin
When Lawrence Devlin, a well-known writer, is declared missing in Afghanistan, his daughter Sally goes through his books and papers to determine if there are any clues. She tries to contact her stepmother, Elizabeth, who had refused to see her, and eventually goes to France to solicit her help in investigating Devlin's disappearance. Her father's publisher, Josh Canfield, is also involved, but as a friend or foe?
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
31 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Gaskin
94 books69 followersCatherine Gaskin (2 April 1929 – 6 September 2009) historical fiction and romantic suspense.
She was born in Dundalk Bay, Louth, Ireland in 1929. When she was only three months old, her parents moved to Australia, settling in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, where she grew up. Her first novel This Other Eden, was written when she was 15 and published two years later. After her second novel, With Every Year, was published, she moved to London. Three best-sellers followed: Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951), and Daughter of the House (1952). She completed her best known work, Sara Dane, on her 25th birthday in 1954, and it was published in 1955. It sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into a number of other languages, and was made into a television series in Australia in 1982. Other novels included A Falcon for the Queen (1972) and The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977).
Catherine Gaskin moved to Manhattan for ten years, after marrying an American. She then moved to the Virgin Islands, then in 1967 to Ireland, where she became an Irish citizen. She also lived on the Isle of Man. Her last novel was The Charmed Circle (1988). She then returned to Sydney, where she died in September 2009, aged 80, of ovarian cancer.
She was born in Dundalk Bay, Louth, Ireland in 1929. When she was only three months old, her parents moved to Australia, settling in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, where she grew up. Her first novel This Other Eden, was written when she was 15 and published two years later. After her second novel, With Every Year, was published, she moved to London. Three best-sellers followed: Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951), and Daughter of the House (1952). She completed her best known work, Sara Dane, on her 25th birthday in 1954, and it was published in 1955. It sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into a number of other languages, and was made into a television series in Australia in 1982. Other novels included A Falcon for the Queen (1972) and The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977).
Catherine Gaskin moved to Manhattan for ten years, after marrying an American. She then moved to the Virgin Islands, then in 1967 to Ireland, where she became an Irish citizen. She also lived on the Isle of Man. Her last novel was The Charmed Circle (1988). She then returned to Sydney, where she died in September 2009, aged 80, of ovarian cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 5, 2011
Catherine Gaskin's Cold War tale of international intrigue and espionage (circa 1964) is a well written novel. While not a fast paced spy thriller a-la Nelson DeMille or Ken Follet, it nonetheless reads in a very masculine way, without alot of fluff romance and overdone "feelings".
I liked Gaskin's slow build up of the story of Nobel Prize winning author Lawrence Devlin's disappearance in a small plane over the Afghanistan/USSR border. Did Devlin die in a crash, or did he perhaps defect to Soviet Russia? His grown daughter Sally is unaware of any duplicity in her father's life, but soon even she is caught up in the tangle of intrigue as she suspects she is being watched and followed, and her possessions rifled through. Unsure of her father's fate, yet unwilling to share her fears and grief with her estranged step-mother; a woman she has never even met, Sally eventually embarks on a journey to Switzerland with her father's long-time editor and good friend, and Josh Canfield, a writer with secrets of his own.
Gaskin's story is methodical and well developed, with plenty of in-depth character studies and a very palpable "is he/isn't he" mystery. I'm taking off one star because I would have personally liked more action, but that's just me.
Good stuff. I will be looking out for more by Gaskin in the future.
Do not be put off by the cheesy 80's Bantam cover. This is NOT a romance novel
I liked Gaskin's slow build up of the story of Nobel Prize winning author Lawrence Devlin's disappearance in a small plane over the Afghanistan/USSR border. Did Devlin die in a crash, or did he perhaps defect to Soviet Russia? His grown daughter Sally is unaware of any duplicity in her father's life, but soon even she is caught up in the tangle of intrigue as she suspects she is being watched and followed, and her possessions rifled through. Unsure of her father's fate, yet unwilling to share her fears and grief with her estranged step-mother; a woman she has never even met, Sally eventually embarks on a journey to Switzerland with her father's long-time editor and good friend, and Josh Canfield, a writer with secrets of his own.
Gaskin's story is methodical and well developed, with plenty of in-depth character studies and a very palpable "is he/isn't he" mystery. I'm taking off one star because I would have personally liked more action, but that's just me.
Good stuff. I will be looking out for more by Gaskin in the future.
Do not be put off by the cheesy 80's Bantam cover. This is NOT a romance novel
February 25, 2010
Love, love, love this book.
June 3, 2013
A well sustained adventure story with a remarkable warmth in its characterization.Ingenious, fast moving, gripping, eerie.
August 9, 2024
An English writer, Lawrence Devlin, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, recently married to an influential journalist, mysteriously disappears on the border between Pakistan and the Soviet Union while traveling alone with his airplane. We are in the early 60s, in the midst of the Cold War, there are references to Kennedy's death and the Profumo scandal. Two secret agents, helped by the writer's daughter, try to solve the mystery, which also involves the disappearance of a secret code: is the writer alive or dead? Is he perhaps a Russian spy? And is his journalist wife also involved?
Everyone is stalking and keeping an eye on everyone, of course they drink a lot of brandy and smoke like chimneys. Very 60s, it almost seems like an episode of "The Saint" with Roger Moore. Of course there also ia a love story! Nice, but I liked this author's The Property of a Gentleman better.
Here the author is slightly wrong: "Keep searching. The truth is rarely revealed in one flash. Very few have been in the position of St. Paul on the road to Tarsus." 😬
Everyone is stalking and keeping an eye on everyone, of course they drink a lot of brandy and smoke like chimneys. Very 60s, it almost seems like an episode of "The Saint" with Roger Moore. Of course there also ia a love story! Nice, but I liked this author's The Property of a Gentleman better.
Here the author is slightly wrong: "Keep searching. The truth is rarely revealed in one flash. Very few have been in the position of St. Paul on the road to Tarsus." 😬
August 6, 2024
I picked up the Fontana paperback edition of this at a cafe, with the terrible cover of the Goth Girl wandering the Alps in an evening gown, white gloves and Tyrolean castle on the peaks behind her. I wasn't expecting a rather good spy thriller with a terrific sense of 60s London (okay, for posh people but with lots of weather, food, decor details that ring true.) The male characters circle the two female ones, who dominate the story. Yes there's more than a touch of old time chauvinism but the women are intelligent, informed and determined to have agency, even when LURVE catches up to them. I would read another Gaskin, who catches the moral ambiguity and chilly relations between nations engaging in spycraft nicely.
February 16, 2018
I stumbled on this more than 50 year-old book whilst sheltering from the rain in a second-hand bookstore. The cheesy cover was off-putting, but the price was only 10 cents, so I took a chance. I am glad I did. Though clearly dated, and in some places the writing is a bit stilted, the book holds up much better than many of the spy thrillers published around the same time (Ian Fleming, Alistair Maclean, spring to mind). It was a reminder of how different the world was in 1963, when even the bad guys were less crass than the so called good guys of current days.
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July 9, 20191963 London and Swiss Alps espionage
October 20, 2020
Romance - Maybe
Espionage - Not
Espionage - Not
August 6, 2012
Originally published on my blog here& in August 2000.
A competent, gentle thriller, rather like those of Helen MacInnes, The File on Devlin is set at the edges of the world of espionage. Lawrence Devlin is a well known writer, whose efforts to help people understand different cultures have gained him the Nobel Peace Prize. On his latest trip into the wilder parts of the globe, he has gone missing, presumed killed when his light plane crashed in a remote area of Afghanistan.
Josh Canfield, a journalist who also works for British intelligence, becomes suspicious that something more sinister is going on when he sees a known Soviet agent breaking into Devlin's London flat. The novel is basically the unravelling of the Russian involvement in Devlin's disappearance, as Josh juggles the needs of his espionage work with his developing feelings for Devlin's daughter Sally.
This tension is the heart of the novel, and Gaskin handles it well to produce an enjoyable read.
A competent, gentle thriller, rather like those of Helen MacInnes, The File on Devlin is set at the edges of the world of espionage. Lawrence Devlin is a well known writer, whose efforts to help people understand different cultures have gained him the Nobel Peace Prize. On his latest trip into the wilder parts of the globe, he has gone missing, presumed killed when his light plane crashed in a remote area of Afghanistan.
Josh Canfield, a journalist who also works for British intelligence, becomes suspicious that something more sinister is going on when he sees a known Soviet agent breaking into Devlin's London flat. The novel is basically the unravelling of the Russian involvement in Devlin's disappearance, as Josh juggles the needs of his espionage work with his developing feelings for Devlin's daughter Sally.
This tension is the heart of the novel, and Gaskin handles it well to produce an enjoyable read.
July 7, 2009
Fascinating look at the way the genre has changed over the years. This book, published in 1965 is very different in style from what is accepted as 'romantic suspense' today. Very heavy on narrative, very little "white space." Mostly introspection.
December 12, 2017
This short novel has a certain ethereal quality, stopping just short of credibility. Shadowy characterization, but the lightweight whodunit plot was able to hold my attention right to the last word. Perhaps likely to appeal more to women than men but I still enjoyed it.
August 12, 2013
Quick easy read and good story.
May 4, 2016
A cold-war spy thriller. Not my favorite genre, but a nice novel to read in the park on a sunny day. I'm always grateful for something new to read that is entertaining without being filthy.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews