At Close Quarters

by Gerald Seymour

A diplomat and an Israeli master-sniper plan to walk by night into the Beqa'a valley in east Lebanon, home of Palestinian revolutionary groups, in search of one man. They are far into the Beqa'a, out of reach, when their cover is blown and Syrian Intelligence are alerted to their approach.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Espionage, Crime

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Gerald Seymour (born 25 November 1941 in Guildford, Surrey) is a British writer.

The son of two literary figures, he was educated at Kelly College at Tavistock in Devon and took a BA Hons degree in Modern History at University College London. Initially a journalist, he joined ITN in 1963, covering such topics as the Great Train Robbery, Vietnam, Ireland, the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany's Red Army, Italy's Red Brigades and Palestinian militant groups. His first book, Harry's Game, was published in 1975, and Seymour then became a full-time novelist, living in the West Country. In 1999, he featured in the Oscar-winning television film, One Day in September, which portrayed the Munich Olympics massacre.
Television adaptations have been made of his books Harry's Game, The Glory Boys, The Contract, Red Fox, Field Of Blood, A Line In The Sand and The Waiting Time.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabs you by the heart and the head and did not let go! The two main characters, Crane and Holt are beautifully drawn characters, so real that you absolutely want to meet them!

[Warren C.Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walks a road not many would venture upon.

Another superb, realistic thriller from the master of the contemporary, topical, gripping, from start, with a climax that is brutal and unsentimental. Excellent!

[Barry Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect Seymour novel. Lots of detail, lots of tension and a tail end that has you holding your breath.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just about perfect. Seymour puts us in the Baqaa Valley with the over the hill sniper & the novice young agent with no field experience. A tense, educational, finely crafted tale.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one passes Seymour at keeping you up near your reading lamp late at night. He can be fanciful or weirdly implausible but the tension covers the words as a cloak.

[Jak60 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok read, not among the best by Seymour nor among the worst; the good news is that the prose, which in some cases is such to make the reading almost impossible to me, is here pretty fluid.
At Close Quarters is based on a rather thin plot, too simple and linear to sustain a long book.
The relationship between the two protagonists, which is supposed to be a central theme, is rather static, you don’t see it evolving during their mission; it just changes suddenly. Their trip to Lebanon, which is supposed to mark the stages of such relationship, is lengthy and repetitive.
This could have been a better as a novella than a long book.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story with horrible Arabs and good Israelis. This one is set in Lebanon when it was a hot bed of bad guys as the year is 1982. The mission is to kill a bad guy; the commando is composed of an experience Israeli sniper and a young rooky English diplomat. As usual in Seymour’s books the whimpish character converts into superman towards the end. So it is all a bit unlikely. 35 years later the situation in the Middle-East has not changed at all.

[Peter Brickwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A particularly sympathetic view of the Israeli struggle and the fight against terrorists. I found references to the emotions of Israeli's somewhat discordant and descriptions of the internal workings of Israeli intelligence services inaccurately akin to workings of MI5 and 6. Portrayal of Arab or Palestinian fighters as conducting terror operations for nothing more than personal gain seems an unrealistic caricature. Non the less, Seymour weaves a compelling tale of a daring escapade.

[Jim Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly Gerald Seymour's best for me. He has a distinctive, inimitable narrative voice and his subject matter is researched thoroughly, drawing on his experience and journalistic skills. This was deeply intense, riveting, supremely well-written; a tense, brilliantly constructed page turner. It also seemed strangely topical being sited in the Beqaa valley, Lebanon and Syria. Brilliant!

[Chris R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read a Seymour novel I haven't liked.
The level of detail and the meticulous research make his plots credible.
Ditto the flaws and frailties of his characters. They all seem very human.
I'll leave it at that. No spoilers here.

[jason Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply superb

Having spent time in Middle East, I thought Mr Seymour captured the essence of the region perfectly. I loved the clinical descriptive nature of Crane and his methods especially how he imparted that knowledge and experience to Holt.. A first class read!!!

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent novel by Seymour who is particularly skilled at creating characters who have an inner conflict that needs to be resolved. Some similarities between this story and A Deniable Death.

[Mr Michael R Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aged But Up To Date

A thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing read. Although by half way in you get an inkling of what is to happen it doesn’t dull the pleasure.
Great story with great characters.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review to follow. Seymour is amazing. Think Le Carre, Forsyth, Deighton, Seymour - all legends.

[Rob Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but not amazing

I lkied this bok but not as much as some of Seymours others, like the one about the mafia connection

[Paul Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well woven tale

[Robert Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn’t get into it. A subject too that I choose not to be interested in - Palestine...

[Puddle Jumper · Rating 3 out of 5]

country 33: Lebanon

[John Lane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not to keen on this book but managed to get through it

[Jim Sieyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

First rate. Seymour at his best

[Dimitry Orlov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very intense book. It starts with the killing of a British Ambassador and his female assistant by a terrorist for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at the request of the Syrian Government. The British decide to hunt down the Terrorist killer to show the Syrians that they cannot get away with wanton murder.

The journey leads to the Beqa'a Valley where the terrorist is thought to hide. The Beqa'a Valley is considered too heavily guarded to send in an assassination team. A two-man team consisting of a young man who witnessed the assassination of the British Ambassador and his assistant is chosen to enter the Beqa'a Valley along with a British sniper.

The author keeps the intensity jacked up from the beginning to the end of the book.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

After British ambassador gravely and publicly insults Syrian representative in Moscow [regarding the terrorist bomb attack on El Al aircraft] everybody is very happy with themselves (in that cunning politician way we showed them that we know! ) and that action brings great respect to the British diplomat from entire diplomatic corps worldwide. [return]Few years later, during the summit on Yalta, that very same British ambassador and his aide women working for British Intelligence are mowed down by machine gun fire in front of the hotel that they were to stay in. Only person from the British delegation to survive is aide s boyfriend who sees the attacker and can identify him. Soon British service declares an all-out hunt on the attacker and recruits Israeli intelligence services to help them with the task.[return]Author shows that hunting terrorist-soldiers is complete waste of time because there will always be other terrorist-soldiers to take the place of their fallen members. Also shown is complete hypocrisy of leading politicians who are more worried about possible backfire resulting in their career being ended before the time than with their actions (that they initiate hot-headed and in affect) and people they send to do the dirty work . Also shown is merciless manipulation of one people s misery and misfortune to further goals of another friendly to the cause nation.[return][return]Entire action is a sort of a Pyrrhic victory ambassador s murderer is taken down but invaluable assets are lost (long time combat veteran and numerous spies on the ground) that had true value because they were the people that have worked behind enemy lines. As for terrorist s, their lost comrade was just substituted with another man and their work continued.[return][return]Great book and rather disturbing, proving that nothing much has changed when it comes to anti terrorism from late 80 s to present.[return][return]Recommeded.

[Haya Anis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given to me by my father, as he filtered through his old belongings. He told me it was a good book, even though I slightly doubted he read it. I'm quite glad I read it though. "At Close Quarters" is a book I would not have chosen on my own; I'm not usually attracted to thrillers, let alone ones written by fairly obscure authors. However, I thought this book to be thoroughly engaging. I liked the way Mr. Seymour jumped from story line to story line, much like Barbra Kingsolver, my favorite author, does in her books. His detailed descriptions reminded me of those by John Steinbeck: thorough, beautiful and elegant. The characters were all so beautifully built and illustrated.
Although I did not enjoy Mr.Seymour's portrayal of the Arabs as a mass of bloodthirsty and corrupted people, I found myself empathizing with both Crane and Abu Hamid. This book has given me the ability to see the conflict from both perspectives, which I appreciated. Overall, a good book, although the bias against Arabs was quite off-putting at times.

[David Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good Gerald Seymour, standard fare, but nail biting all the way. Loved the ending, seemed a bit rushed at first, but on reflection it was just right.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seymour never disappoints. This is another nail biter!

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11613283

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow going.