There Are No Spies

November Man #7

by Bill Granger

Devereaux, the November man, is promoted by the operations chief of R section to an investigation that frightens and activates a KGB sleeper agent within R section itself.

Genres: Thriller, Espionage, Fiction, Mystery, Media Tie In, Suspense

259 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

aka Joe Gash, Bill Griffith

Bill Granger, was a newspaperman turned novelist whose fiction alternated between international spy thrillers and police procedurals set on the gritty streets of Chicago.

Usually under his own name but sometimes under the pseudonym Joe Gash or Bill Griffiths, Mr. Granger wrote 25 novels, many of which evoked the rougher environs of Chicago and included colorful characters with names like Slim Dingo, Tony Rolls and Jesus X Mohammed.

Mr. Granger’s favorite, and perhaps best-known, book was “Public Murders” (1980), in which the city is in an uproar as a rapist-murderer strikes again and again. Public and political pressure exacts an emotional toll on the tough, foulmouthed detectives investigating the crimes. Public Murders won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1981.

Two years before that, Mr. Granger’s first spy novel, The November Man,caused something of an international stir. It involved a plot to assassinate a relative of Queen Elizabeth by blowing up a boat. Later that year, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the queen’s cousin, was killed on his fishing boat when a bomb set by the Irish Republican Army exploded.

Mr. Granger always thought of himself as more of a reporter than an author. “I can’t think of a day without newspapering in it,” he said in a 2003 interview. In his nearly 40 years in journalism, he had reported for United Press International, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Daily Herald. He covered the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and wrote a series based on interviews with a veteran who had witnessed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Granger had a stroke in January 2000, and ended his writing career. From 2002 to his death he lived in the Manteno Veterans Home; the immediate cause of death was a heart attack, although he had suffered a series of strokes since the 1990s. He is survived by wife Lori and son Alec.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/0...

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far the only paper copy I could find of this series, so I hope Pierce Brosnan makes a few more successful outings in this series so we get more releases. The original name of this novel is "There are no spies" and it is the 7th installment in a series about a secret agent "The November man"

As mentioned this is the return of former 007 Pierce Brosnan in what could be a first installment of his own spy franchise, fingers crossed as I found the movie while very entertaining a rather different beastie than the book. There are very few similarities between this book and the movie, lets say the name of the leading character that would be the one similarity.

Both the movie and the book start of with Devereaux being a retired intelligence officer. The book concentrates upon his former chief who seems to have developed a rather serious bout of mental trouble. Which is rather devilish in this particular field of work even if some people might think that being a mental defective would be a bonus in the schizophrenic nature of spy business. The big boss decides to have his underling checked out, more than one way as it turns out.

So why was Devereaux being chased and targeted while just minding his business of being retired and all?- Somebody underestimates the retired code-name November as he gears up to confrontation and there will be hell to pay.

Alexa beautiful assassin aimed at the November Man does her job and kills the man being November Man. Only to find out that somebody laid down a false trail of breadcrumbs. She then travels to Lausanne on lake Geneva to have a go at the real deal only to be ambushed by Russian assassins. She survives and travels to the US to kill the November Man even if it would kill her.

Both are finding out while they are traveling across half the world what is actually at stake and how their "handlers" have very different ideas in the outcome than they would have.

A different kind of spy story than I a used to and somewhat surprised at the difference between book and movie, huge difference. Not quite sure why pick a source novel and then change everything. That said perhaps I prefer the movie a wee bit better than the book.
As a book still well worth reading if you are fan of the spy genre, it is not the best and most certainly not the worst spy-novel I have read in my life. I would hope that this writer has written better novels than this one as I plam to read a few more.

[Scott Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book under it's recent retitling as The November Man. This is the 7th in the Devereaux series. I first encountered Bill Granger and Devereaux in the early 1990s. I hadn't given him much thought in recent years until the reissue of this novel under the title The November Man.

I thoroughly enjoyed my reacquaintance with the author and his spy. Devereaux is retired and living peacefully in Lausanne when he receives a strange phone call from Hanley, his old supervisor at R section in Washington. Hanley is mumbling something confusing about "there are no spies", the Nutcracker and other things unclear to Devereaux. It turns out Hanley is extremely tired and stops coming to the office. His Director who had Hanley's phone bugged becomes alarmed and arranges for Hanley to be taken to a psychiatric hospital where he is drugged and given electroshock treatment hastening his decline.

Meanwhile a Russian femme fatale kills another man in Helsinki presumed to be November. But when her boss learns that this person was not really November she is dispatched to Lausanne to take care of the real November. This ends in a bungle as she kills two of her colleagues by mistake and November escapes. November teams up with an old Russian defector Denisov, who is now in the arms trade, to unravel the developing puzzle.

There is a mole at the highest level in the US govt. Devereaux and an unlikely team of allies set out to rescue Hanley and root out the mole.

Reading this novel reminded me of how much I enjoyed the great espionage fiction of the Cold War era. The book is short, the language terse, yet it pulls you along at a rapid pace. I stayed up until 2 AM to finish the book. I now have the other Granger novels lined up to read.

[CD · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey into the paranoid, self-referential world of the Cold War espionage genre. Perhaps the finest of the November Man series.

Deveraux, the November Man, finds his opponents in the treacherous spy game are in his own organization in this tale. Granger elevates his story telling of Russian intrigue and beautiful femme fatale agents that call the agent known as November back from retirement.

With a side trip through a mental institution for wayward/dangerous/damaged spies, November hunts a mole within the mysterious and brilliantly understated 'R section' for whom he has operated.

First rate espionage thriller, if not as subtle or refined as Greene or LeCarre, Granger contributes one of the finer books of the genre' with a journalists well written style and command of the language.

A must read for all lovers of Cold War and Spy thriller stories.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading There are no Spies by Bill Granger; this is the book that the movie November Man is based upon. The book was a very easy read and went fast. I liked it, but I think that I was confused about one part, which I hope the movie will clear up for me (I won't say what it is to avoid spoiling it for others). I would definitely recommend this book to others!

[Diane Briones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot of There Are No Spies by Bill Granger takes the form of a complex puzzle. The reader knows that something disconcerting is happening. But the who, what, why and how of it remain a complete mystery to the reader until the very end. --- Diane ™

The novel's protagonist, Devereaux, a retired American spy (code named November), suddenly finds himself the center of unwanted attention as his former intelligence agency, the highly secretive R Section, is about to implode. As Devereaux is pursued by trained assassins from either side of the Iron Curtain, R Section's Director of Operations is involuntarily committed to a sinister psychiatric hospital hidden in the far reaches of Western Maryland.

Using strong, forceful writing, Granger succeeds in imbuing There Are No Spies with a pervasive feel of impending disaster. A feel made all the more effective because the source, substance and purpose of the threat are kept hidden from the reader. Highly recommended to fans of the genre.

[Kate Curtis-Hawkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cant really express how disappointed I was with this novel, when I first saw it in Barnes and Noble and read the description I thought that this was going to be quite the spy novel that would deliver a short but good read. What I got instead was hardly that and while some of the interest of the premise remained nothing else really lived up to my expectations.

I don't know if its because I haven't read the previous novels in the series that I was lost but this at times was one of the most confusing novels that I have ever read. Mr. Granger continues to add characters throughout the whole book that muddle the structure and with all of those characters comes new subplots and storylines that make the book a mess of jumbled wire. Those storylines are all wrapped up by the end of the novel but I didn't appreciate how they just continued to show up, I never really felt like I knew when the story began.

The worst part of this novel has to be the writing though, there are times when the writing is just completely incomprehensible and your left wondering what the heck just happened more often than you should. If I could describe the writing it would be sloppy, the verb tense is never consistent, he uses parentheses when it doesn't make sense with how the story is being told, names of characters will be used multiple times in a sentence, and numerous other small details that could be quite easily fixed with a little care. Ultimately these little issues are so prevalent that in a way it ruins the experience of reading the novel and seeing where the story goes.

I also really disliked the way the story was told, the beginning held great promise with a Russian agent making the wrong kill but almost exactly after that it slows down so badly. We are treated to some of the most boring chapters about a mental institution in true Cuckoo's Nest fashion, to endless conversations about policy and jargon. The worst of all, however, has to be the disappointment of what the main plot is, the whole book your being told about an operation and a phrase and no one seems to know what they are, the final reveal is truely underwhelming.

The only real redeeming factors of this book are the very beginning, the very end, and the chapters that star our main character. But these moments are few and far between and the rest really feels very unbecoming of what could have a great story. I applaud Mr. Granger on the wrap up of so many plot points and the concept that could have been something great, but these things are overshadowed by all its flaws.

I think this is a good example of what happens when a writer forcefully tries to tell a story that represents the time in which its written. The novel has a lot to say about the shape of espionage in the modern computer era but it all seems so forced, none of it really feels like it belongs and the reader is left feeling very unsatisfied. The novel has too little action, too many characters, and not enough focus. There is some real good work here but you have to dig through a lot of paper to get to it.

[Shaunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

So there, its done. I've finished my 7th November Man Series novel, There Are No Spies.

November has retired to a little countryside in Switzerland 🇨🇭 called Lausanne with his one true love Rita Macklin.

But across the ocean, in Washington DC. R section is humming, but only Hanley hears it. Or is it a figment of his imagination.

Hanley has become tired and this tiredness has him babbling about Nutcracker. He takes a month off from work, which is something he has never done in his 30 years of service.

Something is off, and it has to do with Nutcracker.

Hanley calls 📞 Devereux in Lausanne talking about Nutcracker, but Devereux has no clue what he's babbling about. So he pay that call no attention.

Little does Devereux know, Hanley has set off a chain ⛓ of events that sets killers after the man called November.

The hits are coming from the United States 🇺🇸 & Russia 🇷🇺. Both have sent assassins to kill November.

One assassins is sent on a cruise ship 🚢 called the Finlandian. The hit is made, and much later its found out that was not the right November.

Say that again. So you got intel on a person boarding a cruise 🛳 ship that seem to be November and an agent is dispatched to handle that & it turns out not to be the real November.

So who messed up the intel?

Who got killed by mistake? & where the heck is Hanley?

Well these are all questions that will be answered upon reading 📚 this novel & some.

When I tell you there are some shenanigans going on in R section. I'm not just talking. There is a traitor somewhere in R section & its someone in a coveted position.

Devereux needs answers and Hanley needs to clarify the Nutcracker Situation.

This was definitely a most entertaining read. From Switzerland 🇨🇭 to Washington DC to Russia 🇷🇺 and California time is of the essence.

Devereux must beat the odds, because his life is on the line once again.

Happy Reading 📚!!!!!

Ciao 💋

[Alexander Scruggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got into this series after watching the November Man with Pierce Brosnan, which is supposedly based on this book. It isn't. It has a couple characters with the same names but that's where the similarities end; completely different personalities, different occupations, there is zero similarity in the plots. Not sure what Hollywood was thinking when they made the movie, but they messed up what should have been a simple job (starting from the begenning, novel #1, and staying true to the plot).

Had to preface with that just for those of you who may have hopped on here right after seeing the movie. This novel serves as a gripping continuation of the November Man series. Deveraux's love interest, Rita, gets more agency than ever in this novel which was most exciting for me, it serves as a turning point for her as she starts to take a larger role in Deveraux's exploits. The main villain here is the same from Hemmingway's Notebook, Colonel Ready, who is a real piece of work. Not as bad as Henry McGee, but a worthy adversary of November. Poor Hanley, separately, gets more than he bargained for as well. Exciting/intricate read with tight, minimalistic dialogue, but read it as part of the series, not by itself.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, I went off reading most book series due to the frustrating habit of bumping into later volumes for them, picking them up, and getting lost due to being on book X of Y. Give me a standalone book or something with less reliance on "oh, my reader has read everything that's come before this." This perhaps makes it a surprise I picked There Are No Spies up, given it's the seventh book in Bill Granger's November Man series of spy thrillers. But having enjoyed the Pierce Brosnan film adaptation (released as The November Man) on a recent re-watch, it was time, at last, to get it off the shelf and give it a read.

And, sure enough, There Are No Spies isn't quite a standalone work. Though, to the late Mr. Granger's credit, he was at least kind enough to put in enough context clues and outright exposition to bring any new readers up to speed.

This is a definite plus, given that he dumps characters and readers into a labyrinthine late Cold War plot involving an American intelligence agency known as R Section, its former agent Paul Devereux, human spies versus technology, and so much more. It's a complex enough plot without the reader not knowing enough of the backstory to follow things. Complex, but not convuluted, thankfully, though even after reading the closing chapters of the novel twice, I'm not sure I follow everything to its fullest.

Whether that's a pro or con is up to someone else, I suspect.

As for the film adaptation: It's no surprise that a handful of characters and plot points made their way to the screen. If for no other reason than There Are No Spies is VERY much a work of its moment in history, caught between Reagan's "Evil Empire" of eighties first half and the eventual collapse of the wall. There are echoes, however distant, of the novel in the film, but time and budget make them into quite different kettles of fish. Something that makes the novel worth seeking out in its own right.

[Janet Mahlum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Senior Center as a new program to accomodate COVID dangers. In the foyer on a table are little bags taped shut contain three books. The outside of the bag says what the genre of the three books is. The first bag I picked up had only one book I hadn't read. I read it, returned the bag, and picked up a new bag. I had read all 3 of the books in that bag. I returned it and picked up another bag. This one had only 1 book I had already read. That's how I came to read this book. It's #7 in a series, and I had never read anything by this author before. It is a very good spy book. Two books I've read recently had scenes from a divided Berlin. Having lived 3 years in West Berlin, I found those scenes very interesting. I recently watched a movie that also had scenes in Berlin, a united city. That was VERY interesting. The Brandenburg Gate with people milling around. A piece of the wall covered in brightly colored murals. Ah,but back to this book. I didn't have any trouble following it or a feeling that something had happened before that I didn't know about and was important to know. Although it is a series, it is a stand-alone. I don't know that I will read more in this series. I quite enjoyed this book but so many books, so little tie. I would recommend it, even if it is slightly dated.

[Tflinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, complex and interesting

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good Cold War spy thriller, but the premise is rather obtuse. Unlike Pierce Brosnin in The November Man movie, Deveraux in the book is cold and brooding.

[Mark Easter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not impressed. Plot was just OK. Characters were pretty two dimensional, boring, and carnal. I am not sure I will continue with the series.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

November man review

Lots of twists and turns with occasional violence. All in all, a great yarn! This is the first book I’ve read by Bill Granger but it’s not the last.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Η νέα ταινία του Roger Donaldson, The November Man, με πρωταγωνιστή τον Pierce Brosnan, όσο παράξενο και αν ακούγεται, βασίζεται στο βιβλίο του Μπιλ Γκρέιντζερ που μόλις τελείωσα, το οποίο είναι το έβδομο βιβλίο της σειράς με ήρωα τον Αμερικανό μυστικό πράκτορα Ντεβερό ή αλλιώς Νοέμβρη, έναν κατάσκοπο της δεκαετίας του '80.

Βέβαια όσα διαβάζω στην περίληψη της ταινίας με τα όσα διάβασα στο βιβλίο λίγα κοινά έχουν, οπότε γιατί μπήκαν στον κόπο να πληρώσουν δικαιώματα στην οικογένεια του συγγραφέα; (εκτός και αν δεν πλήρωσαν τίποτα). Τέλος πάντων, είναι καλή ευκαιρία να πάρουν τα πάνω τους οι πωλήσεις των βιβλίων αυτών, που δεν είναι και πολύ γνωστά σαν άλλα του είδους, γιατί σίγουρα αξίζουν, κι ας είναι αυτό μόλις το πρώτο βιβλίο του συγγραφέα που διαβάζω.

Η ιστορία είναι αρκετά περίπλοκη, έχουμε τον κατάσκοπο μας του Τμήματος Ρ των ΗΠΑ να είναι "κοιμισμένος" και να ζει την ζωούλα του στην Ελβετία, μέχρι κάποιοι να τον "αποκοιμίσουν", με αποτέλεσμα να βρεθεί αντιμέτωπος τόσο με εχθρικούς πράκτορες όσο και με προδότες στο ίδιο του το τμήμα. Ένα παιχνίδι παίζεται στην υπηρεσία του και ένα μυστικό σχέδιο εξυφαίνεται και ο αδίστακτος Ντεβερό καλείται να βγάλει μια άκρη... και φυσικά να επιζήσει. Αυτά σε πολύ γενικές γραμμές.

Σαν φαν του είδους έμεινα πολύ ευχαριστημένος, διάβασα μια κατασκοπευτική ιστορία γεμάτη μυστήριο, δράση και αποκαλύψεις, όσοι όμως δεν παθιάζεστε με τέτοιου είδους μυθιστορήματα ας μείνετε μακριά. Η γραφή του Γκρέιντζερ μου φάνηκε καλούτσικη, οπωσδήποτε ευκολοδιάβαστη και με λίγο χιούμορ εδώ και κει, οι χαρακτήρες δίχως ιδιαίτερο βάθος αλλά έκαναν την δουλειά τους και η ατμόσφαιρα σούπερ.

Το βιβλίο έχει μεταφραστεί επίσης από τις εκδόσεις Bell, με τον τίτλο Δεν υπάρχουν κατάσκοποι, και ξέρω ότι έχει μεταφραστεί ακόμα ένα, το The British Cross, τέταρτο βιβλίο της σειράς, με τον τίτλο Διπλή προδοσία.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

November Man is a reissue of a book from 1986 that I was surprised that I had never read. It would have been something from that time frame that I would have been interested in. any way this story is manly back in the cold war time frame when Russia, Britain, and us were going at it spy wise. The very beginnings of China, but mostly the three of us. The story starts off with a man who is the department head and like all people his area is coming under budget cuts, but at the same time he is noticing a change in policy from a new person put in charge who is saying there is no longer a need for people since satellites and computers. All you need is a few people to factor data. The time for change and that time is now. This man who had been working for the agency has entire adult life knew that there was more than just a few agents around the globe there your many contacts that had been built up for decades and could not see all of that work go down. He called an agent that had for the most part retired his name or code name was November Man, not knowing that his boss had bugged his phone and he could not find anything about this agent sent him into a panic. This lead to a series of events that brings November Man out and into few with bodies being left behind, for they cannot kill him. This is a fast pace story with many twist and turns. A fantastic story of spies and of who can trust and who is out to get you. I thought this to be a great book and a book I finished in one day. Well worth the time. I got this book from net galley.

[Jeremy Silverman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a moderately enjoyable and easy to read spy thriller from the 1980s. It has at least some elements that reminded me of the cable TV series The Americans. Both the book and that series are set in the Reagan-era part of Cold War. While Granger's book was written in the midst of that period (it was published in 1986), The Americans, of course is current show which looks back on those bad old days. I write here mostly to clarify a potential source of confusion about where this book fits into Granger's series of books featuring Devereaux, a.k.a. the November Man, his spy-hero. This is the 7th of 13 novels featuring "the November Man." It was originally published with the title There Are No Spies. For some reason (likely pertaining to marketing) that title was later changed to The November Man. This latter title might well have erroneously suggested to many a naive reader (for instance, me) that the book is the first book in the November Man series. And in fact the original title of Granger's first book in the series was indeed The November Man. The title of that first book was later changed to Code Name November. Finally, to my knowledge, the only movie adaptation to date of any of Granger's November Man books was a 2014 film was called The November Man and was based on There Are No Spies (November Man Book 7). What are you gonna do?

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those mysteries that starts off in the middle of nowhere, confuses you immensely, and then slowly adds things in throughout until you finally get to the end and say, "I see!"
Except you never "see".
Character development was so-so, plot seemed to be going somewhere exciting but fell pretty flat, and the *constant* introduction of new people or plot lines really ruins things. Even on the last few pages new characters and events are introduced to try and add some resolution to the plot but it really doesn't help.
Although the story does end up resolving itself and the plot becomes clear, it ends up being so much more anticlimactic and seemingly unimportant than it could have been

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those reading this book because of the movie: be aware that this is not a stand-alone novel, but the 7th in a series.

I enjoyed this book as a spy novel. The writing is very good and the story is largely engaging. One problem I found was that the operation that the story centers on, which is meant to become clearer towards the end, is not spelled out simply for a casual reader. With close attention to this aspect, any reader can find this book enjoyable.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing of this series until Pierce Brosnan came along. I really enjoyed this book. Even though I jumped in at book seven, I wasn't too lost. The plot was the clear, the characters were well developed and it was a lot of fun to read. I look forward to going back to book one.

We discuss this and other classic Spy novels in this special episode of the All the Books Show Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Paul Boger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Richard Stark writing The Karla Trilogy, with Parker as George Smiley. Dirty, rapid-fire, with just enough humor to catch a breath. I read this out-of-sequence, and wish I'd had more of the series under my belt to appreciate the supporting characters and backstory. High-functioning pulp, and a great weekend read.

[Steve Schlutow · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a bad book. Great movie. I bought the book, since the movie is coming out, because it looked kinda good. I didn't like it at all. I like popcorn military/adventure books, but not spy books. I need my characters developed in such books. The movie will probably be pretty good, since character development was so bad, and the story was so shallow.

[Moataz Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

قصة عميل المخابرات اللي بيستفزوه بطريقة أو بأخري ف بيخش يكسر كل اللي في طريقه ويطلع منتصر في الآخر. الحبكة مش بطالة وفكرة العميل المزدوج اللي بيبعتهم كل شوية طلعت ظريفة. أسلوب الكتابة لطيف برضه.
الكتاب في مجمله حلو، بس أعتقد إن الفيلم يغني عنه ويمكن يديله حياة أكتر. ممكن ده يكون رأي شخصي لشاب نشأ علي روايات رجل المستحيل اللي دمرت عقله لفترة زمنية ما. :D

[Ed Kohinke sr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading the entire November Man series and this one is very good. However, I may have spoiled it a bit for myself because the movie The November Man is supposedly based on this book and I read it looking for the story in the movie. Except for a few characters and places, I found no correlation between book and movie!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cold War is starting to cool off and the November Man is drawn out of retirement and into a bureaucratic battle about the future of intelligence. Of course, there are murders, moles, double agents and nuns to keep the plot moving crisply and the suspense building to a satisfying climax.

[Lulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like trying to guess who the double agent is. I'd rather know and watch as he spins his Web of deceit. I very much liked some of the characters and the settings, but it seemed a little vague to me.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and will most likely read more of the November Man series. It was an interesting story about a retired spy that is contacted in an odd manner, how he deals with the contact initially, and his subsequently drawn back into the world he thought he was done with.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff. Just plain good tales if you enjoy the cold war business. I wish Granger would've lived until he was 2000 and wrote another 800 November Man books.

[Abbas]

awesome and I need to see the film

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I had hoped it would be. I may not be reading the other November Man books.