Gunner Kelly

Dr David Audley & Colonel Jack Butler #13

by Anthony Price

Colonel Butler and Dr. Audley, two of the most brilliant and formidable men in British Intelligence, are at odds throughout this adventure. Each is concealing his activities from the other and each is keeping a jump or two ahead of the CIA, the KGB, the IRA and other old rivals and enemies. Colonel Butler wonders what Dr. Audley is up to when he turns up at the remote West Country village of Duntisbury Royal, as guest of the young lady of the manor, the grand-daughter of the General Maxwell who was killed recently by a car bomb. Colonel Butler sends in an agent who wouldn't be known to Audley: a man from German Intelligence posing as an archeologist who has come to view the Roman villa in the manor's grounds. And is launched into a story which goes back to the war years.

Genres: Espionage, Fiction, Mystery

237 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Born in Hertfordshire in 1928, Price was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Oxford. His long career in journalism culminated in the Editorship of the Oxford Times. His literary thrillers earned comparisons to the best of Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, and Robert Goddard.

Reviews

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Price... what a talent. Here we have espionage done in such a gentle way... Cottage gardens, tractors trundling down country roads, green fields and small villages with their church and graveyard, yew trees and dappled sun. Everything is so civilised as we drink a pint in the local, listening to the country folk chatting...
Anthony Price's world of spies and assassination is so civilised... so... well, it could be happening right now, in that tea room over a cup of Earl Grey and scones, or eating a packet of crisps and supping a dark ale whilst you watch the local hunt get ready...
I love the world Anthony Price has created.

[Edmund Chattoe-Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is well worth the price of admission and I enjoyed it. It is well plotted (though not "sinewy" or "hyper-complex" as the blurbistas have it) and atmospheric in describing interesting and diverse settings and people. His personal interest in history also makes these rather different in tone from many thrillers. The two things that stop him being John Le Carre (say) are, first, that there is too much _telling_ us that lead character David Audley is clever and wily (and not enough _showing_ us as with Smiley say) and, secondly, that in order to do the grand reveals he likes, the start of the book is really quite unrevealed (like a landscape under fog frankly). While this may get some readers salivating with anticipation, non fans may simply find things rather puzzling until some of the reveals are actually revealed: Since the author presumably knows it all already, it may be hard for him to see how it might look to the reader perhaps.

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der große, ganz besondere Reiz von Anthony Prices Büchern ist die Verbindung von Spionagethriller und alter Geschichte. Der (suchende) Held stellt sich nicht nur die Frage "Wer der Verräter?", sondern auch "Wo liegt der Schatz der Römer/Piraten/Cavaliers...?"

Bei diesem Buch funktioniert das nicht so gut, denn die Irland-Frage und die Auseinandersetzungen vor, während und nach der Trennung vom UK sind zum Zeitpunkt der Handlung des Buches (ca. 1982) noch gegenwärtig. Die involvierten Menschen sind noch da - und damit ist das zweite Rätsel nicht da und der besondere Reiz fehlt.

Obwohl sonst alles da ist, ein durchaus vielschichtiger Held, Audley und Butler im Hintergrund und viel britischer Lokalkolorit - es ist zu wenig Geschichte in der Geschichte und daher ist dies eines der schwächeren Bücher der Serie.

[Nigel Pinkus · Rating 2 out of 5]

After an interesting premise this reader wasn't really interested in the references to the Latin language, nor was he really interested in some of the historical references either and to top it off, he started to get really bored reading about scurrying about an old archeological site in the English countryside. This reader has enjoyed some other Anthony Price books such as 'The Labyrinth Makers', 'Other Paths of Glory' and "Vintage '44" but not this one. For some of the best spy fiction in the business, try: Le Carre, Deighton, Seymour, Ted Allbeury or the contemporary Joe Herron, not this one. In terms of theme, try, Gerald Seymour's, "A Line in the Sand"or "The Outsiders" or try, Ken Follett's,"The Eye of the Needle" for a much better read. This only gets two from me. 2 Stars.

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The death, in the small village of Duntisbury, of retired 2nd World War General Maxwell and the disappearance of his driver Gunner Kelly. Spymaster David Audley to moves into the manor at the behest of his god daughter and Maxwell's grandaughter Miss Becky. Believing his colleague is on holiday, Jack Butler instead brings in German NATO agent Benedict Schneider to run an eye over the village. As with many of Anthony Price's novels people and events are never quite what they seem. With the village unnecessarily suspicious questions are asked whether Maxwell was the real target and who are they really waiting for and why are the KGB so interested in Kelly.

[Beth Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the four-star rating, this isn't one of my favorites. The whole book seems designed to show that the best-laid plans don't necessarily work out, but I'm not sure what the actual goal was intended to be. And I've read enough of these books in close succession that the major twist at the end was more predictable than it would be if I'd come to it fresh. It's still Anthony Price, and worth reading, though.

[Keith Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another clever thriller from Anthony Price. I liked the references to the Roman invaders, the sense of mystery in a cut off English village, the unravelling of the complex plot, the employment of the Latin language in the revelation.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The resolution of the stories are getting ever more convoluted, but the scenarios are still engaging.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exciting thriller, well paced, in which the residents of an isolated Dorset village close ranks following the death by car bomb of the local squire and war hero. Set amid early 1980's anxiety about the IRA and the Soviet threat, it pits the wits of David Audley and German spy, Captain Schneider alias Benedikt alias Thomas Weisehofer, racing against the problem of discovering who set the bomb and who was the intended target before the perpetrators can strike again.

[Ryan Wulfsohn]

An intelligent, literate Cold War thriller- not Price's best but a good read.