The Innocent Bystanders

John Craig #4

by James Munro

They set Craig up - he shot them down! was the tagline on the poster for the 1972 film version of The Innocent Bystanders, which starred Stanley Baker as tough-as-nails British agent John Craig on the track of a missing Russian scientist. The trail begins in a Soviet gulag in Siberia and the hunt leads Craig to America, Turkey and Cyprus. Very quickly Craig realises that there is no-one on this violence-strewn journey he can trust, except himself. Under the pen name James Munro, James Mitchell created the hard-man secret agent Craig some three years before his more famous fictional spy Callan, but it Craig who was seen for a while as the natural successor to James Bond. The Innocent Bystanders was the fourth and final book to feature John Craig and was first published in 1969, it has been out of print in the UK for 44 years.

Genres: Espionage

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

James Munro was the pseudonym of a British writer named James William Mitchell (born 1926) who, in the late 1960s, wrote four spy thrillers under this byline.

The hero is a British agent named John Craig, who works, mostly reluctantly, for Department K. The books, The Man Who Sold Death; Die Rich, Die Happy; The Money That Money Can't Buy; and The Innocent Bystanders were tough-minded, well-written, and well-plotted. They had a genuinely heroic (and intelligent) protagonist, an eccentric M-type boss, and menacing villains.

Mitchell also wrote under the pseudonym Patrick O. McGuire.

Series:
* John Craig

Reviews

[ShanDizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last of the John Craig books by James Munro (James Mitchell). I enjoyed all of them. Very gritty and certainly NOT a James Bond clone. Craig is his own character. Now, on to the Callan series by James Mitchell.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agent John Craig is in deep trouble on this mission. He's looking for a scientist who escaped from the Russian Gulag, and he's competing with the CIA and KGB, as well as a couple of freelancers. They all want the scientist alive - and Craig dead. Then Craig realizes that somebody else wants him dead - his own boss... Craig is determined to disappoint them all.

A rough, violent book set in a violent world. Lots of action, lots of plot twists to keep you guessing to the end. Great fun that will make you want to keep reading.

[Michael Rocharde · Rating 5 out of 5]

More John Craig please

James Mitchell wrote 4 John Craig books under the name of James Munro. Unfortunately only books 1 & 4 have survived, and they are great, but I’d really like to read the missing two.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

New series for by by James Mitchell.
Similar vein to the callan series but different in tone I think.
Will have to try and get the other 3 novels as well as the film adaptation of this one.
Recommend for readers of callan who haven’t yet tried it.

[Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

aged horribly... the writing was decent though.