The Red Dove

by Derek Lambert

Light wear to boards. Content is clean with light age toning to ages throughout. Good DJ with minor edge wear in plastic sleeve. Ex Library with all the usual stamps etc.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

Derek Lambert was educated at Epsom College and was both an author of thrillers in his own name, writing also as Richard Falkirk, and a journalist. As a foreign correspondent for the Daily Express, he spent time in many exotic locales that he later used as settings in his novels.

In addition to his steady stream of thrillers, Lambert also published (under the pseudonym Richard Falkirk) a series about a Bow Street Runner called Edmund Blackstone. These, the fruit of research in the London Library, were interspersed with detailed descriptions of early 19th century low life, as the hero undertook such tasks as saving Princess Victoria from being kidnapped, or penetrating skullduggery at the Bank of England.

Lambert made no claims for his books, which he often wrote in five weeks, simply dismissing them as pot-boilers; but in 1988 the veteran American journalist Martha Gellhorn paid tribute in The Daily Telegraph to his intricate plotting and skillful use of factual material. It appealed, she declared, to a universal hunger for "pure unadulterated storytelling", of the sort supplied by storytellers in a bazaar

Lambert was residing in Spain with his family at the time of his death at the age of seventy-one.

Reviews

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

 A well-conceived Cold War thriller, vocalising the inherent threat of war in space. There are apparent resemblances to actual historical figures alongside purely fictional characters. The danger of destruction is implicit in this thriller, and it replicates the feelings of many who lived under the constant threat of nuclear war.

If you are interested in the Cold War as it existed in the twentieth century, this will be of interest. It's a 'what if' book that could have easily happened.

I received a copy of this book from Harper Impulse/ Killer Reads - Collins Crime Club via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Greer Andjanetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly dated espionage novel that provides some suspense and an entertaining story. Kremlin machinations, essentially matched by US plots in a well-written story make for an enjoyable read with a satisfactory ending.

[Ragnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un thriller de vanguardia para su época, sin duda.
No tendrá la complejidad de otras novelas del género, ni el grado de tecnicismo de algunos de mis escritores favoritos, pero la disfruté de una manera especial.

[Cws]

A Lam