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I discovered Brian Freemantle via Spybrary and am quite glad I did. As a lover of spy fiction and Cold War hi-jinks, his stuff is right up my alley and "Charlie M" is a fine start for what I expect was a great series back in the day.
Charlie Muffin, the main man in this installment, is an out-of-favor English spy back in the 70s who happens to be not only very competent, but vindictive as heck. He's looked down upon by his new superiors because he's not of their class and his 'grammar school' edu ...more
Charlie Muffin, the main man in this installment, is an out-of-favor English spy back in the 70s who happens to be not only very competent, but vindictive as heck. He's looked down upon by his new superiors because he's not of their class and his 'grammar school' edu ...more
The main character, Charlie Muffin, is delightful, but most of the other characters are cartoonish clichés. Some have inappropriately compared this series to John le Carré and Len Deighton, but it falls far short of those masters in its frequently unrealistic depiction of tradecraft and diplomacy. Even second-tier espionage novelists like Adam Hall do a far better job on this score. Perhaps this should have been expected, as Freemantle’s background was as a reporter for the disreputable tabloid
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May 22, 2015
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