Running Blind (Slade #1) in Espionage Aficionados

Jun 03, 2025 Philip rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, audiobooks, first-person, fiction-short-series, kiss-kiss-bang-bang, 5-stars, 1970s, spy-fiction-british, cold-war-fiction, iceland-ireland-scotland

3+ stars for the story itself, but another 1+ for the unique setting and excellent narration (see below).

I've never read Bagley before, but have read about him (and many others) in Mike Ripley's wonderful Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: The Boom in British Thrillers from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed, and so was happy to learn that Hoopla has a number of his works available as audiobooks. Bagley writes and reads much like early Alistair MacLean, which is both good and bad; he also (at least here) 3+ stars for the story itself, but another 1+ for the unique setting and excellent narration (see below).

I've never read Bagley before, but have read about him (and many others) in Mike Ripley's wonderful Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: The Boom in British Thrillers from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed, and so was happy to learn that Hoopla has a number of his works available as audiobooks. Bagley writes and reads much like early Alistair MacLean, which is both good and bad; he also (at least here) succumbs to many of the clichés of the genre at the time — repeated captures and escapes, a whole lot of cross-country running (to the point that it frequently reminded me of The Thirty-Nine Steps), and the most MacGuffin-y MacGuffin I've ever run across. But the story certainly held my attention during a long drive from Virginia to Chicago, and again, that setting.

Far too little fiction is set in Iceland, and certainly too few thrillers, (perhaps understandably, in that Iceland doesn't have a standing army and only a minimal intelligence capability). But Bagley manages to not only set a riveting story there, but along the way give his audience a wide-ranging but still-plot-relevant tour of the island at the same time.* On top of which, narrator Paul Tyreman not only nails all the Icelandic names and location, but also does a similar job with the various Scottish terms — in particular, hero Alan Stewart's trademark "Sgian Dubh" (pronounced 'ski-en doo') throwing knife, which he keeps in his sock and uses a lot.

Bagley's following book — The Freedom Trap — was a sequel of sorts; but interestingly, it focuses not on THIS story’s protagonist (Stewart), but is connected through the book's villain...which I will probably listen to on the drive home.

Anyway...definitely a product of its time, but just as definitely a whole lot of fun.

* Including not only the major cities of Reykjavik and Akureyri, but natural attractions like Asbyrgyi Canyon, Surtsey Island, Strokker Geyser, Dettiflos waterfall and others…in fact, you can see an entire article about "Bagley’s Iceland by road, air and sea" here: https://thebagleybrief.com/2018/12/03... ...more

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