The Strode Venturer in Espionage Aficionados

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May 11, 2025 Sam Reaves rated it really liked it

Hammond Innes wrote thrillers in the great British tradition, novels of adventure featuring men in diverse walks of life who become ensnared in crimes, intrigues and misadventures and have to use their wits to survive. Most of his books have a nautical theme and are set in far-flung corners of the world.
In this one, set in 1963, Geoffrey Bailey, a British naval officer stationed in Singapore, decides to leave the service on the strength of a business offer. When the deal falls through he is left Hammond Innes wrote thrillers in the great British tradition, novels of adventure featuring men in diverse walks of life who become ensnared in crimes, intrigues and misadventures and have to use their wits to survive. Most of his books have a nautical theme and are set in far-flung corners of the world.
In this one, set in 1963, Geoffrey Bailey, a British naval officer stationed in Singapore, decides to leave the service on the strength of a business offer. When the deal falls through he is left without prospects and is forced to take a job with the Strode Company, a London shipping firm. The crucial backstory is that Bailey's father was also a shipowner, but his company was forcibly taken over by Strode during the Depression, making the Strode family Bailey's life-long enemies. Now the Strode sons want Bailey to do a job for them that only he can do-- find the black sheep of the Strode family, Peter Strode, who has spent his life vagabonding around Asia and the Middle East instead of perched in a comfortable London office running the firm. Bailey met Peter Strode once on a beach in Yemen and liked him; now he is tasked with finding him and bringing him into the fold. There's a financial rationale for all of this, with massive shareholdings in play as a predatory takeover firm threatens the Strode enterprise.
This complicated setup sends Bailey out into the Indian Ocean, where he runs down Peter Strode in the Maldives, a remote chain of atolls stretching south from India. Peter, it turns out, has become a fierce advocate of the islands' people, intrepid seafarers whose way of life is under threat. Volcanic activity has created a new island to the south of the chain, rich in minerals; if Strode can help his islander proteges to establish a claim to it, their future will be secured. He diverts a company freighter to the project, much to his brothers' displeasure.
What follows is a rousing tale of seamanship, skulduggery and desperate battles with the elements, a typical Innes adventure. The scene shifts back and forth between the Indian Ocean and the City of London, as Bailey advocates for Peter Strode, battling on two fronts, while dealing with complications in his personal life.
Yeah, there's a lot going on, great stuff for fans of nautical adventure and financial intrigue, with the author's usual attention to detail and keen evocation of life at sea. Treatment of the characters' personal concerns is a bit more perfunctory; you don't read an Innes novel for the sentimental insights. You read it for a vivid depiction of an active life most of us will never lead but love to experience vicariously. ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Anil Joshi marked it as to-read

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