A Spy's Life

by Henry Porter

Book Overview

"A Spy's Life, " is Porter's riveting new novel about a lone man endeavoring to unravel a mysterious jet crash, investigate a series of heinous war crimes, divine the true identity of his son, and locate a woman from the darkest recesses of his past. Ingeniously plotted and paced, Porter's novel hurtles its hero from the U.S. to Eastern Europe and through a labyrinth riddled with inscrutable identities.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743215605
• ISBN13: 9780743215602
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Nice read.

What frustrated and disappointed me was Robert Harlands sloppiness. Harland, a former British spy, was suspicious from the get yet kept making careless stupid mistakes over and over. That, after the first two, was inexcusable, imho. His sloppiness caused his sons death which reeeeally pissed me off cuz I liked Tomas Rath and was looking forward to a whole book with him in it. Grrrrr. Other than that I enjoyed reading this book and am looking into reading his 'Brandenburg Gate'. 'Empire State' sounds stupid so will skip it. Also will skip 'Remembrance Day' after reading the Publishers Weekly and Chris Fogarty's review.

Good, not great

I must agree with some of the other reviewers that this one is good, not great. Parts of it are too implausible, and other parts dragged on way too long. Halfway through I had to put the book down for a few months and regain my strength before finishing. It was only pure perseverance, not enthusiasm, that made me finish it. The end was actually well done, but it took far too long to get there.

Espionage is not dead...

However I do not read an espionage genre on regular basis, more exactly - I read it very rarely, this book has got me totally. Thrilling from the very first paragraph it has consumed my entire weekend. I simply could not leave it and let it be a bed-side reading. I have picked it randomly from a box of english books I have received from someone leaving my country back to the US and every other book I have picked up afterwards was a pure disappointment in a comparision with this one. The plot is great and refreshing, the style is dynamic and the construciton of book is thirilling. Beside being an enormously convincing post cold-war espionage book, I have appreciated the job the author has done as for the local specifics described in book. As long as I come from on of the countries the book takes place in and as long as these central-european countries are usually described in a ridiculous, far from reality way, Mr. Porter has bothered himself to do a research, to check the probability of local names and places (authors, when writing about the post-communist countries often tend to name their heroes Boris and Yelena, forcing them to live in towns sounding like in XY-kovo and let them standing all their days in the queues to get a bread and potatoes, thinking that giving the contex a typical russian coherency of the 70ties spices the book with the sprinkle of authenticity) and together with the plot he has made the book so persuasive I have started to look over my shoulder to check whether or not I'm being observed by a spy. But first and foremost he has convinced me the espionage genre (and the espionage itself) has not died with the end of a cold war.

Porter's one to watch.

Spy's Life is a very enjoyable espionage thriller. Robert Harland, a former British spy, begins the novel by surviving a plane crash only to realize that this is the least of his worries. Key events in this spy's life have come back to haunt him and now he is not only fighting for his life, but the lives of his loved ones. Great political intrigue, I especially liked the use of the United Nations in the novel.Can't wait for the sequel 'Empire State'.

excellent espionage thriller

When the UN plane crashed near LaGuardia Airport, Robert Harland quickly realizes he is in great danger of drowning, as the rescuers have no idea he was dumped into the nearby East River. He struggles over to where Alan Griswold reclines in a busted up seat, but finds his friend is dead. Robert's personal luck continues when Alan's cell phone rings. This enables Alan to inform the caller where he is. Robert takes Alan's wallet with him before the rescuers save his life. As Robert recovers from his one in a fifty billion chance of survival, he learns what happened. Transportation blames it on physics, but the FBI hints at sabotage. UN Secretariat Jaidi asks Robert to learn why someone destroyed a plane, murdering officially ten people and unofficially eleven in order to kill Alan. Apparently, Alan had damaging information on someone. A former espionage agent, Robert agrees to uncover the truth even as a young man Tomas Rath comes into his life claiming to be his son through a liaison over two decades ago with Czech Eva Houresh. Rarely does a novel start off as exciting as a SPY'S LIFE does. Henry Porter never eases up on the throttle from his first page in the East River to the final overseas confrontation. The espionage thriller is very complex though it appears to contain an unnecessary spin or two too many. The cast is developed so that readers appreciate Robert as a fabulous lead character while those who seem on the hero's side and his enemies round out a strong tale of international intrigue.Harriet Klausner