Spycatcher

Spycatcher: A Novel by Matthew Dunn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is plannign a terror attack against the West and it's up to MI6's top agent Will Cochrane to ferret out the terrorist mastermind, a fellow spy calling himself Meggido. But what is the connection between Cochrane and Meggido? And is Cochrane willing to use the woman he's falling for to bait a trap for Meggido?

I won this in a Firstreads giveway.
The good parts:
Spycatcher is a decent thriller. Since Matthew Dunn is a former MI6 agent, the action has a gritty authenticity to it. Will Cochrane reminds me of Daniel Craig as James Bond, only tougher and less pretty. It was suspenseful at the appropriate times but not an orgy of violence.

One of the things I liked most about Spycatcher was that while the villains were Muslim terrorists, Dunn didn't beat me over the head with his political beliefs. Not once did I feel like I was being preached to about the evils of the Muslim religion. Brad Thor could learn a thing or two from Dunn's even-handedness.

The not so good parts:
The writing was pretty bland. Maybe it's because I'm a cynical curmudgeon but I found 90% of the twists to be fairly predictable, from Meggido's connection to Cochrane's past to Cochrane falling for Lana. I pretty sure the publisher was banking on Dunn's past as a MI6 operative to sell the book. At no time did I feel like Cochrane was in any real danger and quickly grew bored.

Other observations:
All of the Americans' dialogue seemed British to me. I'd chalk this up to Dunn's inexperience.

The "thrilling" conclusion:
Spycatcher isn't a bad book. It was a gripping way to spend a few hours. Just don't expect it to revolutionize the thriller genre.





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