Old Boys

Wow, can this McCarry guy ever write! The first thing I noticed about OLD BOYS is what a superb wordsmith McCarry is. His prose glides across the pages as easily as a satin scarf. The second thing I noticed is that he doesn't create characters, but rather they spring to life at his command. The third thing I noticed is how his style of writing manifests the intelligence community's way of thinking. The book's narrator explains that during his days with "the Outfit," intelligence reports were graded A, B, C, D, for the reliability of the source and 1, 2, 3, 4 for the accuracy of the information. Nine out of ten times reports were graded C-3, meaning the information might be true or it may not be. Thus, the "facts" facing the ex-CIA agents known as the Old Boys are:Legendary agent Paul Christopher has disappeared. His ashes may be in the burial urn which was so graciously delivered by the Chinese government to the Americans, or he may once again be a prisoner in China, or he may be carrying out a search for his mother. Christopher's mother may have been killed by the Nazis during World War II, or she may be living as a peasant woman in rural Kyrgyzstan. If she is still alive, she may or may not have the Amphora Scroll, which may or may not exist. If the scroll exists, it contents may prove Jesus Christ to be a mere dupe of Roman intelligence operatives, or it may prove that He was genuinely the Messiah. The reported contents of the Amphora Scroll have attracted the unwanted attentions of Islamic terrorist Ibn Awad, whom the book's narrator supposedly killed years before. But despite Ibn Awad's assassination, he may still be alive. If he is alive, he may possess 12 suitcase-sized nukes, which may or may not exist. The facts uncovered by narrator Horace Hubbard, by half-Chinese-half-Ashkenazi David Wong and by the rest of the Old Boys are kaleidoscopic in nature--if you don't like them, wait five minutes and reality will morph into something else.OLD BOYS is a wonderful tale.However, it loses its fifth star because of the combined effect of four flaws. Reviewer Brenda Gardner justifiably criticizes the dowsing scene. This scene is unnecessary, unbelievable, amateurish, but thankfully brief. Second, I have a sneaking hunch that McCarry had a side bet going that he could put more locales into this novel than in any other novel in history. This gives OLD BOYS an if-it's-Tuesday-this-must-be-Belgium ambiance. On the other hand, McCurry's descriptions of these many locations are vivid, observant, and detailed. I can't help wonder if he's actually visited all of them (and, if so, how has he avoided bankruptcy?) Third, although McCarry demonstrates a mastery at populating OLD BOYS with distinct, lifelike characters, he inexplicably fails to do so with the Old Boys themselves. Reviewer J. Stanley complains that Horace's helpers are always "white, Midwestern farm boys." But historically, the Old Boys come from a time when the CIA was essentially a Whites-Only organization. Nevertheless, this doesn't excuse the Old Boys from being a homologous entity. None of them have outlooks or reactions which differ from the others. None of them apparently have any children to frantically call them up wondering why grandpa is in Istanbul, or Ireland, or Chad or the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Old Boys essentially are one, not-very-interesting character who's been photocopied. Fourth, what is the ultimate evil that we readers are supposed to fear? Is it that Ibn Awad, if he still lives, will use his Little Joes to vaporize a dozen American cities, or is it that he will get his hands on the Amphora Scroll and use it to disprove the basic beliefs of Christianity?None of these few flaws is fatal to the book. To the contrary, twin beacons flash out through the gloom, each so intense you can hang your hat on it. First, McCarry is a helluva writer. Second, McCarry knows espionage. (Is there really a technique known as "waterfall surveillance?")

Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher series comes to an end in "Old Boys". Returned from a Chinese prison in "Second Sight", Christopher was no longer directly associated with the Outfit, as McCarry dubs the CIA. He appeared to have entered his dotage, advising old colleagues, living off a well-invested portfolio in a lovely townhouse, surrounded by fine art, and married again to the daughter of a very old friend of the family. He's been introduced to his daughter from his previous marriage and is intrigued and delighted with her. He's managed to get past the decade in Chinese prison -- battered, much older and wiser. It seemed a fine way to let the character, one of the most memorable in spy fiction, fade away. Of course it didn't happen even in that book; McCarry's too smart about the secret life to do that. And so, Christopher comes back in to closely advise and participate in a major action against a terrorist, in the process of which his boss is killed, his daughter sexually assaulted, and Christopher himself, while surviving, pretty much permanently separated from that life.But, McCarry wasn't quite finished yet. "Old Boys", set after Christopher's divorce from his second wife a decade or so later, begins in its prologue with Christopher arranging his own disappearance on a journey he hopes will find his long-lost mother, kidnapped by Nazi monster Reinhardt Heydrich in 1940. No one but Christopher believes Lori Christopher, who would be in her 90s, is still alive, but no one can stop him, least of all his cousin. In Chapter 1, the same cousin, a few months later, has received Paul Christopher's ashes from the Chinese government. He doesn't believe they're real. Thus starts a reunion of a crowd of old boys from the mid-Cold War days at CIA, set into motion by the missing Christopher in part, but more by the surprise discovery that a mad Arab they thought dead has resurfaced, this time armed with Soviet-era suitcase nukes which the terrorist plans to use on the United States.It sounds a bit like an airport book, and in some ways it is. The style is sometimes a bit hackneyed. But, in most other aspects, the depth of characterization, the examination of motive and act, the illumination of setting, and the observation of the various rituals of eating, drinking and conversation that spies encounter in their travels is pure McCarry, which is to say as good or better than anyone else has ever been in depicting the secret life. Word has been for many years that the one book you're likely to see a real spy reading was written by Charles McCarry. Evidently, he remembered a lot from his many years working for the agency, not as a house bureaucrat, but as an active agent.The book is much more fun than serious, though it has serious resonance with the ongoing struggle with terrorists from the Middle East and elsewhere. It ends happily, as you would expect in a 'hale and farewell' story. We know we will never see Christopher again, at least in a contemporary story. We know he's happy, as is his daughter. We know a lot of happy things, including the dispensation of the terrorist and his bombs. That's okay. The road there is filled with more serious stuff. Enjoy. If you wanted to meet Paul Christopher and company one more time, buy "Old Boys" by Charles McCarry.But, if you must have the really serious stuff, go back to the beginning of the series. All of those books are being reissued, including "The Miernik Dossier," the first Christopher book, and a literary tour-de-force, "The Tears of Autumn," a most unusual view of the assassination of a President, "The Secret Lovers," probably one of the best five or six spy novels ever written, "The Last Supper," also one of the very best, and "Second Sight," under-appreciated by most critics but a rather stunning fiction.There has been a subsequent addition to the Christopher series, but it's set while he's still an active agent, the very fine "Christopher's Ghosts."

This thing is almost 500 pages and should be 300.It skitters around like a pinball over half the world, from intelligent to stupid, from one set of morals and allegiances to another, changing colors like a camelion. It becomes tiresome.Not for me.

This Charles McCarry novel is by my definition a thriller. It is quite unlike his earlier books by the fact is is a first person narrative by Horace Hubbard, Paul Christopher's cousin and disgraced "Outfit" operative. I recommend for all people new to the McCarry novels to go back to the beginning instead. Here is the best order to read them, The Miernik Dossier (1973), The Secret Lovers (1977), The Tears of Autumn (1974) The Last Supper (1983) and Second Sight (1991). Then read Old Boys. These first five are literally some of the best books I have ever read and in their entirety are one long espionage story, covering all the momentous events of the 20th century, from WW1 on. These five books as one represent some of the finest post WW2 written American literature there is. McCarry ranks up there with the best of them.Old Boys is a departure from McCarry's typical style and is a spin off series dealing with Horace Hubbard and global terrorist Ibn Awad, the man who dies twice at the hands of the same person. It started in the books The Better Angels and Shelley's Heart, which I have not yet read.The spies are much older as the title suggests, but the problems are still the same. Paul Christopher takes a back seat in this one, but gets to ride in the back seat with someone much older than himself. I would have liked more Zarah the beheader, Paul's daughter, but it would be hard to outdo what she accomplished in Second Sight and she didn't even need a dragon tattoo.As McCarry has done in all his early novels you will learn an amazing lot of bizarre things in this book that will have you googling like mad to see if they are real. For instance the Houbara Bustard is a chicken-like bird that Arab Princes will go to great lengths and millions of dollars to hunt to endangered status, with falcons. Look up Pakistan and falcon hunting to see what I mean. And in the real world of terror this hunting activity/sport played an important role in the hunt for....Well you figure out.Another part of the book hinges on a 2000 year old scroll that purports a Roman plan to destabilize the high Priests' role in society by use of a unwitting prophet, eleven bodyguards and a Roman spy who covered all expenses. As far as religious conspiracies go, you don't have to go much further afield than this one. Put your faith in me.

Comparison to le carre laughable.Flimsy unbelievable plot badly written

It appears to me that the author has run out of material and was forcing the events in this novel. It was all rather far fetched. Too many inconsistencies.