Madrigal

Boysie Oakes #4

by John Gardner

Boysie Oakes is back, in an adventure possessing more twists than a clockwork mouse and as tightly sprung as an executive wrist-watch. Involved along the way as Boysie makes a trembling trip over the Berlin Wall to perform an assassination, are Mostyn, his boozy chief, Charlie Griffin, his gunhand, a slick piece of Shantung strip silk known as Rosy Puberty, and an aristocratic lady named Honey Mambo. As usual, when Boysie goes about his task he gets stomach cramps. He also gets caught in the act...

Genres: Fiction, Espionage

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960s, John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all, Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker.

Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Reviews

[David]

Boysie Oakes is an odd spy: he is a bit of a coward. An interesting protagonist who is full of flaws (and some cliches, but aren't they all) but manages to come out on top (in several ways). Lots of plot twists in this one, pretty much right to the final page.

[Daniel Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of interesting.

The series began as a clear spoof of the Bond-style secret agent, featuring a protagonist who was good at looking suave and getting the girl, but desperately unsuited for most of the required actual duties. Now, several books in, the setting has developed to the point where that model is unsustainable-- as everything starts falling apart, Boysie has to either "man up" or give up. On the one hand, that means that the next book will feature the characters (leading and supporting) in a new situation, which won't have the same sort of appeal as the initial premise. On the other hand, it also means that the characters have begun to move beyond their initial pastiche natures and evolve into more complex roles. We'll have to see how well that works out for them.

[Jorn Barger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different, takes chances, too much hypnosis