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Paul Dark #1-3
The Dark Chronicles: A Spy Trilogy: Free Agent; Song of Treason; The Moscow Option
It's 1969, and MI6 agent Paul Dark has spent the last twenty-five years betraying his country. When a would-be Russian defector turns up with information about a high-level British double agent, Dark goes on the run—only to discover that everything he believes is a lie.
Bringing together three novels featuring double agent Paul Dark, The Dark Chronicles journeys from London to Nigeria and from Rome to Moscow in a heart-pounding saga of dubious loyalties, deadly conspiracies, and ruthless acts of revenge at the height of the Cold War.
Bringing together three novels featuring double agent Paul Dark, The Dark Chronicles journeys from London to Nigeria and from Rome to Moscow in a heart-pounding saga of dubious loyalties, deadly conspiracies, and ruthless acts of revenge at the height of the Cold War.
794 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Duns
21 books79 followersJeremy Duns was born in 1973 and is the author of the acclaimed Paul Dark spy novels. He lives in the Åland islands.
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December 17, 2017
THREE ACTS OF A SPY.
“It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire, their destruction were coincidental with attainment.” ― David Cornwell.
"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."- The Iron Lady.
“If this be treason, make the most of it!” – Patrick Henry.
Treason. Even in this day and age with people like Snowden, Manning and Assange making such a thing increasingly acceptable to the general public, the crime of betraying one’s country still has that ghastly aura which invokes suitable outrage when an instance of it is exposed. Back in the early 20th century, traitors were hanged, shot and made to die screaming, and while such practices have stopped in Democracies, authoritarians still keep such traditions alive. The great heyday of treason by a country mile was during the Cold War between international Communism and the free world. For all their economic incompetence and blundering brutality, one thing the predecessor of today's Russian federation got right, was spying. The list of traitors from Fuchs, to Philby in the 50s and 60s, and Aldrich Ames and Hansen in the 80s and 90s that the Soviet union cultivated have attained the notoriety that our own assets like Colonel Vladimir Vetrov, the provider of the legendary farewell dossier lack.
A novelist who has made the theme of treason the centerpiece of his thriller fiction series is Jeremy Duns. A distinguished journalist who has worked at the British newspapers which are worth reading, Duns has since moved to Scandinavia where he began writing spy fiction in 2009. His spy fiction is part of the “retro” sub – genre set in days gone by like the Cold War, which attempt to capture the magic of the old masters. Over four books, Duns tells the tragic demise of Paul Dark. Dark is an SIS officer who has made a respectable career serving Queen and Country and living a somewhat content life as a paid up member of the British Oxbridge class whose grip on the reigns of power was shaken by the Cambridge 5 saga. What Dark’s associates don’t know is that behind the Savile Row suits and proper old boy breeding lies a snake in the grass, albeit one who is broken inside.
You see, Paul Dark is a bona - fide traitor who has given information to the enemies of the Crown in Moscow. Dark is the chap whose skull you would want to crush with a cricket bat until all that’s left is strawberry jam. However, as Duns shows, there’s more than meets the eye to a man who is the polar opposite of James Bond in more ways than one, and over the course of three books, in a journey that takes us from West to East, we get to know what really makes a man betray his country. I must give many thanks to Duns American publisher who had the simply brilliant idea of packaging the first three novels (Free Agent, Song of Treason and the Moscow Option) into one omnibus which thankfully hasn’t been taken off the ebook stores. Now to the review. Where does a repentant sinner run to when he faces the judgement of the world?
We begin the epic saga of Paul Dark on a foggy Hampshire morning on March 23nd 1969. Dark is visiting “C”, the director general of the SIS at his country estate. Dark is curious about why he’s been summoned. Drinks are poured and that fine art of British small talk is made, with war stories and reminisces told. “C” gets down to business and informs Dark that the Cultural Attache for the Soviet Embassy in Lagos has done a walk in and wishes to defect to the UK with everything in his head. Among his intel includes information on a soviet asset recruited in 1945. Dark offers to go to Nigeria to run down this lead and the moment the opportunity presents itself, gives his own boss 9 grams. That first bullet is the starting shot for a journey that takes Dark to Africa, where the British government is engaged in one of the first truly disgraceful foreign policy ventures of the post – colonial era, a project that led to the original African humanitarian catastrophe. Hoping to sabotage or at least leave the debriefing and transfer of the defector dead in the water, Dark soon finds himself dodging gunmen on a Lagos golf course and fighter jets in Biafra as he uncovers a plot to decapitate the British government.
The second book takes place a few months after Dark’s Nigerian business trip. We open on St Paul's Cathedral where Dark is audaciously giving a eulogy to the man he murdered by drawing on the happier memories he had with the cantankerous SIS director. Suddenly shots ring out and Dark pursues an assassin whom he’s forced to corner and kill. The assassination appears to be a terrorist attack by leftist terrorists from Italy.
Disliking Johnny Foreigner’s impudence at interrupting a British funeral, Dark, is sent by some Whitehall Mandarins to Rome where he’s to draw out the leftist terrorists responsible for the attack. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s just stumbled on a horrifying real life conspiracy with the governments of the free world neck deep in blood that’s leaking out from under a locked door. From a brutal military base in Sardinia, to the churches of Northern Italy, Dark frantically runs to save himself and millions of innocent civilians from his own mistakes as he’s forced to stay one step ahead from the clenched, right fist of the free world.
Finally, the concluding act of the epic omnibus opens in October 1969 where Paul Dark finds himself summoned by his masters and tormentors to the Kremlin War Room. There, the leading lights of International Communism from Andropov to Brezhnev pick Dark’s Brain due to the fact none of them know how to solve a problem that seems to be on the verge of hitting them in the face. Nuclear war. Richard Nixon has broken out the USAF to play and is running multiple readiness drills on their nuclear arsenal. Compounding the issue is a mysterious toxic chemical leak in the middle of nowhere, namely the waters of Scandinavia between Sweden, Russia and Finland. This last detail triggers a recollection in Dark who realizes he has some involvement in that problem. Trapped behind an iron curtain, turned into a sacrificial pawn whose being used to set up a geopolitical check mate, and faced with an enemy who holds all the pieces and cards, Dark, who has nothing else to lose, goes on the run, with certain death at the end of the line. With the fate of the world in the hands of the most unlikely hero imaginable, only one questions remains. Who will survive the final act of a spy?
In terms of plot, the Paul Dark Omnibus trilogy is outstanding. In the age of Amazon where the general public has attention spans of goldfish, it’s distressing that the classic, “serialized” story arc has become massively unpopular. Hence, having the first three books in one package, is a nice benefit, and together, the whole trilogy as KIRKUS noted, is grander than the sum of its parts. For me, the omnibus is a glorious espionage epic, something that only comes once in awhile, or with indie published writers like Fulton, Jordan and England.
More operatic and sweeping than a Chris Ryan or Brad Thor novel, the Paul Dark Omnibus is positively operatic in character, with far more thrills, drama and brutality than most contemporary mainstream published espionage fiction. And the Omnibus allows for all the beautiful plot and thematic threads Duns has written to come together and tie into place, rather than feel disjointed and unsatisfying when the books were in their individual components. If more writers who utilize serialized arcs, follow what Duns’ publisher did with his original trilogy, they would be able to make great strides in regaining the appeal the serialized arc story once had.
Action and setting? Masterfully written. With his stories set in the pre – iphone era, the action scenes in Duns work are rather special to behold, with the first generation of modern covert operatives battling it out in a thousand dark streets and empty wildernesses that history will never reveal. Highlights include, a infiltration of a Nigerian night club and a car chase that tears through one of the nicest golf courses in Lagos, a violent encounter with some angry assassins on an Italian night train, and finally a run through the halls of “Adults World” in Lubyanka square where Paul barely makes it out alive with SPETSNAZ GRU operators coming within metres of taking him down. This is just the tip of the iceberg however. And action isn’t the heart and center of Duns work however. The finer things in life like characters/plot/research are, as is, setting. And the backdrops where Dark’s odyssey takes place on are beautifully realized. Whether it be the jungles of Biafra or the chilly West Russian countryside, or the splendid menacing architecture Rome and the dark, hellish depths underneath the Kremlin, Duns evokes the old masters who appreciated what a good setting could do for a story, a lesson that’s been increasingly forgotten in this century save for a few good writers. As Paul Dark makes his journey from West to East, Duns will take you into a full realized, fleshed out world where you will be immersed in the environment and any actions taken will have violent consequences for those that reside there.
Research? With his genre bending blend of spy thriller and historical fiction, by default, the author has to do a lot of research. One thing I need in my espionage fiction, is the research to be on point. Put a safety on a Glock, say the capital of China is in Hong Kong and the next time I need to get a target for rifle practise, I’ll be sure to put the offending book in the scope cross hairs. Duns however, avoids this. He researches his books like an academic preparing a doctoral thesis with a small national archive's worth of real world detail integrated into the narrative. Whether it be like the uglier social and cultural norms of the swinging sixties (Dark takes a lot of 007’s favorite Benzedrine as he gets more stressed), the old fashioned tradecraft and combat tactics that were used before the age of hellfire missiles and the NSA’s Utah Server Farm or even little details like the fact the public could go up to the top of St Peter’s dome back in 1969, we then get a look into some of the more fascinating and shocking parts of the Cold War that Le Carre never covered. From the internal politics that motivated British covert intervention into Nigeria, to NATO’s Project Gladio and a crash course on the chilling maths that runs nuclear warfare (you won’t stop worrying and you will hate the bomb by the end of it), Duns three books are quite possibly the finest historical fiction on the Cold War written this century as they bring those moments of recent history to life so well.
One of the things I particularly like about the Paul Dark Series, is how it sadistically utilizes the tropes and conventions of classic spy fiction to devastating effect. The author is far, far more brutal than the great Le Carre was in his prime with stinging the reader and his suffering anti – hero when they least expect it. There are no happy endings in the Paul Dark series and in most of the books, we eventually have a half dead Dark, barely scrambling towards the finish line a few pages ahead of someone trying to murder him. Compare that to many literary Jack Bauer knock offs who get to outwit the baddies, romance the blonde and generally roar off into the sunset for the next adventure. The author, despite writing books set in the era which gave us that sort of timeless wish fulfillment is willing to be braver and not fall into the trap of doing that sort of thing. And the omnibus is all the better for it as the action keeps rising to the heavens, with the scythe swinging closer towards Dark as he frantically tries to save his skin.
Characters? One of the author’s biggest strengths are his amazing portraits of fully realized individuals with their distinct quirks and foibles. For his heroes, Duns makes good use of people who seem to have it all, but are far more broken up inside. He then follows them trying to rise above their demons with the whole world against them. As for his bad guys however, Duns has a lot of surprises in store. More refined and exciting than your average contemporary antagonists, and far, far more brutal and insane than any literary James Bond villain, the Dark series cast are far more compelling than most contemporary fiction set in modern times. Lets start with a few standouts.
First, there’s Paul Dark, our traitorous anti – hero. Dark is a deconstruction of your 60’s British super spy. Born to the right family, gone to the right schools and universities one needs to attend to enter the top tier of Britain’s establishment, goes to the right parties to hobnob with the right sort of people from the Oxbridge/old school tie set that ran the SIS and MI5 exclusively back in the 1960s and is handsome and mostly appealing to the ladies. However, behind the well tailored Gentleman mask lies a more screwed up individual. He has paternal issues, and the arrogant rashness and self pity of his youth ultimately caused him to make the decision that would throw him into the all crushing bear hug of the USSR. And once you’re an asset, you’ll never be able to get out as Dark finds out. Dark also is the furthest thing from the cool under fire 007. He talks a good game and puts on a cocksure confidence, but Duns utilizes first person perspective to capture his near constantly panicked inner monologue.
Most of the time, Dark is frantically improvising, only winning because he made one extra move that his would be killers failed to make in time. So, we have a spineless weasel whose suffering is justified because he brought it on himself? Yes, but more than that. Duns humanizes Dark through two effective methods. One, his own side are revealed to be just as brutal and violent as the Communists Dark works for. And two, despite himself, Dark is not an inherently evil man. He tries to do the right thing when it’s made visible to him, even if he hurts himself in the process. The ultimate result is a flawed, realistic character who gets by on his own skill and cunning, rather than multi-million dollar gadgets or thousand dollar firearms.
Then, there’s a school buddy Dark meets in Song of Treason. This school chum also works for the SIS and at first seems like a good bloke. Which he’s not. The school chum hates Dark with the heat of a thousand suns and due to an incident in the past, has nursed a grudge which has turned him into an abusive psychopath with anger management issues that make Bruce Banner look calm. When he reveals his true colors in a nightmarish interrogation, you will wince at the thrashing the school chum dishes out. And for the second half of the second book, he’s like the incredible Hulk in a Savile Row suit, providing much of the thrills and terror as Dark and the man’s abused wife try to flee across the length of Italy from him. A truly terrifying monster, Dark’s school chum is one of the few contemporary spy novel antagonists who will unnerve you.
Finally, there are two people who for the sake of hiding spoilers, I shall call “The Sharks” as they work at the only Aquarium in Moscow that the public will never visit. They are a father and son pair who are good at their trade in espionage. Creating a successful good cop / bad cop routine, they are the overarching antagonists of the epic Omnibus, and are way better than anything that Fleming or Le Carre came up with.
Competent and charismatic despite the tyranny they serve, “the sharks” stay several steps ahead of their British asset, until the third book where Dark finally gets even with them in an amazingly written scene on an Island in Scandinavia. Between the Sharks, the “father” is the more interesting one as he comes up with a world domination plan that’s without equal in spy fiction. No space lasers or impractical super weapons. Instead, he doesn’t pussyfoot around with any world ransom schemes, and makes it clear, that if anyone wanted to rule the world, they’d have to depopulate the globe to the tune of several billion people.
Constructive Criticism? Of the omnibus? Nothing. Looking back at the reviews for the individual books on amazon, I’m honestly confused why they haven’t been seen in a positive light. Only a few of the complaints are understandable and the rest are highly debatable and subjective. I suppose it’s the serialized format which caused most of the brouhaha and any problems that people would have there are stopped dead by the omnibus format. Read separately, I’d have probably had a few complaints. But united into one place, the three acts of Paul Dark flow beautifully, with whatever little niggles cancelled out by the ability to keep reading into the next story.
Someone once told me that we were all certain of our sins, but fearful of our good deeds because they would not be expected of us. That observation encapsulates the traitor, Paul Dark. A man who committed the cardinal sin in the business he was in, but who ultimately ends up trying to be the hero people thought he was.
Now, I’d say that you should buy the first three books and the fourth one because the former have nice covers and the latter continues Dark’s saga in a soft – reboot told in third person. But actually, buy the omnibus, because that truly does justice to Duns’ work and is the real masterpiece here. An espionage epic which only comes once in a full moon, the Dark Omnibus is a beautifully crafted and plotted work, that genre bends espionage and political thrillers with historical fiction.
Boasting fascinating plots that that utilize the classic tropes and conventions to stab the reader when they least expect it, stunning gorgeous locales fit for a movie and a cast of characters more compelling than most in British or American mainstream fiction, the three acts of Dark are a masterpiece made possible by a publisher’s masterstroke. As the final chapter of the third act closes, with an English spy vanishing below the waves, I’m sure you’ll agree with me, the next Paul Dark book can’t come soon enough.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
“It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire, their destruction were coincidental with attainment.” ― David Cornwell.
"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."- The Iron Lady.
“If this be treason, make the most of it!” – Patrick Henry.
Treason. Even in this day and age with people like Snowden, Manning and Assange making such a thing increasingly acceptable to the general public, the crime of betraying one’s country still has that ghastly aura which invokes suitable outrage when an instance of it is exposed. Back in the early 20th century, traitors were hanged, shot and made to die screaming, and while such practices have stopped in Democracies, authoritarians still keep such traditions alive. The great heyday of treason by a country mile was during the Cold War between international Communism and the free world. For all their economic incompetence and blundering brutality, one thing the predecessor of today's Russian federation got right, was spying. The list of traitors from Fuchs, to Philby in the 50s and 60s, and Aldrich Ames and Hansen in the 80s and 90s that the Soviet union cultivated have attained the notoriety that our own assets like Colonel Vladimir Vetrov, the provider of the legendary farewell dossier lack.
A novelist who has made the theme of treason the centerpiece of his thriller fiction series is Jeremy Duns. A distinguished journalist who has worked at the British newspapers which are worth reading, Duns has since moved to Scandinavia where he began writing spy fiction in 2009. His spy fiction is part of the “retro” sub – genre set in days gone by like the Cold War, which attempt to capture the magic of the old masters. Over four books, Duns tells the tragic demise of Paul Dark. Dark is an SIS officer who has made a respectable career serving Queen and Country and living a somewhat content life as a paid up member of the British Oxbridge class whose grip on the reigns of power was shaken by the Cambridge 5 saga. What Dark’s associates don’t know is that behind the Savile Row suits and proper old boy breeding lies a snake in the grass, albeit one who is broken inside.
You see, Paul Dark is a bona - fide traitor who has given information to the enemies of the Crown in Moscow. Dark is the chap whose skull you would want to crush with a cricket bat until all that’s left is strawberry jam. However, as Duns shows, there’s more than meets the eye to a man who is the polar opposite of James Bond in more ways than one, and over the course of three books, in a journey that takes us from West to East, we get to know what really makes a man betray his country. I must give many thanks to Duns American publisher who had the simply brilliant idea of packaging the first three novels (Free Agent, Song of Treason and the Moscow Option) into one omnibus which thankfully hasn’t been taken off the ebook stores. Now to the review. Where does a repentant sinner run to when he faces the judgement of the world?
We begin the epic saga of Paul Dark on a foggy Hampshire morning on March 23nd 1969. Dark is visiting “C”, the director general of the SIS at his country estate. Dark is curious about why he’s been summoned. Drinks are poured and that fine art of British small talk is made, with war stories and reminisces told. “C” gets down to business and informs Dark that the Cultural Attache for the Soviet Embassy in Lagos has done a walk in and wishes to defect to the UK with everything in his head. Among his intel includes information on a soviet asset recruited in 1945. Dark offers to go to Nigeria to run down this lead and the moment the opportunity presents itself, gives his own boss 9 grams. That first bullet is the starting shot for a journey that takes Dark to Africa, where the British government is engaged in one of the first truly disgraceful foreign policy ventures of the post – colonial era, a project that led to the original African humanitarian catastrophe. Hoping to sabotage or at least leave the debriefing and transfer of the defector dead in the water, Dark soon finds himself dodging gunmen on a Lagos golf course and fighter jets in Biafra as he uncovers a plot to decapitate the British government.
The second book takes place a few months after Dark’s Nigerian business trip. We open on St Paul's Cathedral where Dark is audaciously giving a eulogy to the man he murdered by drawing on the happier memories he had with the cantankerous SIS director. Suddenly shots ring out and Dark pursues an assassin whom he’s forced to corner and kill. The assassination appears to be a terrorist attack by leftist terrorists from Italy.
Disliking Johnny Foreigner’s impudence at interrupting a British funeral, Dark, is sent by some Whitehall Mandarins to Rome where he’s to draw out the leftist terrorists responsible for the attack. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s just stumbled on a horrifying real life conspiracy with the governments of the free world neck deep in blood that’s leaking out from under a locked door. From a brutal military base in Sardinia, to the churches of Northern Italy, Dark frantically runs to save himself and millions of innocent civilians from his own mistakes as he’s forced to stay one step ahead from the clenched, right fist of the free world.
Finally, the concluding act of the epic omnibus opens in October 1969 where Paul Dark finds himself summoned by his masters and tormentors to the Kremlin War Room. There, the leading lights of International Communism from Andropov to Brezhnev pick Dark’s Brain due to the fact none of them know how to solve a problem that seems to be on the verge of hitting them in the face. Nuclear war. Richard Nixon has broken out the USAF to play and is running multiple readiness drills on their nuclear arsenal. Compounding the issue is a mysterious toxic chemical leak in the middle of nowhere, namely the waters of Scandinavia between Sweden, Russia and Finland. This last detail triggers a recollection in Dark who realizes he has some involvement in that problem. Trapped behind an iron curtain, turned into a sacrificial pawn whose being used to set up a geopolitical check mate, and faced with an enemy who holds all the pieces and cards, Dark, who has nothing else to lose, goes on the run, with certain death at the end of the line. With the fate of the world in the hands of the most unlikely hero imaginable, only one questions remains. Who will survive the final act of a spy?
In terms of plot, the Paul Dark Omnibus trilogy is outstanding. In the age of Amazon where the general public has attention spans of goldfish, it’s distressing that the classic, “serialized” story arc has become massively unpopular. Hence, having the first three books in one package, is a nice benefit, and together, the whole trilogy as KIRKUS noted, is grander than the sum of its parts. For me, the omnibus is a glorious espionage epic, something that only comes once in awhile, or with indie published writers like Fulton, Jordan and England.
More operatic and sweeping than a Chris Ryan or Brad Thor novel, the Paul Dark Omnibus is positively operatic in character, with far more thrills, drama and brutality than most contemporary mainstream published espionage fiction. And the Omnibus allows for all the beautiful plot and thematic threads Duns has written to come together and tie into place, rather than feel disjointed and unsatisfying when the books were in their individual components. If more writers who utilize serialized arcs, follow what Duns’ publisher did with his original trilogy, they would be able to make great strides in regaining the appeal the serialized arc story once had.
Action and setting? Masterfully written. With his stories set in the pre – iphone era, the action scenes in Duns work are rather special to behold, with the first generation of modern covert operatives battling it out in a thousand dark streets and empty wildernesses that history will never reveal. Highlights include, a infiltration of a Nigerian night club and a car chase that tears through one of the nicest golf courses in Lagos, a violent encounter with some angry assassins on an Italian night train, and finally a run through the halls of “Adults World” in Lubyanka square where Paul barely makes it out alive with SPETSNAZ GRU operators coming within metres of taking him down. This is just the tip of the iceberg however. And action isn’t the heart and center of Duns work however. The finer things in life like characters/plot/research are, as is, setting. And the backdrops where Dark’s odyssey takes place on are beautifully realized. Whether it be the jungles of Biafra or the chilly West Russian countryside, or the splendid menacing architecture Rome and the dark, hellish depths underneath the Kremlin, Duns evokes the old masters who appreciated what a good setting could do for a story, a lesson that’s been increasingly forgotten in this century save for a few good writers. As Paul Dark makes his journey from West to East, Duns will take you into a full realized, fleshed out world where you will be immersed in the environment and any actions taken will have violent consequences for those that reside there.
Research? With his genre bending blend of spy thriller and historical fiction, by default, the author has to do a lot of research. One thing I need in my espionage fiction, is the research to be on point. Put a safety on a Glock, say the capital of China is in Hong Kong and the next time I need to get a target for rifle practise, I’ll be sure to put the offending book in the scope cross hairs. Duns however, avoids this. He researches his books like an academic preparing a doctoral thesis with a small national archive's worth of real world detail integrated into the narrative. Whether it be like the uglier social and cultural norms of the swinging sixties (Dark takes a lot of 007’s favorite Benzedrine as he gets more stressed), the old fashioned tradecraft and combat tactics that were used before the age of hellfire missiles and the NSA’s Utah Server Farm or even little details like the fact the public could go up to the top of St Peter’s dome back in 1969, we then get a look into some of the more fascinating and shocking parts of the Cold War that Le Carre never covered. From the internal politics that motivated British covert intervention into Nigeria, to NATO’s Project Gladio and a crash course on the chilling maths that runs nuclear warfare (you won’t stop worrying and you will hate the bomb by the end of it), Duns three books are quite possibly the finest historical fiction on the Cold War written this century as they bring those moments of recent history to life so well.
One of the things I particularly like about the Paul Dark Series, is how it sadistically utilizes the tropes and conventions of classic spy fiction to devastating effect. The author is far, far more brutal than the great Le Carre was in his prime with stinging the reader and his suffering anti – hero when they least expect it. There are no happy endings in the Paul Dark series and in most of the books, we eventually have a half dead Dark, barely scrambling towards the finish line a few pages ahead of someone trying to murder him. Compare that to many literary Jack Bauer knock offs who get to outwit the baddies, romance the blonde and generally roar off into the sunset for the next adventure. The author, despite writing books set in the era which gave us that sort of timeless wish fulfillment is willing to be braver and not fall into the trap of doing that sort of thing. And the omnibus is all the better for it as the action keeps rising to the heavens, with the scythe swinging closer towards Dark as he frantically tries to save his skin.
Characters? One of the author’s biggest strengths are his amazing portraits of fully realized individuals with their distinct quirks and foibles. For his heroes, Duns makes good use of people who seem to have it all, but are far more broken up inside. He then follows them trying to rise above their demons with the whole world against them. As for his bad guys however, Duns has a lot of surprises in store. More refined and exciting than your average contemporary antagonists, and far, far more brutal and insane than any literary James Bond villain, the Dark series cast are far more compelling than most contemporary fiction set in modern times. Lets start with a few standouts.
First, there’s Paul Dark, our traitorous anti – hero. Dark is a deconstruction of your 60’s British super spy. Born to the right family, gone to the right schools and universities one needs to attend to enter the top tier of Britain’s establishment, goes to the right parties to hobnob with the right sort of people from the Oxbridge/old school tie set that ran the SIS and MI5 exclusively back in the 1960s and is handsome and mostly appealing to the ladies. However, behind the well tailored Gentleman mask lies a more screwed up individual. He has paternal issues, and the arrogant rashness and self pity of his youth ultimately caused him to make the decision that would throw him into the all crushing bear hug of the USSR. And once you’re an asset, you’ll never be able to get out as Dark finds out. Dark also is the furthest thing from the cool under fire 007. He talks a good game and puts on a cocksure confidence, but Duns utilizes first person perspective to capture his near constantly panicked inner monologue.
Most of the time, Dark is frantically improvising, only winning because he made one extra move that his would be killers failed to make in time. So, we have a spineless weasel whose suffering is justified because he brought it on himself? Yes, but more than that. Duns humanizes Dark through two effective methods. One, his own side are revealed to be just as brutal and violent as the Communists Dark works for. And two, despite himself, Dark is not an inherently evil man. He tries to do the right thing when it’s made visible to him, even if he hurts himself in the process. The ultimate result is a flawed, realistic character who gets by on his own skill and cunning, rather than multi-million dollar gadgets or thousand dollar firearms.
Then, there’s a school buddy Dark meets in Song of Treason. This school chum also works for the SIS and at first seems like a good bloke. Which he’s not. The school chum hates Dark with the heat of a thousand suns and due to an incident in the past, has nursed a grudge which has turned him into an abusive psychopath with anger management issues that make Bruce Banner look calm. When he reveals his true colors in a nightmarish interrogation, you will wince at the thrashing the school chum dishes out. And for the second half of the second book, he’s like the incredible Hulk in a Savile Row suit, providing much of the thrills and terror as Dark and the man’s abused wife try to flee across the length of Italy from him. A truly terrifying monster, Dark’s school chum is one of the few contemporary spy novel antagonists who will unnerve you.
Finally, there are two people who for the sake of hiding spoilers, I shall call “The Sharks” as they work at the only Aquarium in Moscow that the public will never visit. They are a father and son pair who are good at their trade in espionage. Creating a successful good cop / bad cop routine, they are the overarching antagonists of the epic Omnibus, and are way better than anything that Fleming or Le Carre came up with.
Competent and charismatic despite the tyranny they serve, “the sharks” stay several steps ahead of their British asset, until the third book where Dark finally gets even with them in an amazingly written scene on an Island in Scandinavia. Between the Sharks, the “father” is the more interesting one as he comes up with a world domination plan that’s without equal in spy fiction. No space lasers or impractical super weapons. Instead, he doesn’t pussyfoot around with any world ransom schemes, and makes it clear, that if anyone wanted to rule the world, they’d have to depopulate the globe to the tune of several billion people.
Constructive Criticism? Of the omnibus? Nothing. Looking back at the reviews for the individual books on amazon, I’m honestly confused why they haven’t been seen in a positive light. Only a few of the complaints are understandable and the rest are highly debatable and subjective. I suppose it’s the serialized format which caused most of the brouhaha and any problems that people would have there are stopped dead by the omnibus format. Read separately, I’d have probably had a few complaints. But united into one place, the three acts of Paul Dark flow beautifully, with whatever little niggles cancelled out by the ability to keep reading into the next story.
Someone once told me that we were all certain of our sins, but fearful of our good deeds because they would not be expected of us. That observation encapsulates the traitor, Paul Dark. A man who committed the cardinal sin in the business he was in, but who ultimately ends up trying to be the hero people thought he was.
Now, I’d say that you should buy the first three books and the fourth one because the former have nice covers and the latter continues Dark’s saga in a soft – reboot told in third person. But actually, buy the omnibus, because that truly does justice to Duns’ work and is the real masterpiece here. An espionage epic which only comes once in a full moon, the Dark Omnibus is a beautifully crafted and plotted work, that genre bends espionage and political thrillers with historical fiction.
Boasting fascinating plots that that utilize the classic tropes and conventions to stab the reader when they least expect it, stunning gorgeous locales fit for a movie and a cast of characters more compelling than most in British or American mainstream fiction, the three acts of Dark are a masterpiece made possible by a publisher’s masterstroke. As the final chapter of the third act closes, with an English spy vanishing below the waves, I’m sure you’ll agree with me, the next Paul Dark book can’t come soon enough.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
June 30, 2014
Exceptional spy thriller. As other reviewers mentioned, the main character is fairly difficult to like based on his decisions and views, but it actually adds to the story and makes it more enticing (in my opinion). I read all three in succession, and very quickly as I could not put down any of the three books. If you were a fan of The Company: A Novel of the CIA then you will definitely enjoy this trilogy. I was a little hesitant at first, as it revolved around a British agent, but I am very glad I took the opportunity to enjoy it. It is one of the very few books I have given 5 stars.
November 14, 2016
Excellent stuff. Got a bit "Ludlumesque" towards the end of the first book, but aside from a few spurious turns it was taut and tense throughout. Especially admired an extraordinary literary passage where the protagonist loses his hearing for a time. Not at all what one expects in spy fiction!
By the time the third book in the trilogy winds up you find that not much time has passed (in your own life, that is - it's a real page turner!)
By the time the third book in the trilogy winds up you find that not much time has passed (in your own life, that is - it's a real page turner!)
March 9, 2016
Warning: this review has a few spoilers.
Full of unexpected twists and turns, this trilogy had me up reading late at night.
Paul Dark is a most interesting and ambiguous character. As a British double agent for the Russians, he's constantly second-guessing everyone's agendas. Sometimes third-guessing. What with all the spy-versus-spy convolutions of thought, it can be hard to keep track without a flowchart of who did what to whom and when.
But between all the second- and third-guessing, Jeremy Duns keeps the plot moving full speed. The writing is brilliant. And Paul Dark, for all his faults, is a character to root for.
I'm looking forward to reading the next Paul Dark novel!
Full of unexpected twists and turns, this trilogy had me up reading late at night.
Paul Dark is a most interesting and ambiguous character. As a British double agent for the Russians, he's constantly second-guessing everyone's agendas. Sometimes third-guessing. What with all the spy-versus-spy convolutions of thought, it can be hard to keep track without a flowchart of who did what to whom and when.
But between all the second- and third-guessing, Jeremy Duns keeps the plot moving full speed. The writing is brilliant. And Paul Dark, for all his faults, is a character to root for.
I'm looking forward to reading the next Paul Dark novel!
December 15, 2012
Fabulous, a tour-de-force of the Cold War espionage novel. My only quibble in the last page of the whole trilogy.
November 19, 2012
Cold War spy stuff
April 29, 2013
I can't remember the last time reading a book increased my heart rate...perhaps reading "Jaws" in the 70's. I had to keep telling myself...it' s only a novel. Thrilling and a fantastic read!
October 26, 2019
I first heard about Jeremy Duns on one of my favorite podcasts, Spybrary (which I can't recommend enough if you're into spy fiction), and finally picked up The Dark Chronicles, an omnibus of three books featuring his recurring protagonist, Paul Dark. They're excellent spy thrillers, fast-paced and surprising, with a healthy dose of humanity found in their morally murky main character.
World War II veteran Paul Dark is a British Intelligence bigwig at the height of the Cold War, but he's harboring a massive secret: he's a double agent, handing secrets to the Russians. When his colleagues start looking for a mole, Dark begins an odyssey that will have him questioning his loyalties and racing against time to save civilization itself.
*SPOILERS*
Paul Dark should be a difficult character to like. He's a traitor, selling out the West to the Evil Empire and getting good people killed. In the very first chapter of Free Agent, he murders the head of British Intelligence -- a friend of his -- in cold blood, and by the end of that first novel, this murder leads the man's daughter to commit suicide. But there's a charm to Dark, a sense that he's a regular guy trying to survive day-to-day, despite the odious nature of his work, that makes you feel connected to him, if not outright sympathize with him. This only deepens as the story rages on and Dark realizes he's been lied to and manipulated by everyone he's ever loved. Duns' books have a very bleak view of the intelligence world, reminiscent of Andy McNab's Nick Stone series; there are no good guys, just two corrupt governmental bodies jockeying for control, no matter how many innocent people (even their own citizens) have to die so they can get it.
What makes the story (and, despite being three novels that stand on their own, The Dark Chronicles is really one big story) even more interesting is that Dark doesn't make excuses for himself. He was maneuvered into betraying the West, but he doesn't harp on that, and genuinely wants to make up for what he's done. The tragic end of Free Agent reveals that he can't stop being a traitor; his communist masters won't let him go, trapping him in a hell the door to which he opened himself, whether tricked by the devil or not. Song of Treason shows him just how compromised both sides are, their willingness to perpetrate great evil to get a leg up on each other, and now the traitor finds himself the one decent man in a war between monsters. The Moscow Option, then, is his final shot at redemption, as Paul Dark is no longer an agent of one government or another but the only guy on either side who wants to protect the people caught in the middle of nuclear-armed toddlers. Each novel is a stage in Dark's arc, and the conclusion is the satisfying end of a journey fraught with deception and terror.
Most of the other characters aren't as interesting as Dark. With the exception of Sarah Severn, the wife of a British diplomat who gets ensnared in Dark's mission, they're mostly just the archetypes you'd expect (the gung-ho spyhunter, the foppish aristocrats, the scary Russians, etc.). I was particularly disappointed with not seeing much of Anna, the love of Dark's life who turns out to be a Soviet honeypot; there was a lot of potential for a KGB femme fatale, but she's relegated to flashbacks and a quick showdown at the end of Free Agent. This is, I think, a drawback of first-person narration, and one of the reasons why I favor third-person.
The thrills, on the other hand, quite thrilling indeed. There are chases that encompass several chapters, and Dark often looks like he's about to reach the end of his luck. In addition to bleeding emotionally, Dark is a vulnerable character, and he never gets out of a hair-raising scrape easily, or bloodlessly. Some highlights are a foot chase with an assassin through -- and beneath -- the streets of London, a shootout in an African nightclub, and a race through Italy to prevent a catastrophe. I also very much enjoyed seeing Dark turn the tables on one of his Soviet handlers in Song of Treason, a satisfying comeuppance for a blackmailer of the worst sort.
The Dark Chronicles is a fun and exciting thrill ride for spy fans, a fascinating look at the mindset of a traitor, and a haunting warning of the hard road to redemption. I believe I'll be lending this book around to friends, and if you're a fan of the genre, you should consider checking it out.
World War II veteran Paul Dark is a British Intelligence bigwig at the height of the Cold War, but he's harboring a massive secret: he's a double agent, handing secrets to the Russians. When his colleagues start looking for a mole, Dark begins an odyssey that will have him questioning his loyalties and racing against time to save civilization itself.
*SPOILERS*
Paul Dark should be a difficult character to like. He's a traitor, selling out the West to the Evil Empire and getting good people killed. In the very first chapter of Free Agent, he murders the head of British Intelligence -- a friend of his -- in cold blood, and by the end of that first novel, this murder leads the man's daughter to commit suicide. But there's a charm to Dark, a sense that he's a regular guy trying to survive day-to-day, despite the odious nature of his work, that makes you feel connected to him, if not outright sympathize with him. This only deepens as the story rages on and Dark realizes he's been lied to and manipulated by everyone he's ever loved. Duns' books have a very bleak view of the intelligence world, reminiscent of Andy McNab's Nick Stone series; there are no good guys, just two corrupt governmental bodies jockeying for control, no matter how many innocent people (even their own citizens) have to die so they can get it.
What makes the story (and, despite being three novels that stand on their own, The Dark Chronicles is really one big story) even more interesting is that Dark doesn't make excuses for himself. He was maneuvered into betraying the West, but he doesn't harp on that, and genuinely wants to make up for what he's done. The tragic end of Free Agent reveals that he can't stop being a traitor; his communist masters won't let him go, trapping him in a hell the door to which he opened himself, whether tricked by the devil or not. Song of Treason shows him just how compromised both sides are, their willingness to perpetrate great evil to get a leg up on each other, and now the traitor finds himself the one decent man in a war between monsters. The Moscow Option, then, is his final shot at redemption, as Paul Dark is no longer an agent of one government or another but the only guy on either side who wants to protect the people caught in the middle of nuclear-armed toddlers. Each novel is a stage in Dark's arc, and the conclusion is the satisfying end of a journey fraught with deception and terror.
Most of the other characters aren't as interesting as Dark. With the exception of Sarah Severn, the wife of a British diplomat who gets ensnared in Dark's mission, they're mostly just the archetypes you'd expect (the gung-ho spyhunter, the foppish aristocrats, the scary Russians, etc.). I was particularly disappointed with not seeing much of Anna, the love of Dark's life who turns out to be a Soviet honeypot; there was a lot of potential for a KGB femme fatale, but she's relegated to flashbacks and a quick showdown at the end of Free Agent. This is, I think, a drawback of first-person narration, and one of the reasons why I favor third-person.
The thrills, on the other hand, quite thrilling indeed. There are chases that encompass several chapters, and Dark often looks like he's about to reach the end of his luck. In addition to bleeding emotionally, Dark is a vulnerable character, and he never gets out of a hair-raising scrape easily, or bloodlessly. Some highlights are a foot chase with an assassin through -- and beneath -- the streets of London, a shootout in an African nightclub, and a race through Italy to prevent a catastrophe. I also very much enjoyed seeing Dark turn the tables on one of his Soviet handlers in Song of Treason, a satisfying comeuppance for a blackmailer of the worst sort.
The Dark Chronicles is a fun and exciting thrill ride for spy fans, a fascinating look at the mindset of a traitor, and a haunting warning of the hard road to redemption. I believe I'll be lending this book around to friends, and if you're a fan of the genre, you should consider checking it out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2017
The books are about Paul Dark, a British agent who's also spying for the Soviets. The first story of the trilogy was entertaining but then it went downhill, for me anyway. The situations that Paul found himself in weren't believable and the extraordinary actions for him to get out of them (even as a trained secret agent) would put James Bond to shame. That said, I did like Jeremy Duns' writing style and the atmosphere he created. He's talented and I'll be checking out his other books.
Read
April 1, 2015ok--not as good as I'd hoped
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