Backfire

by Clive Egleton

Book by Egleton, Clive

Genres: Fiction, Espionage

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Clive (Frederick William) Egleton was a British author of spy novels.

He enlisted in the Royal Armoured Corps in 1945 to train as a tank driver while still underage. He was subsequently commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment for whom he served in India, Hong Kong, Germany, Egypt, Cyprus, The Persian Gulf and East Africa. He retired in 1975 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

His novel Seven Days to a Killing was filmed as The Black Windmill, starring Michael Caine. Escape to Athena is a novelization of the 1979 movie of the same name.

Reviews

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Magrane, SAS operative, is lost in a web of deception in this clever spy(?) thriller. He escapes from an institution he thinks is located in Siberia. We learn later it’s a mental institution. Reading his obituary in the newspaper Magrane is determined to implement Operation Damocles which involves killing certain people in Britain and on the Continent and which he thinks will bring long-lasting peace to the British Isles and Ireland. Soon he is being sought by the police and his handler Major Donaldson whom he contacts and misinterprets thinking what Donaldson is telling him is code for operational commands. Lots of people want to keep him from being caught and put on trial for the murders because of what he knows. Much of the story is told from Magrane’s perspective and the reader is never quite sure what is real and what is Magrane’s hallucinations. Very entertaining.

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Magrane is lost in a web of deception in this clever spy(?) thriller. He escapes from an institution he thinks is located in Siberia. We learn later it’s a mental institution. Reading his obituary in the newspaper Magrane is determined to implement Operation Damocles which involves killing certain people in Britain and on the Continent. Soon he is being sought by the police and his handler Major Donaldson whom he contacts and misinterprets thinking what Donaldson is telling him is code for operational commands. Lots of people want to keep him from being caught and put on trial for the murders because of what he knows. Much of the story is told from Magrane’s perspective and the reader is never quite sure what is real and what is Magrane’s hallucinations. Very entertaining.

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Magrane is lost in a web of deception in this clever spy(?) thriller. He escapes from an institution he thinks is located in Siberia. We learn later it’s a mental institution. Reading his obituary in the newspaper Magrane is determined to implement Operation Damocles which involves killing certain people in Britain and on the Continent. Soon he is being sought by the police and his handler Major Donaldson whom he contacts and misinterprets thinking what Donaldson is telling him is code for operational commands. Lots of people want to keep him from being caught and put on trial for the murders because of what he knows. Much of the story is told from Magrane’s perspective and the reader is never quite sure what is real and what is Magrane’s hallucinations. Very entertaining.