The Conduct of Major Maxim

Harry Maxim #2

by Gavin Lyall

A deserting corporal, a cabinet convulsion in East Germany, a double killing in a West German town, a seedy South London fight club, a widowed piano teacher in Yorkshire: they are all somehow related, and someone must find the connection before it's too late.

Genres: Espionage, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Gavin was born and educated in Birmingham. For two years he served as a RAF pilot before going up to Cambridge, where he edited Varsity, the university newspaper. After working for Picture Post, the Sunday Graphic and the BBC, he began his first novel, The Wrong Side of the Sky, published in 1961. After four years as Air Correspondent to the Sunday Times, he resigned to write books full time. He was married to the well-known journalist Katherine Whitehorn and they lived in London with their children.

Lyall won the British Crime Writers' Association's Silver Dagger award in both 1964 and 1965. In 1966-67 he was Chairman of the British Crime Writers Association. He was not a prolific author, attributing his slow pace to obsession with technical accuracy. According to a British newspaper, “he spent many nights in his kitchen at Primrose Hill, north London, experimenting to see if one could, in fact, cast bullets from lead melted in a saucepan, or whether the muzzle flash of a revolver fired across a saucer of petrol really would ignite a fire”.

He eventually published the results of his research in a series of pamphlets for the Crime Writers' Association in the 1970s. Lyall signed a contract in 1964 by the investments group Booker similar to one they had signed with Ian Fleming. In return for a lump payment of £25,000 and an annual salary, they and Lyall subsequently split his royalties, 51-49.

Up to the publication in 1975 of Judas Country, Lyall's work falls into two groups. The aviation thrillers (The Wrong Side Of The Sky, The Most Dangerous Game, Shooting Script, and Judas Country), and what might be called "Euro-thrillers" revolving around international crime in Europe (Midnight Plus One, Venus With Pistol, and Blame The Dead).

All these books were written in the first person, with a sardonic style reminiscent of the "hard-boiled private-eye" genre. Despite the commercial success of his work, Lyall began to feel that he was falling into a predictable pattern, and abandoned both his earlier genres, and the first-person narrative, for his “Harry Maxim" series of espionage thrillers beginning with The Secret Servant published in 1980. This book, originally developed for a proposed BBC TV Series, featured Major Harry Maxim, an SAS officer assigned as a security adviser to 10 Downing Street, and was followed by three sequels with the same central cast of characters.

In the 1990s Lyall changed literary direction once again, and wrote four semi-historical thrillers about the fledgling British secret service in the years leading up to World War I.

Gavin Lyall died of cancer in 2003.

Reviews

[Ben Boulden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent example of a good espionage novel told, mostly, from the perspective of an intelligence outsider, Major Harry Maxim. The plot is surprising, the dialogue is sharp and realistic (which is what one expects from Gavin Lyall), and the British-setting is used to great effect. It is a nice mixture of le Carre's murky morality and Lyall's earlier adventure thrillers.

[Sam Reaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hunkered down in the bunker and re-reading old favorites: Gavin Lyall's Major Maxim series written in the eighties is a terrific espionage/military adventure series. Lyall, who started out in the sixties writing thrillers in the great British tradition exemplified by Hammond Innes, Desmond Bagley and others, reached the top of his powers in these books, which feature Major Harry Maxim, an SAS officer who gets assigned to 10 Downing Street because the prime minister wants "somebody to help stave off security scandals." The genius of the series is that Maxim's loyalties have little to do with the concerns of the current cabinet, and his approach to problem solving is considerably more direct than that of the politicians who supposedly control him.
In this entry, Maxim is contacted by an old sergeant of his who is sheltering a deserter on the run from his battalion in Germany. The deserter, a hard-bitten ex-SAS enlisted man, has an amazing tale to tell: secretly tabbed to bodyguard an intelligence operative during a purchase of sensitive information in a German spa town, he wound up the only survivor of a gun battle that left two dead. On the run, having hidden the merchandise, he wants protection.
He has come to the right place. What Maxim ought to do is help smother the scandal; what he chooses to do is help the soldier, which means standing up to rival factions of British intelligence while finding out what the secret is that the East Germans want snuffed out and the Brits want to own. It's Maxim vs. the Establishment vs. the Other Side, and you are not advised to bet against Maxim.
There is intrigue and betrayal and close-quarter gunplay, with the simple loyalties and brutal expertise of the professional soldier contrasted with the cynical careerism of the professional politician. The writing is top-shelf, with concise description and sharp dialogue. Great stuff.

[Christoph John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as entertaining as The Secret Servant, Gavin Lyall’s second novel to feature his SAS operative on loan to Number 10 Downing Street, covers a fair crack of the whip but suffers from a similar structure to the first. Major Harry Maxim is investigating a war time incident which comes to light through a seemingly unrelated double murder in West Germany. Are the secret services involved? Are a group of East German defectors involved? Is there a traitor in the midst of MI6? Will Maxim solve the case and save the UK government from international embarrassment?

That the answer to these questions is relatively obvious will come as no surprise. The usual components are all in place. The characters are well drawn. Lyall introduces a potential attraction between Maxim and the MI5 section head, Agnes Alder. He keeps it on the periphery of the action. The scenes at Maxim’s grandparents and his son’s school don’t really work very well; he’s not adept at developing child characters and homely situations. These soap opera style scenes could easily have been jettisoned. As it stands, there’s a few moments of violence and a lot of chat. I got very confused as to who was who as the plot involves death certificates, name changes and incest [I think]. A lot of code and slang names were used which doesn’t aid the telling.

I enjoyed it without ever understanding why the secret service was bothering to blackmail such a low-ranking administrator. It was somehow wrapped up with a more senior ranking East German, but I’m damned if I could pick out the reasoning.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dunno. I was tempted to award 4 stars (stars up to 10 would be easier - so many books are 3.5) because this is a taut, well-written believable tale with plenty of riveting action, travel and technical information but I have to admit I got very confused by the deceptively simple plot. One character had at least four - maybe five - aliases and the family connections flummoxed me. Attached to Number Ten in order to add security and prevent scandals, Major Maxim, of SAS background and consequently used to a direct approach to trouble, finds himself sympathising with a fellow ex-SAS man who has gone to ground (deserted) following a gun battle in Germany. The soldier, who was temporarily under secondment to our MI6 (I think) as a bodyguard, has hidden the documents that he rescued and Maxim’s task is to retrieve them whilst MI5 and MI6 bicker with each other about who was responsible for the cock-up. MI6 for some reason want the soldier dead but unlocking the mystery contained within the papers may give the UK some leverage over our erstwhile East German foes who also seemed to be in on the meetings between Number Ten and the “Security Services” which, even to me, was odd. They presumably didn’t follow John Cleese’s advice during a Python MI5 recruitment sketch. “We can’t have Ruskies in the secret service - wouldn’t be secret.” When the action really gets going near the end it’s worth the wait as the SAS training kicks in. I did misread one line - Goole Street Map - as Google Street Map which would have been very useful for them had it been available in 1982.

[John A. Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

When an SAS corporal is approached by an MI6 agent he helped during his time in Northern Ireland, he agrees to help support a meeting in Germany. However, when things go terribly wrong, he disappears, and MI6 decide the best option is to pretend they do not know him.
Harry Maxim is approached by an old army buddy to listen to the corporal’s story, and feels obliged to help. He soon finds himself neck deep in a scandal involving a GDR politician, MI6 and MI5. With Corporal Blagg on the run, Maxim needs to figure out who is chasing him and why, then the man himself.
Travelling the Germany with an MI6 man, Maxim learns the deeper, darker secret the newly promoted GDR politician is desperate to hide. Hampered by the conflict between MI5 and MI6, Maxim seems to be the only man looking out for Blagg.
This is another splendid outing from Mr. Lyall. His lead character is not quite the modern day superman. Although he obviously is rather talented, he does not seem indestructible or perfect. The details of the small towns and locations (a favourite of mine) are just right. I have the other two books in the Maxim series waiting on my Kindle.

[Peter Colt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire Major Maxim series are some of the best Cold War era espionage books out there. They tend to get overlooked in light of the excellent books by Len Deighton and John Le Carre. Excellent books where the protagonist, British SAS Major Harry Maxim isn't a spy but ends up thrust into the game.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A british officer assigned to Whitehall tries to help a corporal in a jam, and it goes south fast. Feels like a "Rio Bravo" remake of an Eric Ambler thriller - in a good way. Really enjoyable '70s thriller.

[Artie LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Gavin Lyall at the top of his game. An intelligent plot, totally credible characters, a real sense of place; and, on top of this, plenty of action. Highly recommended.

[Peter Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!!

I’ve read quite a few spy novels but it’s always interesting to go back to the old ones. This ranks with Le Carre and Gavin Lyle should be in the same bracket as him.

[Louise Fincham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most enjoyable espionage thriller.

[Anne Ayres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major Harry Maxim is attached to Number 10 - an idealistic activist finding that a desk job doesn't suit him. Whitehall is generally shocked by his exploits ("Find out what Major Maxim is doing and stop him doing it"!) but sometimes they have need of characters like him.
When an ex-SAS corporal goes AWOL after killing someone in a friendly European country, Whitehall would prefer to push him out of the Army and hush it up, but Our Harry delves deeper and wants to save both the soldier's career and the Secret Services from the scandal of an international incident. With the action ranging from the Cold War Corridors of Power, English summer fete cricket matches, darkest Rotherhithe, memories of wartime and post-war Germany to the shipping lanes of Goole, this is a tightly written, gripping and often dryly witty thriller from the much overlooked Gavin Lyall, now sadly no longer with us.

[Tiina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel to the book "The Secret Servant". Because I enjoyed the first one, I also enjoyed reading this one. The story feels very authentic. On the other hand, I wanted to find out how it all ended, and on the other, I did not want this to end!