Whirlpool

by Colin Forbes

A sequel to "A Song at Twilight" and "The Endless Game". Framed for a murder and exiled in Russia as a defector, Alec Hillsden is offered a pardon and a new identity. He returns to Britain to unravel the 50-year-old mystery of the arrest and death of an art dealer.

Audio Cassette

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[rachid idjiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed very much familiar strangers . Such an amazing style of writing literally talent. I bought this book by coincidence from second hand bookshop. Bryan Forbes started his novel with a quote by napoleon 1" many a man commits a reprehensible action, who is at bottom on honourable man because man seldom acts upon naturel impulse but from same secret passion by the moment which lies hidden and concealed within the narrowest folds his heart " .this quote resumes everything in this book .it took me back to 40s. I appreciate the atmosphere of this period and the suspense of British espionage. It sounds like James bond movies

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing, carefully constructed plot. Some really good writing with just a few carefully chosen words painting pages worth. And extra bits of social commentary expressed through the thoughts of a few characters.

The style of dialogue, and some of the vocab is very English so probably most appreciated by readers with some English connection.