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Quiller #12
Quiller's Run
After quitting the Bureau and undertaking a dangerous freelance mission, Quiller heads for a lethal showdown with Mariko, a delicate Cambodian beauty who possesses a deadly embrace. Reprint.
337 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
6 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Adam Hall
157 books99 followersAuthor also wrote as Elleston Trevor.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 30, 2019
Not a bad book, not really bad at all, I wouldn't say that, but just disappointing because I’d expected so much more.
Quiller’s in Singapore this time, the book’s set there, but it’s not really set there, if you know what I mean, it’s just got a few mentions of food courts and cyclos and even one of Hall’s rare if unnecessary name-drops of Prime Minister Mahathir across the causeway in Malaysia (who was not only elected PM back in 1980 and so still in power when this was written, but then after 15 years out of power was just reelected in 2018 so that today he's the world’s oldest head of state); and sure he lists all the right streets during a car chase out to Changi, but hell you can get all that from a map and a newspaper can’t you, and so then except for those tidbits, those nuggets, this could be anywhere, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, hell even the Congo or Colombia for that matter, anywhere hot and rainy, and so I have to think Hall’s never really been there, never spent any serious time there, or he couldn’t help but include some of the real Singapore, with its laksa and chili crabs and kopi shops, with its Western tourists shopping for cameras on Orchard Road while both Russian and U.S. sailors on R&R shop for trannies on Bugis Street.
Because I know Singapore. Lived there full time from 2013-15, but was going in and out as far back as '80, back before things really took off, when you could still visit the crocodile farms and Tiger Balm Gardens, and when they still arrested you for chewing gum and cut your hair on arrival if it was too long.
Plot.
Don’t even ask me about plot. Something about a weapons deal that could spark World War III, but it’s all a MacGuffin, they’re always MacGuffins, which is a polite way of saying it doesn't matter much less make any sense, and besides nobody really cares about that, all that geopolitical bullshit, it’s just too big, it’s too remote, no sir, readers want the intimate details, the juicy stuff, the finger to the lips, the shuto to the neck, the knife to the heart, and so yes, we get that, we get some of that, but even more we get Quiller’s constant monologuing, both out loud and in his head; we get his noir self-analysis, we get his hard-boiled pessimism, but most of all we get his endless fucking run-on sentences, so that you hope that just once he could do something as simple as jump out of an airplane and hit the ground in less than four pages.
And then the title. Quiller’s Run.
What the fuck does that even mean? The whole story takes place in Southeast Asia, or “South-east Asia” as it was apparently spelled back then, unless that’s just a British thing like “colour” and “gaol,” but seriously, couldn’t you put a little more thought into something with just a hint of local color, or should I say "colour"? It was bad enough the last book was just called Quiller, already the 11th in the series mind you, not like Hall was just introducing the sonuvabitch, oh no, 11 and 12 are just Quiller and Quiller's Run, so that should probably tell you something right there.
And so I finish the book and write my review, and then turn my back and walk away.
But I’ll be back. I know I’ll be back.
Good or bad, win or lose, Quiller and I will meet again.
(In affectionate memory of Adam Hall, 1920-1995)
Quiller’s in Singapore this time, the book’s set there, but it’s not really set there, if you know what I mean, it’s just got a few mentions of food courts and cyclos and even one of Hall’s rare if unnecessary name-drops of Prime Minister Mahathir across the causeway in Malaysia (who was not only elected PM back in 1980 and so still in power when this was written, but then after 15 years out of power was just reelected in 2018 so that today he's the world’s oldest head of state); and sure he lists all the right streets during a car chase out to Changi, but hell you can get all that from a map and a newspaper can’t you, and so then except for those tidbits, those nuggets, this could be anywhere, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, hell even the Congo or Colombia for that matter, anywhere hot and rainy, and so I have to think Hall’s never really been there, never spent any serious time there, or he couldn’t help but include some of the real Singapore, with its laksa and chili crabs and kopi shops, with its Western tourists shopping for cameras on Orchard Road while both Russian and U.S. sailors on R&R shop for trannies on Bugis Street.
Because I know Singapore. Lived there full time from 2013-15, but was going in and out as far back as '80, back before things really took off, when you could still visit the crocodile farms and Tiger Balm Gardens, and when they still arrested you for chewing gum and cut your hair on arrival if it was too long.
Plot.
Don’t even ask me about plot. Something about a weapons deal that could spark World War III, but it’s all a MacGuffin, they’re always MacGuffins, which is a polite way of saying it doesn't matter much less make any sense, and besides nobody really cares about that, all that geopolitical bullshit, it’s just too big, it’s too remote, no sir, readers want the intimate details, the juicy stuff, the finger to the lips, the shuto to the neck, the knife to the heart, and so yes, we get that, we get some of that, but even more we get Quiller’s constant monologuing, both out loud and in his head; we get his noir self-analysis, we get his hard-boiled pessimism, but most of all we get his endless fucking run-on sentences, so that you hope that just once he could do something as simple as jump out of an airplane and hit the ground in less than four pages.
And then the title. Quiller’s Run.
What the fuck does that even mean? The whole story takes place in Southeast Asia, or “South-east Asia” as it was apparently spelled back then, unless that’s just a British thing like “colour” and “gaol,” but seriously, couldn’t you put a little more thought into something with just a hint of local color, or should I say "colour"? It was bad enough the last book was just called Quiller, already the 11th in the series mind you, not like Hall was just introducing the sonuvabitch, oh no, 11 and 12 are just Quiller and Quiller's Run, so that should probably tell you something right there.
And so I finish the book and write my review, and then turn my back and walk away.
But I’ll be back. I know I’ll be back.
Good or bad, win or lose, Quiller and I will meet again.
(In affectionate memory of Adam Hall, 1920-1995)
September 3, 2012
Quiller always seems a little insane, or rather he knows right where his limits are and seeks to push right past them. Each Quiller novel is more exciting then the last, especially when you don't quite see where the story is going. Just shows how flexible ferrets can be when pushed into a corner.
October 3, 2017
2.5
I had high hopes for this one at the beginning, Quiller on his own sounded like a really interesting premise. I ended up somewhat disappointed, partly because it was a rather psychological rather than physical book or in other words a lot more talk than action, partly because it was surprisingly predictable, usually with a Quiller book I have little idea how he is going to get out of a sticky situation and the action and drama of those are what bring the book alive, here I more than halfway guessed what was happening before it happened, even when Quiller hadn't, and, finally, I found the criminal mastermind rather unbelievable.
Popsugar challenge 2017: a book by an author who uses a pseudonym
I had high hopes for this one at the beginning, Quiller on his own sounded like a really interesting premise. I ended up somewhat disappointed, partly because it was a rather psychological rather than physical book or in other words a lot more talk than action, partly because it was surprisingly predictable, usually with a Quiller book I have little idea how he is going to get out of a sticky situation and the action and drama of those are what bring the book alive, here I more than halfway guessed what was happening before it happened, even when Quiller hadn't, and, finally, I found the criminal mastermind rather unbelievable.
Popsugar challenge 2017: a book by an author who uses a pseudonym
December 19, 2015
Quiller resigns from the Bureau as a result of the events of the previous novels and takes on a freelance mission in Southeast Asia, primarily Singapore. This premise is arguably the best part of the book. Quiller's opponent is a 21 year old female drug and arms kingpin who is looking to start a war in Southeast Asia and (Adam Hall fears) potentially trigger WWIII when Soviet-backed communist nations confront US-backed Thailand. Neither one of the best nor the worst Quiller novels, 3.7 rounded up to a 4.
September 15, 2025
5 minus. One of the most intense 'on the edge' Quiller thrillers. Difficult to put down. Is Quiller going rouge or not?
March 31, 2018
I was looking forward to reading this book because I like espionage/thriller novels. However, I was very disappointed in this one.
Want to read
April 25, 2008My husband wants me to read this one - I guess Quiller is a little bit like James Bond.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews