Quiller Salamander

Quiller #18

by Adam Hall

Anxious to return to the field, Quiller reluctantly agrees to undertake a rogue mission sponsored by a mysterious controller. The mission is more than difficult. Cambodia is again on the verge of a bloodbath, and Quiller, without London's knowledge or support, must somehow find a way to prevent another “killing fields”. In the process Quiller will be forced to confront not just the Khmer Rouge and his own controller, but the strength of his most deeply-held convictions.

Genres: Thriller, Espionage, Fiction, Spy Thriller, Adventure

246 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Author 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.

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly, this is the penultimate Quiller book, and the last set in Asia - a real shame, because this was my favorite of those I've read so far, (although that's certainly due more to my Asia- vs. Europe/Russia-focused personal interests). What most stunned me was the whole idea that in the mid-90s there still existed the threat of a potential Pol Pot return to power and possible second wave of killing fields. Pol and his Khmer Rouge always seemed so 1970s, but damn if Hall doesn't have it right; the KR remained an insurgent threat from their overthrow in 1979 all the way to 1999, shortly after that particular sonuvabitch's death.

As a result, this story seemed less "MacGuffin-based" than many of the other Quiller's, although yeah, his mission here still basically boils down to "get there, find out what's going on and, I dunno, do something about it;" and so again depends largely on him then being fortuitously and repeatedly at the right place/right time so that leads can just start falling into his lap. And while Hall here does a better job of nailing the whole local feel of mid-90s "Wild West" Cambodia than he has done with some of his other Asia-based stories, he still makes a few factual errors, such as placing Pol Pot in Bangkok for medical treatment (never happened), and making multiple references to both North and South Vietnam as separate entities, whereas the country had just been "Vietnam" ever since reunification in 1979.*

Still, an overall exciting read with more than a few surprises, and is of course grounded in Hall's patented "espio-noir" style, (replete with his famous page-long, run-on sentences whenever the action gets particularly heavy, which have become one of my literary guilt pleasures).

PERSONAL NOTE: One longs to be optimistic for the future of Cambodia. With its World Heritage ruins (Angkor Wat, Ta Proem - where much of the original "Tomb Raider" was shot - and others), tropical beaches, islands, and Southeast Asia's largest lake, Cambodia is a beautiful and fascinating country with a rich history and delightful, resilient people. Yet even pre-COVID it was still listed as a "least developed country," and things have only gone further downhill since the pandemic began. So whatever your belief system, it wouldn't hurt to say a prayer for this country and its long-suffering people** - and maybe throw in a word for Burma, too, while you're at it.

* Hall also mentions England's "DI6," which I (or at least Google) don't think exists - there's just MI6, their version of the CIA, and overall DI (Defense Intelligence).

** So yeah, while the KR is gone and they're not currently at war, until just recently they continued to struggle under the corrupt and human rights-abusing rule of Hun Sen, a Vietnam-installed puppet who was the world's longest-serving Prime Minister until he was succeeded in 2023 by his son, Hun Manet, who (at least according to some reporting - Google it) could be even worse.

[Stephen P(who no longer can participate due to illness) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hall is the master of this genre.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Adam Hall novel is the same, which is to say the series works like any other, delivering exactly what you expect. Hall has a way of writing action that makes it fast and tense. The Quiller series is all action: Quiller on a mission and beset by murderous enemies. Here he's in Cambodia, probing the resurgence of the Khmer Rouge. Nobody does an action thriller better than Hall (Elliston).

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much enjoyed this my next Quiller adventure although the theme of Pol Pot's regime a bit gruesome and the ending, which came rather precipitously, was a sad one. I shall continue with my attempt to get through the whole series

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent espionage performed by a top-notch reader!

[cool breeze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quiller in Cambodia on an unauthorized mission against the Khmer Rouge. Mediocre and formulaic, with less action and fewer plot twists than were typical of this series in the past, but which haven't been for the last few installments.

[S. Lynham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over 30 years ago, a friend introduced me to Adam Hall and his Quiller books. I am sure I have read them all but I could be mistaken. Salamander I had read when it came out in 1994 but I hadn't read it since. The reality is that once you read one of these books, you want to read others.
Hall's style is terse, with huge jumps in place and time between chapters now and again. Additionally, Quiller talks to himself, often referring to himself as "the organism", right in the middle of something else. This sounds very jumbled and disorientating and different books, in various parts feel that way however you can easily put up with this as the stories are of a "Bond-like" character who is better than Bond. These stories are far more "real" than the Bond ones and the assignments make more sense than those in Bond's books.
Salamander is set in Cambodia after Pol Pot's infamous "killing fields". He is still around, hoping to take over with what is left of his Khmer Rouge troops, when Quiller arrives. Just reading, you can feel that hot, humid temperatures and the lassitude that comes upon those used to a more temperate climate. Of course, there is a girl but never one like "Pussy Galore" and her ilk.
I plan to return to my little hoard of these and read a few more in between some of the huge tomes I have been reading so far this year.....a bit like a sorbet between courses

[James Varney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiller in Cambodia. Just the setting you know it will be good. The ending is a bit rushed; I'd have liked to have tracked Quiller through the "end phase" as he calls it. But all of Quiller's brilliance is on display here - his hyper-sensitivity to light and sound, his lethality, his cynicism (of the Bureau, primarily). "Quiller Salamander" has our hero clashing swords with new directors and controls in Penom Penh and the Cambodian countryside. The latter is a bit of a stretch. Any reader who has spent some time in the Cambodian countryside will know English guys can't stick around for days incognito, but this is fiction. Spy fiction, that is, and Quiller remains the best of that.

[David Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does move right along in terms of plot and adventure, like all Quiller books do. Every Quiller is a guaranteed page-turner. But Salamander is not the one to start with. Lots of tension, good fights, good sense of the scene in Cambodia. The plot is a straight-up normal Quiller plot. Like watching a favorite movie for the 15th time. If you've read enough Quiller, you'll know what's coming, but the ride there is still pretty enjoyable.

[stormhawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a favorite in the series, but still an exciting run from start to finish.

[Andrew Vachss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Hall produced some of the most compelling and human books in the entire espionage genre.