Dead Spy Running

Good story premise, lots of deception and spying, but a bit jerky with large chunks of the story being not well delineated and left to the imagination of the reader. There is a big Indian angle to the whole story with a South India based terrorist cell working with the Iranians to create havoc in the West, which is a pretty tall story. The author has definitely tried not to mangle up the Indian names and to get the place names and the rest of it correctly, but has slipped up quite a bit, but still, I suppose better than the armchair Indophiles touting tired old perceptions of India.<br /><br />Marchant a spy with MI6 is hell bent on clearing his father's name. Marchant senior, while head of MI6 was hounded out of office on suspicion of being a traitor and died soon thereafter. Marchant gets involved in a devious plot set in motion by the Iranians supported by a conflicted mole within MI6, and manages to help abort a couple of assassination attempts.<br /><br />I guess Jon Stock has a bit more to go with the story. Hopefully the next ones would be better.

booooooooooooored

The fall of the Soviet Union has changed the focus of the classic espionage novel. No longer is the literature dominated by KGB - CIA confrontations, spycraft and gamemanship. At the same time, the global reach of terrorism has fundamentally changed the geopolitical atmosphere. Authors must be prepared to tell stories that have a global reach. Dead Spy Running is a spy novel that is at home in this new world order. Instead of focusing on the machinations of the KGB, Stock mixes in terrorism, the Middle East, extraordinary rendition, waterboarding, and India. The mix results in a tightly written novel, which, while not at the Le Carre peak, is a good tale for espionage fans seeking a spy novel for the 21st Century.<br /><br /> <br />Daniel Marchant, a suspended agent, and Leila are lovers and junior spies attached to MI6. Marchant’s father was the former head of MI6, but was cast out of the service because there were several terrorists attacks in England that MI6 was unable to stop. Marchant's father suspected that there was a mole helping the terrorists, but was unable to prove it. After leaving the service, he passed away. His downfall has resulted in suspicion being cast on his son. Marcus Fielding, the new head of MI6, however, thinks the young Marchant has a bright future and has had a bum rap.<br /> <br />At the start of the novel, Marchant and Leila are preparing to run in a marathon in London. As Marchant is running, he spots a suspicious man with an odd belt containing unopened cartons and a large gps watch. Marchant immediately suspects that the man is a suicide bmber. He reports back to Leila, who states she will get in touch with MI5. Meanwhile she hands Marchant her phone to contact her. Marchant soon learns that the American Ambassador is in the race and is being targeted. Marchant starts to talk to the bomber and learns he is from India, and has been coerced into trying to detonate the bomb by threats on his child. The Americans get involved and somehow, the plot is foiled.<br /> <br />Marchant should be a hero, but he is hung out to dry by Harriet Armstrong, the head of MI5, and James Spiro, the CIA London chief. The CIA has evidence that Marchant's father met up with Salim Dhar, an Indian terrorist in Kerala, India. Dhar may be involved in the averted marathon plot and the Americans believe he was also involved in successful attacks against American Marines. They believe that Marchant knows where Dhar is. Armstrong gets Fielding to agree to let Marchant be questioned by the Americans, and the Americans use water boarding in Britian. Fielding tells them not to move Marchant out of Britain. But when the water boarding does not work, the Americans fly Marchant to Poland to use other means of getting him to talk.<br /> <br />Fielding finds that the connection between the marathon attack and Dhar is weak. Learning that Spiro broke their agreement about keeping Marchant in Britain, Fielding breaks Marchant out of custody and sends him to India to hunt down Dhar. Fielding hopes Marchant can learn why Marchant's father visited Dhar. Marchant lived in India as a young man, and knows people there.<br /> <br />So Marchant travels to find Dhar, while Fielding tries to put the pieces together in Britain. The Americans, however, believe that Marchant and Dhar are connected and start a manhunt for Marchant.<br /> <br />Fielding learns that Leila, who is the apparent hero of the marathon plot, is also working for the Americans. Fielding does not understand how she did not support Marchant's story. When Marchant's phone is found in his apartment, with a direct dial to the marathon bomber, Fielding, is convinced that there is more to Leila's story, and sets out to protect Marchant.<br /> <br />The Americans, however discount Fielding's theories and trust Leila enough to allow her a prominent place in the guards of the President in New Dehli at the Lotus Temple, a Bahai temple. Leila's mother is a Bahai. As the American manhunt for Marchant tightens, Fielding learns that Leila may have a connection to Tehran. Marchant eventually meets with Dhar, and learns the reason his father met with him, and sees evidence that Dhar plans to assassinate the President. Dhar gets away from Marchant and meets with his contact, who gives him information as to how to carry out his plan. Leila, Marchant, Dhar and POTUS have a date with destiny on the steps of the Lotus Temple.<br /> <br />There are the usual betrayals and a few surprises in this quick moving spy novel. It’s a good story, but there was never any doubt as to who were the bad guys, and Marchant' role in the novel was not compelling enough. Surprisingly, Fielding, the head of MI6, did a lot of the investigative work. Still Jon Stock has some chops, and will be an author to watch in the new world of spy novels.

Ten years ago, I read and loved Jon Stock's debut thriller The Riot Act -- about a young counter-cultural class warrior forced to go undercover. It was lean, taut, and had a corker of an ending. Four years ago, I was rather less taken with his followup, The Cardamom Club, which had problems of pacing, over-elaborate plotting, and somewhat sappy romantic content. Now comes his third book (the first of a projected trilogy), which bears all the hallmarks of the blockbuster international spy thriller.<br /><br />The story kicks off at the London Marathon, where suspended MI6 agent Daniel Marchant happens to be running with his girlfriend, a fellow MI6 agent. Exciting events transpire, and soon thereafter he finds himself in the custody of his own people, and eventually the CIA. It seems his father, who had been head of MI6, was forcibly retired under suspicious circumstances, and now the son is under suspicion as well. More heartpounding events transpire and Daniel soon finds himself on the run from MI5, MI6, and CIA, all while a plot may be unfolding to kill President Obama (the unnamed "new guy") as he visits India.<br /><br />The pacing problems of Stock's second book are gone, as the story switches back and forth in short bursts between Daniel's attempt to stay alive, flashbacks to his training and relationship with his girlfriend, and the heads of various intelligence agencies snarling at each other in plush offices. While this back and forth construction works for pacing purposes, it also means that the story becomes somewhat fractured between these two fronts, as neither Daniel nor the bureaucrats take center stage. Thankfully, toward the end, these two story lines begin to converge and everything gets a little more fluid and more exciting.<br /><br />Stock's made no apologies for the influence of John Le Carre and the recent Bourne films on this book -- which is a good thing, since fans of either will find themselves on familiar ground. The intense bureaucratic infighting will appeal to fans of Le Carre, while Daniel's attempt to stay one step ahead of the various intelligence services will appeal to fans of Bourne. On the whole, it's a solid page-turning thriller, with all the requisite insider detail and international color. It gets especially good once on Indian soil, as Stock's familiarity with India enables him to bring a lot of local color to the story. Overall, a solid entry in the international spy thriller genre.

Good stuff - quick paced and page-turning. The book opens with suspended MI6 spy, Daniel Marchant, spotting a suicide bomber while running the London marathon. The bomber has to stay running above the 8 minute mile speed or he and all those around him will blow up (remind you of anything?). Despite the already-used formular, this was still really well done and hooked me from the off. The rest of the book follows Marchant across several continents while he tries to a) trace the perpertrators and b) clear his fathers name of being a mole in MI6. <br /><br />I really enjoyed this book, and it is one I would highly recommend as a holiday read (or when you can't be uninterupted due to the vast number of characters popping in and out that requires your full attention to keep up). <br /><br />This is the first in a triplogy (and the end of book 1 is nicely set up for the next installment) and apparantly Warner Bros are already signed up to the movie rights. I can definitely see this transfering well on to the big screen and giving Jason Bourne a run for his money.

I know, I know... This isn't a romance, nor is it a gentle read. This is a spy novel, pure and simple in the style of John Le Carré, Robert Ludlum, and Ian Fleming. What makes this better than the average book is the subtly of the storyline. A few years ago, I read Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. At the time, I was intrigued by Burdett's character, Buddhist police detective, Sonchai Jitplecheep's, half Thai-half American perspective. When reading Dead Spy Running, I felt that same feeling of watching different viewpoints unfolding in front of me. Instead of solely focusing on the conflict of East vs. West, Jon Stock used fallen MI6 agent Daniel Marchant to explore the complexities of spying in a post 9/11 (and post 07/07) world, and the differences between U.S. and British intelligence missions.<br /> <br />-Juliette S. <br />

Certainly a high-octane thriller, I can see why people contrast Marchant's escapades with those of Bourne and Smiley. ludlum lacks le Carré's contempt for the Americans, of course; here, there's a great scene where an MI6 officer completely fubar's the CIA following him and I think that's one of my favourite's of the book (chapter 23, if anyone wishes to read an extract as a point of reference).<br /><br />There's also an inevitability about the British working with the Cousins, of course, but I suppose that's no degradation in the literary quality of the genre - simply a method of keeping up with the Joneses.<br /><br />As far as the action goes, I enjoyed it all quite a lot. Finances permitting, I'll certainly want to buy the sequel.

First time author Jon Stock has created an exciting International thriller. It's a clash between competing security agencies, MI6, MI5, the CIA and international terrorists. I only hope that the Wake County Library System buys this book. It is a well-paced exciting thriller that doesn't let you down for one minute. It is as fresh as today's headlines and doesn't miss a beat . A terrific first novel and a must read!!

Well I picked this up from a charity shop for 70p and wasn't really expecting much. How wrong was I?! Absolutely loved it as it turned out to be the exact kind of book I like. Fast paced with plenty of twists and turns. I will be keeping an eye out for the next in the series!

Terrorist cells, disenfranchised MI6 agent, disagreement among the services, waterboarding...we've read this before. Stock lost me at the waterboarding.