Agents of Treachery
Edited by Otto Penzler
With a sort of hectic work
schedule (this is my 16th-straight day at one of my two jobs), I figured that a
short story collection would be a wise selection for my next book. I was
immediately attracted to Agents of
Treachery because of my fondness for spy stories and my present reluctance
to get involved with lengthy, ongoing series; I have always enjoyed the few
espionage stories that crop up in the Best
American Mystery Stories volumes from time to time, and I figured that an
entire collection of high stakes escapism would be right up my alley. Happily,
I was entirely correct. Though shades of Charles McCarry's "The End of the
String" and James Grady's "Destiny City" (both absolutely
excellent) were familiar to me because I had read the corresponding Best American volume, I enjoyed being
drawn into these worlds again, particularly in the latter story, and found them
just as suspenseful as upon first reading. There is, in fact, only one total
dud in the book, Lee Child's "Section 7(A) (Operational)," which is
filled to the brim throughout until an absolutely awful failed attempt at a
gotcha ending- if that's even what it is.
Child's clumsiness is highlighted
by those stories that successfully pull off the kind of plot twists and
surprise revelations that make the best spy fiction work, even when they're a
bit obvious, and many of the stories have pitch-perfect finales that made me
want to immediately re-read them. Chief among these are James Finder's
"Neighbors," a humorous take on modern paranoia, and "Father's
Day," which offers a devastating glimpse of the War on Terror. Likewise, Olen Steinhauer's
"You Know What's Going On is a standout for its parallel narrative
structure that proves, yet again, that oft-maligned "genre" fiction
deserves far more credit than it gets and that good literature can be
innovative, emotionally resonant, and, you know, entertaining. "The
Interrogator" is an excellent example of this kind of self-aware fiction,
using suspenseful story elements, a familiar genre setting, and a suitably
ambiguous ending to form a moral exploration of interrogation methods. Many of
the authors use more cloak and less dagger, but there stories are only the
better for it, expertly balancing the fun of escapism with the moral ambiguity
of the postmodern world. All told, editor Otto Penzler's all-star lineup
exceeds all expectations, and Agents of
Treachery offers an enchanting variety of spies, settings, and stories sure
to please most readers.
Grade: A
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