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sawylIn the afterword to The Atrocity Archives, Charlie Stross mentions how, partway through writing, he heard about Tim Powers' Declare, which also combines spying and the supernatural. Since Stross suggested that anyone who liked Atrocity would probably like it and because I was, in my younger days, a keen reader of John Le Carré, I decided to give it a whirl. Here's how things panned out:
Andrew Hale grows up a lonely child, first in the Cotswolds and later at boarding school. Following the death of his mother, an ex-nun, and the outbreak of the second world war, Hale decides to sign up for military service and quickly finds himself working as a radio operator in occupied Paris. There he meets Elena, a young Spanish communist, learns about strange beings who live in the Heaviside Layer and discovers arcane ways to avoid being observed. On his return to England, he becomes increasingly caught up in a complicated SOE operation called Declare before leaving under something of a cloud to return to education.
Fast forward to 1963, where Hale, now a respectable academic, receives an old SOE activation code which summons him to London. After a meeting with Macmillan, he learns from his old handlers that Operation Declare is still active and that he must go to the Middle East immediately to make contact with an old nemesis: Kim Philby. After reliving the fiasco of the first Declare operation and reminiscing about a mission to Berlin in 1945, Hale eventually crosses paths with both Philby and Elena, learning the secret of his parentage in the process.
Despite the strange coincidences — both novels feature characters called Angleton — Declare and Atrocity are very different books. As Stross says, his book was modeled on the style of Len Deighton, whereas Powers explicitly models himself on John Le Carré. Stross sets his novel in the more-or-less present, Powers sets his in the 1940s and 1960s, making heavy use of the history of the period — and, in particular, details from the life of Kim Philby — to flesh things out.
In the end Declare is a good spy novel with supernatural elements, that cleverly weaves its story around the historical details, making you wonder where fact leaves off and fiction begins: it left me wanting to reread Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and learn more about the Cambridge spy ring, although this has since worn off — I blame my appallingly short attention span...
Andrew Hale grows up a lonely child, first in the Cotswolds and later at boarding school. Following the death of his mother, an ex-nun, and the outbreak of the second world war, Hale decides to sign up for military service and quickly finds himself working as a radio operator in occupied Paris. There he meets Elena, a young Spanish communist, learns about strange beings who live in the Heaviside Layer and discovers arcane ways to avoid being observed. On his return to England, he becomes increasingly caught up in a complicated SOE operation called Declare before leaving under something of a cloud to return to education.
Fast forward to 1963, where Hale, now a respectable academic, receives an old SOE activation code which summons him to London. After a meeting with Macmillan, he learns from his old handlers that Operation Declare is still active and that he must go to the Middle East immediately to make contact with an old nemesis: Kim Philby. After reliving the fiasco of the first Declare operation and reminiscing about a mission to Berlin in 1945, Hale eventually crosses paths with both Philby and Elena, learning the secret of his parentage in the process.
Despite the strange coincidences — both novels feature characters called Angleton — Declare and Atrocity are very different books. As Stross says, his book was modeled on the style of Len Deighton, whereas Powers explicitly models himself on John Le Carré. Stross sets his novel in the more-or-less present, Powers sets his in the 1940s and 1960s, making heavy use of the history of the period — and, in particular, details from the life of Kim Philby — to flesh things out.
In the end Declare is a good spy novel with supernatural elements, that cleverly weaves its story around the historical details, making you wonder where fact leaves off and fiction begins: it left me wanting to reread Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and learn more about the Cambridge spy ring, although this has since worn off — I blame my appallingly short attention span...
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Date: 2006-12-28 10:31 am (UTC)(Despite my recent reading of them, however, I can't remember the Angleton who appears in Declare. It's a name that stands out because of the CIA connection, I think. That may or may not have been deliberate on the part of the authors.)
I've been on a John Le Carré kick this year. Excluding The Naive and Sentimental Lover, I've finally gotten around to reading his works from The Spy Who Came In From The Cold to my current read, Smiley's People. It's been a blast, and I have three more titles left before I start buying the others I don't have yet (A Perfect Spy, The Russia House, and The Secret Pilgrim).
As for Deighton, I've now been curious. Everyone talks about the series that begins with The Ipcress File, and while I am interested in that, I'm more inclined to check out the Bernard Samson novels that begins with Spy Hook. What's Deighton's style like? Would you mind giving me a cursory compare-and-contrast with Le Carré?
Much thanks, and hope your holidays were good.
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Date: 2007-01-22 08:38 pm (UTC)Thanks to a chance reference in a book review (http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1977664,00.html), I've finally realised Powers' Angleton reference is probably to James Jesus Angleton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jesus_Angleton), while Stross's is a deliberate misdirect — early on in The Jennifer Morgue, a CIA guy mentions that Angleton's alias is borderline insulting to a Company man.
I'm not sure that I can help much with a comparison between Le Carre and Deighton — it's been rather a long time since I read either — but my memories are that Le Carre tends to be more character driven, with events gradually building in momentum, whereas I remember Deighton as being more event driven, more punchy, with a deliberate emphasis on the relative anonymity of his lead character. But, like I said, it's been more than a decade, so I could be horribly wrong...
For what it's worth, I've recently finished reading The Jennifer Morgue, which does for Ian Fleming what The Atrocity Archive did for Deighton. It's a clever combination of the world of the Laundry with all the elements of classic Bond, all refracted through a Strossian lens, so you're never entirely sure where you are. If you don't completely and utterly hate Bond, I suspect you'll find it fun.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 04:43 pm (UTC)That bit you describe from The Jennifer Morgue makes me even more anxious to read it. Someday, someday...hopefully soon, when finances stabilize. I don't hate Bond, though I've never read Fleming. I think I'm going to enjoy the Stross. In fact, I know I will!
I'm going to start reading Deighton's Berlin Game and Mexico Set as soon as I have London Match. I've been picking up secondhand copies of those, so it's not as "wasteful" to spend on an author I've yet to try. The main character isn't anonymous, but here's hoping this is as good as people say it is.
Anyway, thanks for the response. It has been helpful.