The Spy / Thriller Novel - Lionel Davidson

It's a rainy cool day today. Basically hunkering down and staying indoors. Yesterday I caught up with The Fugitive episodes I'd taped. There was a two-parter starring Eileen Heckart as a nun who'd lost her faith. One of the best episodes so far. Jo and I watched Episode 3 of The Levels last night. I'm not warming to it but now I have to see how it ends. We taped the first episode of Grantchester Season 5. I'm looking forward to watching that.

The Spy / Thriller Novel - Lionel Davidson

Lionel Davidson

Lionel Davidson lived from 1922 - 2009 and was an English author of spy thrillers and mysteries. From 1960 - 1994 he wrote 9 novels. He also wrote some young adult novels and short stories. I've read 4 of his stories and have another waiting in the wings. I readily admit that I didn't like one of the ones that I have read. But you should check them out for yourselves.

1. The Night of Wenceslas (1960). His first novel and winner of the Gold Dagger Award.

"Nicolas Whistler is young, bored and in debt. When an opportunity to make some money arises, he can't turn it down. He is sent to Prague to carry out a simple assignment, but he soon finds himself trapped between the secret police and the clutches of the mysterious Vlasta. Whether he likes it or not, Nicolas is now a spy." (3 stars)

2. The Rose of Tibet (1962).

"In the forbidding mountains of a remote, hidden land, a goddess cries a river of emeralds, an enemy army is missing on the border, and Charles Houston is fighting for his life in an avalanche of danger. Searching for his missing brother, he comes upon an innocent people and is plunged into a bizarre religious ritual." (3 stars)

3. The Long Way to Shiloh aka The Menorah Men (1966). Another Gold Dagger Winner.

"THE MENORAH MEN, Lionel Davidson's acclaimed best seller, is set in Israel, the author's adopted country. It is a thriller with an archeological background which tells of the modern quest for the original Menorah, the Holy Grail of the Jewish faith.

Caspar Laing, a young British archaeologist, is persuaded to travel to Israel to decipher a recently discovered scroll. Its contents set him hot on the trail of the long-lost Menorah. Accompanied by Shoshana, a dusky Yemenite soldier who is his chauffeuse, Laing scours the Holy Land in a dangerous search for a priceless buried treasure." (3 stars)

4. The Chelsea Murders (1978). Also a Gold Dagger Award Winner.

"A terrifying, grotesque figure bursts into a young art student's room. Head covered with a clown's wig, face concealed by a smiling mask, it wears the rubber gloves of a surgeon. The girl is seized, chloroformed, suffocated and - horrifyingly - beheaded. This is only the beginning of a series of murders terrorising London's fashionable bohemia. The police target three avant-garde filmmakers. One of them is mocking the other two, and openly taunting the police as well. But which of them is behind these appalling crimes?"

5. Kolymsky Heights (1994).

"I've read a couple of other thrillers by Lionel Davidson and found them entertaining. I honestly gave Kolymsky Heights a good try, even got over half way through it. But I just could not finish it. That does not happen very often, I will tell you.

It may have been because my mood wouldn't let me get into it but it also just wasn't a great story. Basically, this is the premise as I understood it. A Russian scientist sends a message to an acquaintance in the UK, a scientist he met many years ago at a conference in England. He has something that he needs to get out of Russia. He wants a third acquaintance to come and get it. This third acquaintance is a Canadian native, who also attended the conference.

And thus begins the story. The first third describes Porter's journey from Canada, to Japan and then onto a freighter to Northern Russia and his efforts establish himself in Russia so he can get to the scientist's locale. And now he has met the scientist and we're about to find out what it's all about. But by now, all I can say is 'nyahh.. who cares'. It's all just a bit laborious and not worth finishing. Very disappointing. I do have one more Davidson story, a mystery, that I will try. Hoping it's more like the earlier efforts. (1 star)"

The complete listing of Davidson's books can be found at this link.