Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #383381 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 528 pages

Customer Reviews

A female British assassin goes after the Moslem terrorists
On July 7, 2005, three Moslem suicide bombers blew up three London underground trains, killing some 50 people.

In "A Gentleman's Game" by Greg Rucka (first published in 2004) the story starts with three Moslem suicide bombers blowing up three London underground trains!

How timely can you get?

I liked this book a lot. Partly because the story is very timely, couched in the post Sept. 11, 2001 world of Moslem terrorists vs. the West, and eerily predicting with great accuracy a terrorist attack in London. But I also liked the book because I liked the writing, I liked the characters, and I found the story very exciting, although a bit unrealistic.

The main protagonist is Tara Chace, a young woman who works for the British government in some kind of secret service department. On the book cover she is labeled as a spy, and inside the book she is referred to as an agent, but what she really is is an assassin, and a very good one. She and her two male colleagues are given the job of killing someone when the British government decides, for example after a terrorist attack on the London underground system, that someone somewhere needs to be killed.

Tara and the other characters in the book, including several of the bad guys, are portrayed in the story as very interesting people. They all have their character quirks and flaws, and thus come across as real people, not clichés.

Part of the story takes place in London, where there are many inter-departmental squabbles and the problems of politics vs. morals. The rest of the story takes place in the Middle East, in Yemen, Cairo, Israel and Saudi Arabia. I found the descriptions of Arab culture and attitudes very interesting, and the way in which Moslem fundamentalists recruit terrorists and suicide bombers to be fascinating.

At one point I was going to give "A Gentleman's Game" five stars, but the plot became a bit too unrealistic and the ending somewhat contrived. Still, I'm looking forward to reading more by Greg Rucka.

Incidentally, Greg Rucka has also written some graphic novels (comic books) with the same main characters, his "Queen and Country" series.

Rennie Petersen