Henry Porter (1) (1953–)
Author of Brandenburg
For other authors named Henry Porter, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Henry Porter is the U. K. Editor of Vanity Fair.
Image credit: via Grove Atlantic
Series
Works by Henry Porter
Associated Works
Reader's Digest Select Editions: Brandenburg • Kill the Messenger • Night Train to Lisbon • Sight Unseen (2006) — Contributor — 9 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Kill the Messenger • Brandenburg • Digger • Sight Unseen (2005) 5 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Porter, Henry
- Legal name
- Porter, Henry C.
- Birthdate
- 1953
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- journalist
editor (magazine) - Awards and honors
- Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize (2019)
- Agent
- Rebecca Carter
- Relationships
- Elliot, Liz (wife)
- Short biography
- Henry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He was editor of the Atticus column on the Sunday Times, moving to set up the Sunday Correspondent magazine in 1988. He contributes commentary and reportage to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of the American magazine Vanity Fair and divides his time between New York and London.
- Nationality
- UK
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
London, England, UK - Associated Place (for map)
- UK
Members
Reviews
Slim Parsons is a great protagonist. As this novel opens, we learn that she is working on an archaeological dig in East Anglia that has just retrieved what seems likely to be a significant find. However, we discover that this is not her primary occupation. She is, in fact, an MI5 officer who has been in hiding since her undercover assignment on a lengthy operation came to a dramatic and unforeseen end. Slim has been hiding as much from her former colleagues as from potential reprisal by the show more subjects of the failed operation.
After she is readmitted into the fold, she is assigned to a new operation to investigate, and hopefully infiltrate, a news website based in central England which seems to be accessing far too much sensitive and classified information, to the chagrin of the government. Having some previous experience as a reporter, Slim undertakes this mission, but finds herself being sidetracked by a dangerous mix of personal tragedy and the uncovering of substantial leads into some major criminal networks.
Henry Porter manages the separate story strands very capably, and the tension develops at breakneck pace. Slim is a highly plausible character, complete with her own flaws and blind spots. I also enjoyed the locations, which seemed very authentically drawn.
I hope that this might prove to be the start of a series. show less
After she is readmitted into the fold, she is assigned to a new operation to investigate, and hopefully infiltrate, a news website based in central England which seems to be accessing far too much sensitive and classified information, to the chagrin of the government. Having some previous experience as a reporter, Slim undertakes this mission, but finds herself being sidetracked by a dangerous mix of personal tragedy and the uncovering of substantial leads into some major criminal networks.
Henry Porter manages the separate story strands very capably, and the tension develops at breakneck pace. Slim is a highly plausible character, complete with her own flaws and blind spots. I also enjoyed the locations, which seemed very authentically drawn.
I hope that this might prove to be the start of a series. show less
Alice "Slim" Parsons is the tough, courageous, and brash heroine of Henry Porter's "The Enigma Girl," a suspenseful and action-packed spy thriller. Under the alias Sally Latimer, Slim goes undercover for Britain's MI5 to obtain information about the criminal empire of the tyrannical Ivan Guest. Slim becomes Guest's personal assistant, and in the twenty months that she works on the operation, she obtains vital evidence that could bring Guest to justice. However, when the mission is aborted show more after she and Guest engage in a violent confrontation, she must watch her back for fear of retribution.
The large cast of characters include Slim's troubled mother, Diana, an alcoholic who has been grieving for years over the disappearance of her son; Helen, a compassionate nurse who tends to Diana when she is seriously ill; a host of vicious hoodlums; and Delphy, a woman nearing one hundred, who provides a safe haven for Slim when she desperately needs it. In addition, there is a group of passionate journalists who work for Middle Kingdom, an online news organization. These reporters have published confidential and damaging material about the inner workings of England's government. Slim is sent to spy on them, but instead, she becomes obsessed with taking down a gang of ruthless human traffickers.
This book has obvious shortcomings, most notably the improbability of Slim's surviving one perilous confrontation after another. In addition, it is tedious and challenging to keep track of the novel's numerous subplots. That being said, Porter's underlying themes are thought-provoking and timely. They involve corruption and greed among the rich and powerful, the physical and emotional challenges that espionage agents face, and whether members of the press are justified in using underhanded methods to dig up dirt on prominent individuals. "The Enigma Girl" offers plenty of excitement, but the novel would have profited from some judicious editing. show less
The large cast of characters include Slim's troubled mother, Diana, an alcoholic who has been grieving for years over the disappearance of her son; Helen, a compassionate nurse who tends to Diana when she is seriously ill; a host of vicious hoodlums; and Delphy, a woman nearing one hundred, who provides a safe haven for Slim when she desperately needs it. In addition, there is a group of passionate journalists who work for Middle Kingdom, an online news organization. These reporters have published confidential and damaging material about the inner workings of England's government. Slim is sent to spy on them, but instead, she becomes obsessed with taking down a gang of ruthless human traffickers.
This book has obvious shortcomings, most notably the improbability of Slim's surviving one perilous confrontation after another. In addition, it is tedious and challenging to keep track of the novel's numerous subplots. That being said, Porter's underlying themes are thought-provoking and timely. They involve corruption and greed among the rich and powerful, the physical and emotional challenges that espionage agents face, and whether members of the press are justified in using underhanded methods to dig up dirt on prominent individuals. "The Enigma Girl" offers plenty of excitement, but the novel would have profited from some judicious editing. show less
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen year old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed 'Firefly', he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information.
When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, ex-MI6 show more agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety.
A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from the acclaimed and award-winning author of Brandenburg and The Dying Light.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Paul Samson, Arabophone Brit of Lebanese background, has a gambling problem that got him bounced from the intelligence job he loved. He's an adrenaline junky, so he wasn't unemployed for long; he's fluent in the language and conversant with the culture of one of the world's hotspots, so guess where his now-unofficial work takes him!
Naji is the teenaged son of a Syrian academic who, gentle soul that he was, believed he could help some dissident students of his be found in Assad's brutal regime. He later died from the aftereffects of being tortured. Naji, after this awakening, is quick to see through ISIL's façade of acceptance and gets his family to Turkey preparatory to making it to Germany.
With, because he's very intelligent but not very smart yet, damaging information he got because "he's just a kid" and the violent men paid no attention to him.
Not good for his chances of survival...but Paul Samson, now that British officialdom know Naji exists, is sent unofficially and deniably to make him safe and get him to the point he can give the information to them. Kid's a tyro...he leads everyone a merry chase. Author Porter writes a damn good story here, sets it in places I'm convinced he knows well enough to lead tours, but there's not much horsepower in his characters as people. Their motives are clear and powerful. They are also, unlike real people's and thus unlike the characters I most enjoy reading about, unmixed. Black-hearted people, white-hatted people...not a lot of nuance.
That said I read the book as fast as I could. I wanted this kid to win and I think anyone who needs something more or less unambiguous for a restful but still exciting (weird sentence...but that's how this book came across for me) or at least very action-packed story of implausibly lucky good guys needs this read. show less
The Publisher Says: From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen year old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed 'Firefly', he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information.
When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, ex-MI6 show more agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety.
A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from the acclaimed and award-winning author of Brandenburg and The Dying Light.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Paul Samson, Arabophone Brit of Lebanese background, has a gambling problem that got him bounced from the intelligence job he loved. He's an adrenaline junky, so he wasn't unemployed for long; he's fluent in the language and conversant with the culture of one of the world's hotspots, so guess where his now-unofficial work takes him!
Naji is the teenaged son of a Syrian academic who, gentle soul that he was, believed he could help some dissident students of his be found in Assad's brutal regime. He later died from the aftereffects of being tortured. Naji, after this awakening, is quick to see through ISIL's façade of acceptance and gets his family to Turkey preparatory to making it to Germany.
With, because he's very intelligent but not very smart yet, damaging information he got because "he's just a kid" and the violent men paid no attention to him.
His head went under. Seawater filled his nose and mouth; his eyes opened and he saw the black depths of the ocean below him. A moment later something knocked his legs—maybe part of the wreckage, he couldn’t tell. All he knew was that he was going to die. Then it came again. This time there was a distinct shove on his buttocks and whatever it was that moved with such intent beneath him lifted him up so his head and shoulders came out of the water and he was able to grab a plastic toggle on the section of the rubber craft that was still inflated.
Not good for his chances of survival...but Paul Samson, now that British officialdom know Naji exists, is sent unofficially and deniably to make him safe and get him to the point he can give the information to them. Kid's a tyro...he leads everyone a merry chase. Author Porter writes a damn good story here, sets it in places I'm convinced he knows well enough to lead tours, but there's not much horsepower in his characters as people. Their motives are clear and powerful. They are also, unlike real people's and thus unlike the characters I most enjoy reading about, unmixed. Black-hearted people, white-hatted people...not a lot of nuance.
That said I read the book as fast as I could. I wanted this kid to win and I think anyone who needs something more or less unambiguous for a restful but still exciting (weird sentence...but that's how this book came across for me) or at least very action-packed story of implausibly lucky good guys needs this read. show less
East Germany, the dying days of the Honecker regime. Rudi Rosenharte is an art critic and ex-Stasi officer. No fan of the regime, he is nevertheless pressed back into service to make contact with one of his former agents. To make sure he complies, the Stasi have arrested his twin brother and detained the brother's wife and family. The brother's health and spirit have already been broken during a previous period of imprisonment, so all Rudi wants to do is to get him and his family out of East show more Germany. In pursuit of this aim, he draws in four different intelligence services, in a satisfyingly twisting adventure.
The thing that lifts this above the formulaic is its depiction of the tail end of the East German regime - in particular the very real brutality and terror of the survelliance state (Porter currently campaigns against increased surveillance and other encroachments of civil liberties in the name of counter-terrorism), and the delight and incredulity at the sudden crumbling of the system - rapidly replaced by some tough questions when the East Germans stream across into West Berlin and see the incredible plenty there. show less
The thing that lifts this above the formulaic is its depiction of the tail end of the East German regime - in particular the very real brutality and terror of the survelliance state (Porter currently campaigns against increased surveillance and other encroachments of civil liberties in the name of counter-terrorism), and the delight and incredulity at the sudden crumbling of the system - rapidly replaced by some tough questions when the East Germans stream across into West Berlin and see the incredible plenty there. show less
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- Works
- 12
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 1,523
- Popularity
- #16,883
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 48
- ISBNs
- 151
- Languages
- 9
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