Gunner Kelly

When a retired British General, beloved by his community, is killed by a car bomb, it is an unlikely assassination with no obvious motive. David Audley of British intelligence is summoned in an unofficial status to the village, ostensibly to help the townspeople to lure in and murder the general's assassins.

But Audley is trying to prevent further bloodshed, and when the target of the bomb appears to have been Gunner Kelly, the General's driver and assistant, things get confusing.

Anthony Price writes highly intelligent espionage stories where espionage is almost beside the point. History, archeology and even a bit of Latin make an appearance in this one.

“Gunner Kelly”, published in 1982, so constituting one of Price’s later works, is subtly different to some of his other, more historically located, works. Yes, there’s some history - discussions of World War II armoured warfare and the Roman presence in Britain, but by no means is this at the heart of the story. Nor are the usual protagonists David Audley and Paul Mitchell at the heart of the work, instead the story comes very largely from the perspective of German intelligence office Benedikt Schneider. As such it’s strongly reminiscent of Le Carre’s “The Honourable Schoolboy”, and is very nearly as good.

For full review please see: http://southlondonbook.blogspot.com/2010/01/gunner-kelly-anthony-price.html

Very clever and well written story - a pleasure to read

Great

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