Ride a Pale Horse
by Helen MacInnes
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When journalist Karen Cornell is invited to a peace conference in Prague, she only goes on the understanding that she will be granted a valuable interview. Instead she finds herself chosen for a more hazardous task: carrying top-secret documents from a potential Czech defector back to Washington. With the papers safely in the hands of Peter Bristow, the one CIA man Karen can trust, she is sure her part in the drama is over, but soon she is pulled into an astonishing web of blackmail, show more assassination and treason at the highest level. There is a mole in the CIA and it is Bristow's job to find it, as well as protecting Karen from an unknown enemy.With Karen's life in danger and time running out, they must uncover a plot that threatens the very heart of US Intelligence.
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Member Reviews
The author was born in 1907 and I'm afraid it shows .While it's not unbelievable that an amateur finding herself in a nest of spies would later take a backseat to the professionals, I've read enough of this author to know that if it'd been a male amateur he would've stayed front and center being in charge and making the decisions. I still like the book despite the heroine turning into a damsel in distress. It had a steady stream of action. It was not preachy. It delved into many aspects of the spy business.
This one started out strong but got bogged down with too many extraneous details. I didn't finish it because I'd just read another of hers.
Helen has been a favorite author since the late 70’s for me for escapism. The Cold War in Prague, Rome, and DC are sites for this cloak and dagger suspense, along with a dated romance.
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39+ Works 7,969 Members
Helen MacInnes was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 7, 1907. In 1928, she received a degree in French and German from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She later studied at University College in London and worked as a librarian. She got married in 1932, moved to New York in 1937, and became an American citizen in 1952. In 1939, she began show more writing suspense novels and won the Columbia Prize for Literature in 1966. Many of her novels were adapted into movies including Above Suspicion, Assignment in Brittany, The Venetian Affair, and The Salzburg Connection. She died from the effects of a stroke on September 30, 1985 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Intermezzo in Prag
- Original title
- Ride a Pale Horse
- Original publication date
- 1984
- People/Characters
- Karen Cornell; Peter Bristow; Sam Waterman
- Important places
- Prague, Czechoslovakia; Vienna, Austria; Rome, Italy; Washington, D.C., USA
- Epigraph
- And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him.
--Revelations VI, 8 - Dedication
- In memory of Gilbert
- First words
- The room was comfortable enough, adequate but dull, totally unimaginative, a cream-walled box with everything else colored brown.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Together they mounted the steps and entered the house.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 406
- Popularity
- 76,081
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.41)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Finnish, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 19
- ASINs
- 13
