Second Sight

'Second Sight', the 7th (?) in Charles McCarry's series starring Paul Christopher, was a real challenge. I love McCarry's technique, characters, knowledge of the intricacies of the clandestine world, and approach, yet this one went places his earlier efforts didn't. I powered through to the end, but it wasn't easy.

The key element of the plot is that agents of The Outfit (CIA) are being captured, drugged, debriefed, and cut loose by someone and retired spy Paul Christopher is identified as just the guy to figure it all out. This is introduced very early, then goes away for, oh, about 300+ pages. In that huge chunk of book, we're treated to backstories on characters (many of which populated earlier novels) going way, way back in time. show more Character development is normally a good thing, and new important characters are also introduced along the way, but nothing much picks up until maybe a hundred pages from the end. The writing, as usual, is great, the characters interesting, but it all seemed very overdone.

Second Sight is worth picking up if you're a McCarry fan and it certainly fills in a few blanks from his earlier novels, but if you're a new reader please don't start with this one. show less

Charles McCarry's, "Second Sight," presents us with the "Outfit," facing an existential threat. A kidnapper, presumably an enemy agent, has managed to detain a number of agents, gleaned all of their personal and professional information through the use of an unknown drug, and left them in a state of amnesia.
Part One of the novel takes the reader back into the past through the eyes of Catherine Christopher, Paul's first wife, who has developed a close relationship with Lla Kahina, a Berber mystic with second sight who sees into the Christopher's past and future, and whose prognostications project the plot of the novel.
For readers of the previous books of the Paul Christopher series, this iteration provides histories and insights into the show more main characters. We learn of David Patchen's recruitment into The Outfit by The Old Gentleman, the foundation of his relationship with Paul, of his marriage and his early history as "The One Eyed Man."
In the later part of the novel, verisimilitude slacks and sometimes slips away entirely, but is off-set by an exotic romance which is worth the suspension of belief. The novel closes the circle of the Paul Christopher series, and McCarry writes in his final remarks that " 'Second Sight' is the seventh and final volume of the long episodic novel about Paul Christopher and his family..." It isn't though. show less

Reading these McCarry novels in the order they have been re-released by Overlook has been fun, as the knowledge you have of the character's development and future somehow adds to the involvement. For all that, I found this one less satisfactory than some others: David Patchen, a main character here, doesn't come alive as much as I would have liked, but maybe that's the point too!

As always, story itself is not very believable, but style is excellent and the whole thing is spellbound.
this is the final story of Paul Christopher which follows six (?) others.

Great

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12438521