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Cast your thoughts back to the early 1960s and the Cold War, more the era of James Bond than John Le Carre. EYE OF THE ARCHANGEL is the second book in the Mallory & Morse series featuring Jack Mallory, an operative working for the Consultancy (a freelance firm) known to buy and sell world-class classified information and Laura Morse, a martial arts experts currently on loan from the CIA. In this sequel to the excellent INTO THE VOLCANO we find that the two operatives not only have to deal with the pent-up sexual frustration between the two of them that is playing havoc with their professional relationship but they also have to contend with the feelings of a new recruit who is overly sensitive about his heritage and the fact that he is part black. This time around, the team find themselves being asked to track down and retrieve a super-powered satellite known as the Archangel which has cropped up on the black market many years after its disappearance. It was assumed lost around the same time of Hitler's defeat. The team soon find themselves chasing a German scientist, a secret weapon belonging to the Nazis, and a fiendish international arms dealer amongst the Monaco playground of the rich and famous. This is very much a tongue in cheek novel. Think Austin Powers but with a slightly harder edge. Wallow in the lifestyles of the rich and famous along side the auto racing scene. This for me is such a cool novel. Those in the know will recognise the name of Forrest DeVoe as being the alter ego of Shamus Award wining author and co-founder of Hard Case Crime, Max Phillips. DeVoe has managed to nail the atmosphere right on. It's set in a period long before the arrival of faxes and mobile phones. Don't expect too much from EYE OF THE ARCHANGEL but be prepared for enough twists and turns to make you want to swap places. It goes without saying that DeVoe's homage certainly comes shining through. Otherwise who else would write a kick-ass novel that draws you back into the heady days of the sixties with such evocation and sparkle? Certainly my kind of book. I do hope that there will be another.
Reviewed by Ayo Onatade, May 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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