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5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't pass this one by, Nov 6 2003
I also stumbled across The Tears of Autumn a long time ago, and have never forgotten it. I went on to read and enjoy a number of McCarry's novels, particularly The Last Supper and The Better Angels. But no one I've talked books with in the fifteen or so years since then has ever brought up his name. Which I find sad and weird, because Charles McCarry is up there with LeCarre and Robert Stone (not Oliver, nor strictly a thriller writer, but nonetheless). Not only is hero and narrative viewpoint Paul Christopher one of the few fictional spies as interesting as George Smiley, but the plot of Tears of Autumn is genuinely original, compelling, disturbing, thoroughly plausible--all you could ever ask from a thriller. Put it next to DeLillo's Libra and you have two utterly contradictory scenarios for what lay behind Dallas '63 that both feel true. Oh, and did I mention he could write? I mean the pages turn themselves and the world around you fades until the story ends. Then it lingers with you. He can write. Blah blah. I won't go on further because, like I say, it's been years. I only came here because I'd forgotten the exact title of "that Kennedy assassination book". But when I got here I found myself wanting to add my praise to that of the two previous reviewers and to wholeheartedly recommend it, along with the McCarry's other Paul Christopher novels, to anyone who's curious. It's well worth dipping into. Not to be missed, really, if you like good spy books (or well-constructed conspiracy theories).
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