Customer Reviews

The Coil: A Novel

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel is a fast paced espionage full of surprises and a terrific read. I loved it.

Whenever I read, I hope to learn something, usually not facts but insights into human nature or clues to some mystery. So I read Gayle Lynds -- her characters are complex and vivid, her intrigues are credible, her vision clarifies why the world's the way it is. She does her research, thinks about it and then writes. And the settings of her stories captivate me so, the day after reading THE COIL, I started saving my pennies toward a golfing trip to Scotland.

When this book first came out I bought a copy and was enchanted. A fabulous story and excellent writing. I wrote a glowing review for Amazon, but today when I came back here and started to read through the reviews I noted mine wasn't among them. Off in cyber space I guess. I won't bother repeating myself. So many fans have posted rave reviews there's not much left to say. However, I do want to add my five stars and thank Gayle Lynds for this spectacular book. I do hope she's hard at work on the next one.

I just finished reading the Coil, and it truly a thrill. I've been a fan of Lynds' ever since she wrote Masquerade, but she just keeps getting better. I was glad to return to the character of Liz Sansborough and her international adventures. It's been too long. Don't keep us waiting Gayle Lynds: your readers need to read your next novel soon!

Gayle Lynds not only grew up reading Robert Ludlum but also collaborated with him on three novels before his death in 2001. Now Lynds has stepped out of the master's shadow with a rousing new work that will earn a prominent place on every thriller lover's bookshelf.

The Coil features the return of Liz Sansborough (who first appeared in Masquerade in 1995), a former CIA covert operative whose hatred of violence caused her to abandon that life and flee to California to live a quiet existence as a college professor.

But she can never leave her former life completely behind. Powerful groups believe Sansborough possesses vital information -- the kind of intelligence that can bring down governments -- and they will do anything to obtain that knowledge.

As one of the few writers who combines an uncommon knowledge of the covert world with a craftsman's skill at thriller writing, Lynds knows the genre as well as anyone who has ever worked in it. In this book she brings all her expertise to bear.

With a panoramic backdrop of exotic European locales, breakneck pacing, a tough and brainy protagonist, and vicious villains, The Coil has all of the pieces in place to make it spellbinding.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times

The Book should be good. it's such a blatant rip-off of Robert Ludlums "The Chancellor Manuscript" I'm surprised she bothered to change the names of the charactors!!!If you want to read a good book the the original, NOT her copy!!!!

The Coil of the title refers to a group of six international movers and shakers who use their considerable economic and political power to influence the course of world events. To protect their identities, they somewhat immodestly use code names relating to the Titans of myth, referring to themselves as Cronus, Hyperion, Prometheus, Atlas, Ocean, and Themis.

Since the end of World War II, the group has made many momentous decisions affecting the fate of nations, including ordering assassinations when politically expedient. Many of those killings were handled by the legendary international hitman known as "The Carnivore". Now presumed dead, the assassin was rumored to have maintained extensive files on all his hits. Thus, the Coil becomes extremely agitated when it appears that someone has gained access to those files, and is now using them to blackmail the Carnivore's former employers.

Painfully aware of what's at stake, the secret organization and other interested parties initiate a search for the blackmailer and the invaluable files in his/her possession. A natural starting place is with ex-CIA agent Liz Sansborough, the Carnivore's daughter. Firmly convinced that her life of intrigue is all in the past, Sansborough (who previously appeared in Lynds' 1997 novel MASQUERADE) is abruptly pulled back into the spy game, forced to seek the files to stay alive. Her odyssey leads her into the murky world of espionage and intrigue, where one mistake could prove fatal.

Given her collaborations with the late Robert Ludlum (such as the "Covert One" novels THE HADES FACTOR, THE PARIS OPTION, and THE ALTMAN CODE), it's not surprising that THE COIL evokes the works of that internationally best-selling author, especially those written in his prime. Lynds, however, manages to build on the work of her collaborator, updating his basic formulae for modern audiences. Efficient and quick witted, Sansborough proves a worthy heroine. Her companion, MI6 agent Simon Childs, proves equally adept. Lynds pits the winning pair against several hostiles, constantly testing their mettle as they piece together a very complicated international puzzle. A gripping read, the book seems like a natural property for a movie adaptation. Sadly, Alfred Hitchcock, the one director best suited to bring this novel to the screen, is no longer with us. Fortunately, Lynds has provided an eminently filmable blueprint that even the most inept director couldn't botch.

Fans of espionage novels know Gayle Lynds primarily for her excellent collaborative work with the late Robert Ludlum on the Covert One series of novels, such as THE HADES FACTOR and THE ALTMAN CODE. She is also a novelist in her own right, with her latest work THE COIL being her fourth solo novel. THE COIL stays firmly ensconced in the espionage genre and, while flawed in spots, is ultimately an entertaining and engrossing work.

THE COIL features the return of Liz Sansborough, first introduced in MASQUERADE, Lynds's debut novel. Sansborough is a former CIA agent who has left that life behind, thoroughly satisfied with her quiet but fulfilling existence as a college professor in Santa Barbara. She also quietly lives with the knowledge that her deceased father was a Cold War assassin known as The Carnivore. Sansborough's past and heritage violently intrude into her life when she is attacked and almost killed for no apparent reason. Sansborough's cousin, Sarah Walker, is almost simultaneously kidnapped in Paris in an incident that leaves her husband, CIA Agent Asher Flores, seriously wounded.

The catalyst behind these actions is the existence of files that The Carnivore apparently kept on his employers. Someone is using the information contained in these files to blackmail influential figures and guide their actions toward a secret agenda. The kidnappers want the files in exchange for Walker. Sansborough, meanwhile, has had no idea that her father kept such files and must somehow locate them in order to save her cousin, as well as herself. She finds herself caught between the kidnappers and the blackmailer, who has no intention of giving up the files.

With great reluctance, she returns to the shadowy life of the secret agent, chasing across Europe in an effort to rescue her cousin and uncover the secret behind the files and the blackmailer. Her pursuit leads her to the Coil, a secretive group that quietly influences world events and whose very existence is threatened by the blackmailer --- who is one of their own.

THE COIL is a great novel, although it might have been even better with a couple of modifications. Things get slightly complex here, even for a novel of this genre. Conspiracy novels are, by their nature, complicated, but Lynds occasionally becomes just a bit too clever. There is so much duplicity going around that by the final third of the book one begins to hear, if not see, the gears and pulleys that are supposed to stay hidden, out of sight, behind the curtain. The biggest problem, however, is the heroine herself, who seems more inclined to internally debate whether to pick up a gun and defend herself or join hands with her enemy and sing "Kumbaya." Such debates are better reserved for the abstract, as opposed to the field --- think of James Bond, tied up with a laser beam moving slowly toward his groin, wondering whether laying down his sword would make the world a better place. You get the idea. Aside from straining credibility, these debates, which bypass conflict and head into the land of self-absorption, tend to break up the flow of the narrative and, hence, interrupt the story.

If we should see more of Sansborough in the future, it will hopefully be without the internal baggage. I doubt I'm really giving anything away by revealing that since Sansborough is alive and reasonably happy by the end of THE COIL, she ultimately chooses the course of affirmative self-defense rather than talking her adversaries to death. Notwithstanding these points, however, THE COIL is a worthwhile read from a writer who continues to improve with each novel.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I thought I knew what was happening in this book. There are some files, dangerous files containing explosive information that could topple corporations and governments. The rich and powerful men of the ultra-secret group known only as The Coil want those files. And they think Liz Sansborough knows where they are. After all, the files belonged to her father, the notorious assassin known only as The Carnivore.

Sounds pretty simple yeah? Rich bad guys want files, they go after our heroine to find the files, chase, escape, yes yes, I can see where this is going.

But I was wrong. The book constantly surprised me. Yes, it rockets along as any thriller should, ratcheting up the tension with every new page, but there is so much more. Every time I thought I knew where the book was going, it took me in an unexpected direction. Who is good? Who is evil? You can't always tell, and those added layers of complexity and ambiguity make this novel a richly satisfying read.

Lynds' clearly puts an incredible amount of research into this book, and her deep knowledge of places, institutions, and history add yet more to the story without slowing down the plot for an instant.

I haven't read Lynds' work before, so I am excited to find that she's written other books, I can hardly wait to read Masquerade!

A NEW MASTERPIECE BY THE REIGNING QUEEN OF ESPIONAGE!
COIL HAS ALL THE RECOIL OF A HIGH POWERED RIFLE!
EXPERTLY WOVEN, THE PLOT, AND STORY LINE KEEP YOU RIVETED, AND GUESSING WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. UNPREDICTABLE, COIL HAS ALL THE TWISTS, AND TURNS OF A SNAKE, WITH ENOUGH ACTION TO KEEP ANY THRILLER FAN ENTHRALLED.
LIKE A RATTLE SNAKE, COIL GRABS YOUR ATTENTION IN IT'S PROLOGUE(ROTATING TALE), AND ENTRANCES, MESMERIZES, AND HYPNOTIZES YOU WITH IS PLOT, AND STORY LINE, TILL IT ATTACKS WITH IT'S STUNNING CONCLUSION, LEAVING YOU BRATHLESS, BLEEDING, AND WANTING FOR MORE!
WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE BEST ESPIONAGE BOOKS WRITTEN IN QUITE A WHILE, WHETHER WRITTEN ABOUT A MALE, OR FEMALE HERO! GET A HOLD OF THIS ONE, AND COIL UP IN YOUR BED FOR A GREAT READ! ENJOY!!!