Customer Reviews

Crook Factory, The

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

 

 

What's not to like???
Fun novel that takes a fictional stab at what Hemingway was doing some of the time while living in Cuba.
If you like Simmons other books, beware it's not in his usual genre.
If you have an open mind (or, just like good historical fiction with a crime/mystery/spy twist) then you will enjoy this outing.
I also highly recommend Darwin's Blade and the Kurtz novels from Mr. Simmons. They are good reads as well.

I really liked the novel. It moves FAST, the personae are detailed and lifelike, the settings ring true... The only problem I had was that Simmons decided to go the easy way and poke some fun at Hoover's obsession with Communist spies. The sad fact is that, far from overreacting, the FBI in Hoover's time did nowhere nearly enough to counter that threat. The declassified Soviet and US files are damning enough, and good historical books were already available when Mr. Simmons was writing his novel. I'd recommend "Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America" by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and "The Secret World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series)" by Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes (Contributor), Fridrikh I. Firsov, Timothy D. Sergay (both volumes from Yale Books) to set the record straight.

As I said, this is a very good novel of its kind. It just suffers from a perspective defect.

Hemingway always liked to present an image of being a 'man's man', and the side of him that acutely observed and recorded those around him and their swirling tide-pool of emotions was normally hidden from view. Simmons, delving deep into the minutia of what is known about the man, managed to catch this ambivalence in this spy-vs-spy novel. Hemingway's braggart, macho face is clearly in evidence, but also much that is deeper: his genuine feelings for his children (and his 'children' were a much larger group than his biological family), his own realistic opinion of both his own and other's writing abilities, his fears and depressions, his charismatic presence, his dominance of almost any group he was part of, his real appreciation of what excellent art is, his total arrogance towards those whom he felt did not meet his standards.

Beyond this fine character portrait, we find a plot that seemingly came strictly from the land of make-believe, that is until you look at the documented facts surrounding the creation and operation of Hemingway's contribution to the WWII effort, his self-named Crook Factory. Nominally a strictly amateur counter-espionage group, which should have occupied the attention of the Washington bureaucrats for all of two minutes, is instead shown here to be the focus of not one but at least four professional intelligence-gathering organizations. Simmons weaves a finely complicated tale within the documented facts, some of which paint a very frightening picture of certain American organizations, and which become even more frightening in light of certain recently passed legislation allowing these organizations even more effectively unsupervised power. In Simmons' hands the facts and the fiction meld to become a nice who-is-really-who thriller, a ball of twine that Simmons carefully unravels and knits into shapes that continue to intrigue till the very climax of this work.

Simmons' style is a long ways from Hemingway's, normally a pretty basic utilitarian prose that does a decent job of presenting the story, but not exceptional. In a few spots, however, he caught something of Hemingway's inimitable ability to describe far more than just what the objective words on the page relay. These moments are few, though, and in many places I felt he presented too much mind-boggling detail of marginal relevance to the main story, regardless of how well these details are documented. These details in many places somewhat spoil the pacing of this otherwise well-wrought thriller.

Simmons also includes an epilogue, just to tie up all the loose ends. As he says himself within it, this is a bad idea. He had a perfectly good finish without the epilogue, and its inclusion merely weakens the overall impact of the work.

A good, enthralling read, with some nasty implications for today's world, although perhaps not the absolute top-flight work Simmons has exhibited in such works as Hyperion.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

I totally agree with the "reader from Kansas" on 7/18/99. I give this one star to bring down the overall rating. This reader's statement that the last 50 pages were somewhat interesting, and that the reader kept waiting for something to happen, are also true. I read this because I like the author, and I kept on because of the reputation of the author, but there is no tension, twists, etc to this story. It just goes on..and on..and on..The problem is that it is described as an espionage thriller, and it's not. It might be good if reviewed within another genre, but not this one.

... I think the Hyperion books were some of the best sci fi ever written. Creative, well-written, entertaining, thoughtful. When Simmons gets closer to home, he just can't weave the spell. Fires of Eden was startlingly weak for someone who has achieved what he has elsewhere. Crook Factory is almost as bad. In fact, it's suprising that anyone could make a story as intrinsically interesting as this one into something as boring, hackneyed, and unbelievable as this is.

It's possible that the Hemingway stuff is well-researched. The author has clearly bothered to find out NOTHING about the spy business now or any other time, and not even bothered to try and come up with a believable main character. ...On the idea that it's 95% true: I'm willing to believe the worst of Hoover's FBI--but since the 5% he doesn't claim is true is the accusation that Hoover sold important intelligence to the Germans is so very unbelievable he and the reviewers should probably soft-pedal the idea that this is really "faction"....

Boring....zzzzz
There were maybe 4 chapters of the book that held my interest. The writing was too predictable...WAY too predictable. I knew who agent X was from the get-go. Not Mr. Simmons' best work.

Without eulogising profusely in a vain attempt to be a (wannabe) critic of contemporary literature - because afterall, that it isn't my profession - I can state "this is simply one of the best books I've ever read." It stays with me, and I reminisce about the subjects, the plots, the sub-plots, and the strength of character (and characters) "The Crook Factory" portrays.

What makes this book most fascinating, for me, is the fact it draws on a depth of historical evidence; it served as my introduction to Ernest Hemingway (the principal character, of whom I previously only had the most obscure of pictures), and paints a kaleidoscope of colour regarding WW2 Cuba, the intricacies of latter day espionage, the jingoism of Hoover's "anti-commie" administration, and the powerful (if somewhat eccentric) motivation of the human spirit.

I bought "The Crook Factory" on the strength of previously read work by Simmons, namely the space opera "Hyperion" series - which again harbours a place of affection in my memories - but I was totally unaware of the diversity of this mans writing style; he has a true ability to draw the reader in, and serve up the choicest of narrative from the menu.

So, whilst I have no active interest in historical fiction, I'm glad I stumbled on this particular book and would strongly recommend it as a purchase for anyone who takes delight in a good read, whatever genre they normally gravitate towards.

As an afterthought - the edition I read also featured the first few pages of Simmons' "Darwins Blade" which I currently have on order as I type this review. I dare say, having not been disappointed by his work thus far, I don't expect to be let down in the near future (and I plan on reading more of his work as soon as possible)...

J Edgar Hoover wants FBI agent Joe Lucas (half Hispanic and a proven killer) to join the famous writer Ernest Hemmingway in Cuba who has offered to run a spy ring against the Germans in 1942. J Edgar knows Hemmingway to be charming and warns Joe not to fall under Hemingway's spell.

Joe (writing throughout the book in the first person) knows there's lots more to his function than keeping the local amateur Keystone Kops out of trouble and focuses on finding out J. Edgar's true motive while trying to keep from enjoying too much the stimulation and relaxation afforded by being at Hemmingway's farm, thre first he's had in many a year.

This is very good historical fiction. Hemmingway actually did offer to spy on the Germans in Cuba as well as track German submarines dropping off spys in Cuban waters. His involvement in this period was chronicled by him in his bittersweet "novel" "Islands in the Stream" and William Granger's "Hemmingway's Notebook" and others. As a sidenote: I found most of "Islands in the Stream" to be a delightful movie with George C. Scott in one of his two best roles, Claire Bloom, Gilbert Roland and the wonderful rascal David Hemmings.

Alfred Hitchcock once said (paraphrasing him) "A movie is like life with the boring parts taken out". This book left the boring parts in. While the characterizations are first rate (except for Hemmingway being somewhat stereotyped) and the attention to historical detail is admirably researched, there's just too much that isn't necessary in this 576 pages. The pages that describe the detail of what happened while waiting for something else to happen, didn't help the book. I certainly enjoyed how well Simmons described the American characters with the culture of 60 years ago as my parents related to me long ago. Too many books seem to get lazy as they describe characters from 50, 100 or more years ago as if they had today's values, mores, language and goals. Simmons doesn't fall into that trap.

He does fall into a celebrity trap by bringing in Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich and Ian Fleming. Their intoduction to the story didn't seem necessary and added clutter.

The action scenes are well done and not overly confusing. However Joe eventually confirms he has more to fear from his own agency than he does from the Germans. Joe is shown to be very clever with a "photographic" memory. I believe the book would have been better if it focused more on Joe's ability to solve ongoing mysteries than on historical accuracy.

Recommended but not a "must read" book.

Thanks, Mr. Simmons. Your wonderful creativity really surprised me. You are a rare talented writer and I am so glad to have found you laterly. I'm also very glad that you have decided to transfer from the fantasy territory into your 'make-believe' fiction land, and believe me, you really transcended! This book is very deep while never lost its interesting tension. It has put me 50 years back to Cuba and WWII and making Hemmingway and Jose Lucas both a tragic hero and wonderful person. I also love your 'Darwin's Blade,' so fasnatingly written. I'm now into half of your 'Hard Case.' and I've already lost half of my precious weekend sleep, but absolutely no complaints here! KEEP IT COMING, MR. SIMMONS. YOU ARE A COOL GUY WITH A WAY TOO COOL WRITING HAND! God Bless!

I have read just about all of Dan Simmons's writings and the Hyperion books are top-notch science fiction. His horror books easily surpass anyone in that field, including Stephen King but I have read 261 pages of The Crook Factory and had to lay it aside. The only action so far has been the murder in a whorehouse in Havana of a radio operator for a spy ship.

A lot of time was spent by the author in researching this book and I am sure it appeals to those readers who enjoy a good spy yarn but it is not my thing.

I may read the rest of this book someday when I am retired and have lots of time on my hands but I am in no great hurry to see how it turns out.