Old Boys

by Charles McCarry Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

Overview

Master spy Paul Christopher is back ... or is he?

Charles McCarry is considered by many to be the master of world-class spy fiction, garnering praise from peers and critics alike for his riveting novels. Christopher Buckley wrote that McCarry "is not only one of the best writers in America but one of the most important. He dazzles, from epigraph to epilogue," and the Los Angeles Times hailed his work as "first rate, in the tradition of the best espionage fiction, John Buchan to Eric Ambler and John le Carr¿®."

In this magnificent novel, Charles McCarry returns to the world of his legendary character Paul Christopher-the savvy intelligence agent as skilled at choosing a fine wine as he is at tradecraft, at once sophisticated and dangerous, and no stranger to the world of dirty tricks. Now Paul Christopher has mysteriously disappeared. Months pass, and a memorial service is held for him in Washington. But a group of his retired colleagues-the "Old Boys" from the Outfit-refuse to believe Christopher is dead. Led by Christopher's cousin Horace, the Old Boys embark on a thrilling worldwide search for the master spy and an ancient scroll that may reveal an unspeakably dangerous truth.

Editorial Reviews

Charles Trueheart

In Old Boys, his 10th novel, McCarry has cut loose yet again, this time in a cheerfully convoluted yarn whose tone is by turns mischievous and elegiac.
— The Washington Post

Kirkus Reviews

A collection of retired intelligence agents comes to the aid of the very dashing Christopher family of spies last seen in McCarry's 1991 Second Sight. Paul Christopher is dead. Possibly. A packet of ashes has arrived from western China, where the retired spook had spent ten years as a prisoner. Why on earth would he go back to such an awful scene? And why isn't the provenance of the cremains any better than it is? These and other questions plague Paul's cousin Horace Hubbard, who was also in the family spying business until caught stealing a national election. Horace rather thinks that Paul has taken the opportunity to drop out of the scenery, and, indeed, following Paul's state funeral, clues lead Horace to a hollowed-out table leg in his cousin's house wherein are cached clues suggesting that Paul has headed for central Asia on a hunt for his nonagenarian mum and a glass vial containing a Roman intelligence officer's eyewitness report of events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Christopher's mother, a German national who lived enough lives for five ordinary mortals, salvaged the document from Nazi Germany and has been carrying it about ever since. Horace rounds up a group of elderly colleagues and begins a search for Paul that takes him to China, Bulgaria, Turkey, South America, and numerous "-stans." He must be rather careful, since there is a fatwa out on him. Ibn Awad, an Islamic maniac Horace had supposedly killed in the line of business, is not only alive, but very much in the hunt for that interesting bit of biblical history and very unhappy about that murder attempt. After he eliminates Horace, Ibn Awad plans to blow up numerous satanic cities with the old Soviet A-bombs he'sbeen hoarding, so the Old Boys have to keep an eye out for radiation. There are numerous narrow escapes from goons, police, armies, and Arabs, and a lot of interesting side trips well off the beaten tourist-track. Excellent spy thriller in the Anglo-American style. First printing of 75,000; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour

From the Publisher

"McCarry is the best modern writer on the subject of intrigue." —P. J. O’Rourke, The Weekly Standard

"Old Boys is like the best parts of 10 John le Carré novels all put together." —Time

"McCarry is a spy novelist of uncommon gifts . . . by turns mischievous and elegiac." —The Washington Post

"McCarry’s novels are the best of our time." —The Wall Street Journal

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169902273
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	10/14/2010
Series:	Paul Christopher Series , #9
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos