BOOK REVIEW

Declare by Tim Powers. World Fantasy Award

(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com)  Andrew grows up under a mysterious family obligation to join Her Majesty's Secret Service in Britain during WWII. He is sent to Paris during the Nazi occupation where he pretends to be a Communist spy while really serving as a double agent for the British. Gradually he begins to realize that he's involved in an even more secret lifelong mission known only to a select few of his countrymen: Operation Declare. (Also involved is real life arch-traitor Kim Philby.) 

Then it gets truly weird.  Operation Declare first began when it became known that the newly emerged Soviet Union had acquired a djinn, presumably from Arabia, to give it invincible supernatural protection.  Andrew's group is to kill other djinn located in Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat (bordering Turkey and Armenia), and then use the template or pattern of their deaths as a way to kill the djinn protecting the Soviet Union.

This book is a weird but loving tribute to the spy novels of John LeCarre. Don't miss the afterward in which Tim Powers discusses the source writings of T.E. Lawrence and the elder Philby.  Very highly recommended.  You can find Declare on Amazon.com through this link:

Declare

Noteworthy Links:   Wonderquest - Science Q/A! The Connection - Tech blog! Author site - John the Eunuch Historical Mystery series, Cozy Mystery List for all your cozy mystery needs, Obsidian Bookshelf - reviews of gay-themed fiction.
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