Philip Atlee (1915–1991)

This is a frustrating little (140 pages) book in the Joe Gall series. Neither the reader nor Gall knows what his assignment is beyond "do what you're told". First he's to ignore the baroness, then he's ordered to marry her. Is he investigating the zealous CIA agent, or the baroness or the Swedish cutie he also hooks up with? As in most of the early Galls, Joe gets pretty bruised and battered, but it's the women who take the brunt of the violence. When the final revelation comes, it would be more effective if the revealed bad guy had been a mainstay for several books..… (more)

A very strange book, with a plot that isn't apparent to its protagonist, secret agent Joe Gall in his cover as a hack writer, or to the reader either. Atlee almost lost me on the first few pages with his use of language full of odd little juxtapositions of words that seemed to deliberately call attention to themselves and his dropping of more brand names of luxury products than even Ian Fleming might manage to fit in. On the other hand, despite the fact that the reader has no idea what is going on other than a few tantalizing clues that could just be red herrings, the novel is compelling enough, with its exotic Canary Islands setting (with side trips to Barcelona and a few other points in Spain, France, Sweden--you name it. Author Atlee manages to seem like an insider when it comes to telling this type of tale, and perhaps he should, as his brother was a notorious CIA agent. In the end, however, this is one of those books where everything requires a two page explanation that hardly delivers the closure an atmospheric tale like this one deserves.… (more)