White Eagles Over Serbia (Peacock Books)

by Lawrence Durrell

Paperback, 1980

Library's rating

Publication

Penguin Books Ltd (1980), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 200 pages

Physical description

208 p.

ISBN

0140054774 / 9780140054774

Collections

Gelezen voor 2007, Read but unowned, Verwijderd na lezen

Description

"Proof that Durrell can master any genre . . . [a] quiet but suspenseful spy thriller . . . with some similarities to Ian Fleming's James Bond" (Early Bird Books). After some especially taxing missions, seasoned secret agent Methuen wants nothing more than to take a long, relaxing fishing trip. But after a fellow British spy is killed in the remote mountains of Serbia, Methuen is called back into action. What follows is a suspenseful tale of espionage told with Lawrence Durrell's characteristic panache. Methuen sets up camp in the Serbian countryside and baits his hooks, hoping to draw out the men responsible for the murder. It's not long before Methuen realizes that he's in a fight for his own life against an unknown opponent. Are his true enemies the Communists, the royalist rebel White Eagles . . . or someone more sinister? … (more)

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Fiction

User reviews

LibraryThing member mwittman

This is indeed a novel of suspense and intrigue. Plus a lot of description of forests, mountains and fishing. My, lots of fishing. It was a look into how the Brits conducted their covert activities in Tito-ist Yogoslavia - good to read that there was a time when one had to learn codes, send off

telegrams, and rely upon low tech means of infiltrating someone else's territory (languages and a bally good peasant disguise!). The book covers one foray into Royalist territory, where those peasants are just as unpleasant as the Tito-ist peasants, but there you go. Not quite sure if the hero gets his girl in the end, but at least she's alive. A period piece.

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LibraryThing member cbl_tn

Although he's supposed to be on vacation, Methuen agrees to a reconnaissance mission in Serbian territory in Yugoslavia. One agent has already died trying to discover the meaning behind recent activities in the area. Unlike the dead agent, Methuen speaks the language well enough to pass for a

native. Will he be able to find out what's going on and get back to the safety of the British Embassy? Even more important, will he be able to indulge in some fly fishing in the rivers he remembers so well from his earlier visits?

The story leans more toward adventure/survival than espionage. The plot is fairly simple, yet it leaves some weighty questions unresolved. At the time the story takes place, Tito had not yet broken ranks with Stalin. Would the British government side with the resistance movement or with Tito's Communist government? The book would make an entertaining evening escape for readers who enjoy spy or adventure novels, as well as anglers.

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LibraryThing member sonofcarc

Durrell evidently hoped this would be the start of a lucrative series in the James Bond mode, as he provided his hero with a couple of sidekicks, one of whom appears briefly while the other remains offstage, and a love interest. (But his literary model seems to have been John Buchan not Ian

Fleming.) Apparently it didn't catch on however, or maybe Justine, which was published the same year, made enough money that he didn't need to go on with it. Well enough done that I finished it, but pretty empty.

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