Gabriel's Moon
A Gabriel Dax Novel
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the internationally bestselling author beloved by readers everywhere, William Boyd offers his most exhilarating novel yet, following a reluctant spy drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession
Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a fire that took his mother’s life. Every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes of Europe in the grip of the Cold War. When he is offered the chance to interview Patrice Lumumba, newly elected president of the People’s Republic of the Congo, he finds himself drawn into a web of duplicities and betrayals.
Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthlessly efficient MI6 handler, he becomes “her spy,” unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia, and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, there will also be revelations closer to home that may change his own story, and the fates of those around him.
Traveling from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw, Gabriel’s Moon is a remarkable accomplishment from one of our greatest storytellers.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This fast-moving and fascinating novel feels like a vintage espionage caper as written by a modern-day literary novelist with great psychological insight—which is exactly what it is. In 1960, British travel writer Gabriel Dax is gathering material in Africa when he gets an unexpected offer: Would he like to interview Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the newly independent Republic of the Congo? This seemingly lucky break slowly draws Gabriel into undercover espionage work, mostly through his beautiful and increasingly dangerous new acquaintance, Faith Green. Gabriel is an unlikely spy at best, a psychological wreck due to his recurring nightmares about the house fire that killed his mother when he was six. Acclaimed Scottish novelist William Boyd has the real-world political intrigue of the Cold War ’60s down, and he’s also created a fascinating reluctant agent in Gabriel, a flighty man with hidden steely reserves. This modern update of the Swinging London spy genre is a thrill.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Boyd's latest (after The Romantic) is an electric espionage thriller that calls to mind the best of John le Carré and Len Deighton. As a child, Gabriel Dax was caught in a house fire that killed his mother, and insomnia-inducing nightmares of the tragedy have followed him into adulthood. By 1960, Gabriel has become a travel writer who, through a stroke of good luck, is assigned to interview Patrice Lumumba, the prime minister of the newly independent Republic of the Congo. Shortly after their conversation, Lumumba is overthrown by a Congolese colonel, and though Gabriel's editor tells him the tapes are "yesterday's news," unknown parties are bent on acquiring them. First, a mysterious woman bumps into Gabriel at a pub and inquires about the tapes before introducing herself as MI6 agent Faith Green. Then she asks him to deliver a drawing to someone in Spain as a "small favour" for the agency. Though Gabriel is reluctant to court trouble, he's smitten with Faith, so he eventually agrees. Soon, he's taking on ever-more-intricate missions for Faith, unaware he's been tapped to work for MI6 full-time—in part because of his valuable interview with Lumumba, and in part because of slow-to-emerge secrets from his family's past. Boyd's prose is crisp, his dialogue zings, and the heaps of dramatic irony he places on Gabriel's stumble into spyhood buoys the narrative rather than weighing it down. Readers will hope to hear more from Gabriel soon.
Customer Reviews
Boring
Kept expecting something exciting to happen next, but it never occurred. Disappointed.