The Predicament
The new historical spy novel from the bestselling author of Gabriel's Moon
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4.4 • 18 Ratings
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
Britain's most beloved storyteller returns with a twisting adventure of obsessive love and elegant espionage . . .
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‘Extravagantly enjoyable' THE TIMES
‘William Boyd once again brings to the spy novel his particular storytelling genius’ MICK HERRON
‘Boyd is one of my favourite authors – he never disappoints’ KATE ATKINSON
‘The Predicament is ingenious, thrilling and wonderfully entertaining’ JOHN BANVILLE
'Boyd’s addictive storytelling is at its very best as he navigates a collision of chance, ambition and human frailty' HER MAJESTY QUEEN CAMILLA
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Gabriel Dax, travel writer and accidental spy, is back in the shadows. Unable to resist the allure of his MI6 handler, Faith Green, he has returned to a life of secrets and subterfuge. Dax is sent to Guatemala under the guise of covering a tinderbox presidential election, where the ruthless decisions of the Mafia provoke pitch-black warfare in collusion with the CIA.
As political turmoil erupts, Gabriel's reluctant involvement deepens. His escape plan leads him to West Berlin, where he uncovers a chilling realisation: there is a plot to assassinate magnetic young President John F. Kennedy. In a race against time, Gabriel must navigate deceit and danger, knowing that the stakes have never been higher . . .
In The Predicament, the second novel starring accidental spy Gabriel Dax, William Boyd weaves yet another masterful tale of suspense, loyalty, love and the dark temptations of spy craft.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mistake-prone amateur spy Gabriel Dax romps through two minor international crises of the early 1960s in Boyd's shrewd latest espionage tale (after Gabriel's Moon). A professional travel writer with no training in spycraft, Dax works for MI6 unofficially, under the auspices of his sometime-girlfriend, agent Faith Green. Though he'd prefer to withdraw to his cottage in East Sussex and continue working on his new book about the great rivers of the world, Dax is sent to Guatemala in March 1963 to check on the political rise of a labor leader trying to unseat the country's CIA-backed military government. Things quickly get hairy: Dax is threatened, then stabbed, by thugs who oppose his sniffing around. He recovers in England before Faith sends him to Berlin to check out reports that assassins may be targeting President John F. Kennedy during a weeklong visit. Dax bumbles his way through that mission, helping thwart disaster via a string of accidentally heroic acts inspired by his instincts as a writer. Readers will be charmed by Dax's tendency to fail upward, and Boyd smoothly incorporates real history into his wildly entertaining plot. This is a treat.
