The Gun Seller
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4.3 • 70 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A deluxe reissue of British actor (comedian, musician, and writer) Hugh Laurie’s acclaimed spy romp—starring Thomas Lang, a hapless ex-soldier who is drawn into the center of a dangerous plot involving international terrorists, arms dealing, and CIA spooks.
Featuring an introduction by Hugh Laurie, and a foreword by Stephen Fry!
Retired army officer Thomas Lang would love nothing more than to live out the rest of his existence drinking whiskey and riding motorcycles, and is content to make ends meet with mercenary jobs—just never murder. Not even when he’s offered a fortune to assassinate American businessman Alexander Woolf. Lang opts to warn the target instead.
But Lang’s good deed does not go unpunished. When he finds not Woolf, but Woolf’s alluring daughter, Sarah, and another less scrupulous mercenary closing in, Lang becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that lands him in the sights of both the Ministry of Defence and the CIA. Lang takes on rogue CIA agents, aspiring terrorists, and high-tech arms dealers to prevent an international bloodbath—and save the femme fatale he’s falling in love with.
Robert Ludlum by way of, well, Hugh Laurie, The Gun Seller is a whizz-bang novel of suspense, espionage, and humor, perfect for fans of crime fiction and comedy alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his debut as a thriller writer, the longstanding partner of British comedian Stephen Fry treats the genre of John Buchan, Eric Ambler and Frederick Forsythe with as much reverence as Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy did science fiction. His blend of comedy and suspense has some truly hilarious moments. The hero, Thomas Lang, an ex-officer of the Scots Guards now aimlessly drifting between dead-end jobs, is such a decent bloke that he not only turns down a 50,000 hit job but also warns its intended victim, the CEO of an interior decorating firm, who turns out to be its originator. At the heart of a plot so twisted that it risks spraining itself is an arms-selling conspiracy beyond Ollie North's wildest schemes, involving renegade CIA agents and the U.S. military-industrial complex. Though this scenario flags once Lang has untangled it, culminating in a staged hostage crisis that shows off an anti-terrorist helicopter, Laurie's droll patter enlivens Lang's bemused narration throughout. Besides motorcycle chases, unarmed combat and sharpshooting, Lang wittily fetishizes weaponry and personal injury. As a good Brit, however, he is terribly, terribly reticent about sex ("When it comes to sex, it seems to me, men really are caught between a rock and a soft, limp, apologetic place."). Author tour; rights: Harold Ober; film rights to United Artists.
Customer Reviews
The Gun Seller
Humor. Action. Incredible descriptive writing. I've read The Gun Seller more than once and each time I find something new to love about it. The only thing that is missing is an audio version as read by the author. Now that would be perfection!
Fabulous!!
I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite novels of all time. Laurie is absolutely unmatched in creating both his fantastically personable characters, and unbeatable satire. A cross between 007 and House, this is an unbeatable book. You'll find yourself laughing aloud within the first chapter, I'm sure. Totally would recommend this to anyone, and oh, how wish this was a series!