I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
A Kind of Prisoner
by
John Creasey
thriller in a Kindle edition that was published by Ipso Books on August 18, 2017 and has 228 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Unbegotten, The Toff Goes On, Gideon and the Young Toughs and Other Stories, Introducing the Toff, The Peril Ahead, The Death Miser, Redhead, Carriers of Death, First Came a Murder, Death Round the Corner, Death by Night, Sabotage, The Mark of the Crescent
Twenty-seventh in the Department Z thriller series set in London and revolving around a super secret government department. The focus is on a massive betrayal and Department Z is in peril.
My Take
I do enjoy Creasey’s description of Craigie’s office with its contrast of a bachelor home versus an efficient office.
I couldn’t do this. Having to send men to their deaths. Creasey does include a reminder that a Department Z rule once rejected married men, which only increases the sense of loss.
It is danged scary how much Vandermin and his people can do! They know everything.
In spite of the Cold War, this period seems to be a kinder time than ours. One where agents are cared for, even if Craigie does send them out on dangerous errands.
One of the hallmarks of Department Z is that flippancy amongst the agents, and while there is some in A Kind of Prisoner, it’s not the same quality as previous stories.
We learn all this through Creasey’s use of third person global subjective point-of-view, which allows a perspective from a variety of characters although Merrick’s is the most prevalent.
The best of A Kind of Prisoner is the tension Creasey creates. How can Wright/Arden know so much? Be so scarily competent?
Yet, this is not one of Creasey’s best, as I find it has too many incongruities. It’s weird that Merrick is best friends with Alec but has never met his wife. How is it that Merrick could feel something wrong when he gets to his flat, he searches it, but he still misses the person who broke in?
The Story
She’s seen them. She’s in danger from them.
And Vandermin is everywhere.
No one can be trusted.
The Characters
James “Jim” Merrick is one of Z’s agents and best friends with Alec.
Department Z is . . .
. . . a super-secret espionage department within the government led by Gordon Craigie, who practically lives in his super-secret lair. Bill Loftus is Craigie’s second-in-command. Agent Alec Ryall has a gorgeous wife, Judy. Other agents include the unlikeable Roy Corlett, Bob Kerr (who is married), Barnes, Bill, Greenham??, Elliott, Herrington, Tim, Dick, and Joe.
The Ambrose Nursing Home, a.k.a. the Home for the Aged and Infirm, is a nursing home strictly for Department Z agents, prisoners (who might also need extra persuasion), and people on the periphery of a case. Sister Alice is one of the nurses. Dr Billitter is good with respiratory troubles. Mrs Davidson, an agent’s widow, is a housekeeper for one of the department’s hostels.
Superintendent Miller is the liaison between Scotland Yard and Department Z. I think Harry and Bert are policemen. Fisher is the government liaison.
Professor Gillick designed a new jet aircraft. Mrs Gilmour and another Bert are some of Merrick’s neighbors.
Vandermin is the head of a too-efficient espionage group. Malcolm Wright, a.k.a. Joshua Arden, seems omnipotent. Iris Arden is his wife. Kip is Wright’s thug. Ronny is the third-in-command. Some of Wright’s “hide-outs” include Red Walls and Charn Lodge.
The Cover and Title
The cover is all about the blues both in the textured deep blue background, the lighter blue for the cell’s bars, and the even lighter blue of the two hands gripping the bars. At the top left is the author’s name in a distressed font in white. In the upper right is the trademark series “stamped label” angled and in white. Immediately below the author’s name is the title in a lighter blue which is immediately followed by an info blurb in white.
The title can swing two ways, for Alec and Judy are both A Kind of Prisoner.
