William Boyd
This is the second novel of a yet-to-be completed trilogy featuring Gabriel Dax, travel writer and involuntary spy. I read the first book, "Gabriel's Moon", last year; click here for my review if you are interested.
Because I liked the first book so much, my sister gave me this one for my birthday in March, and I enjoyed it maybe even more - a delight to read, very well written, meticulously researched, and leaving me looking forward to the third book (which I wouldn't mind not being the last).
Just like before, the characters are fully fleshed-out and (mostly) plausible in their actions. We meet some of the key figures of the first book again, but new people are also introduced. Gabriel is his usual self; wanting to go back to his normal life where he travels not for some mission or other he is asked to accomplish for the MI6 (or the Russians), but to do research and take photos for his successful travel books. He is a decent man with a compassionate heart, a good example being the way he deals with another author who accuses him of plagiarism.
But once a spy, always a spy, it seems, and so he finds himself in Guatemala first and in Berlin later, both trips only outwardly having to do with his next book.
His stay in Berlin is planned to coincide with John F. Kennedy's speech there, and although I am nowhere near as familiar with my country's capital as my sister, I can relate to much of what is described in the book (of course, it is a very different place now than what it was like in 1963, but I know enough history to perceive the atmosphere as quite authentic).
If I may point out just one minor error I noticed: On a day in late June 1963, Gabriel participates in a raid where the police hope to get hold of a suspect planning an attack on Kennedy during his speech. He meets his fellow spies at 5:00 am and describes the morning as completely dark, pre-dawn. Now, I was reading this particular chapter in late May, and I knew that it was definitely NOT dark anymore at 5:00 am, and would have been even less so in late June. The internet is very useful for such things, and I found out that in late June in 1963, sunrise in Berlin was at around 4:40 am - meaning that 5:00 am will have been nice and bright, not dark at all. This error surprised me, because it doesn't fit in with the otherwise very precise and accurate detail William Boyd provides - and it would have been so easy to get it right.
But this is just me being picky, and rest assured that it did not diminuish my pleasure in reading "The Predicament".
I really am looking forward to Gabriel Dax' next adventure!
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