That James Bond 007′s creator Ian Fleming served Great Britain in the arena of intelligence is no secret. But for that service to entail being made a gigolo to a loose woman with a shortened vaginal canal is – one assumes – all in the mind of Mitch Silver, put to paper in his debut novel IN SECRET SERVICE.
As has become standard with thrillers these days, it’s one of those ever-shifting, dual-time-period affairs, with the distant past having dire impact in the present. Scholar Amy Greenberg is spurred into adventure and a run for her life when, as sole heir to her grandfather’s estate and all its effects, she inherits a lost 1946 manuscript by Fleming.
It’s lost because it was meant never to be found. And it’s not a novel, but a lengthy letter for Amy’s eyes only, detailing everything Fleming knew about a hush-hush scenario involving the former king of England and all the way up to Lady Di. It’s a secret that many are willing … wait for it … to kill for! Dun-dun-DUN!
Said secret takes seemingly forever to reach and – once revealed – has all the “wow” factor of a firecracker that fails to explode. The faux Fleming bit – although expertly supplemented with authentic document designs by John Del Gaizo that make the book look like more fun than it actually is – gets bogged down in too many historical names, dates and places, and not enough choice passages like this: “I was then, as still am now, in awe of her vaginal muscles.”
Though not incompetent, Silver’s novel is an all-too-fractured mess and a jumble of ideas, with an action heroine as unappealing as she is unlikely. When a frustrated Amy wonders, “Where was all this going?,” you may share her sentiments. –Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Secret Asset
- The Secret Supper
- The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
- The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice
- Mystery Guild announces Le Carré omnibus
