Spy with a soft centre

Press, 19 November 1977, Page 17

Spy with a soft centre

A Spy at Evening. By Donald James. Collins. 220 pp. $9.75. In the fictional world of spies, antiheroes abound, but Donald James, in his first novel, has come up with a fair attempt at the definitive anti-hero — certainly his Tom Hart is a most unlikely character on which England has to pin its hopes for protection of its lifestyle. Hart is an emotionally immature, alcoholic, sacked spy, whose women appear to ravish him, and who admits he cannot even drive a car well. This thick-skinned, soft-centred graduate in Slavonic languages is caught up in a story of England a year or two from now that is frightening, yet plausible. James paints a picture of an England racked with the frustration of

a democratic process unable to reflect any more than the demands of Leftwing activists, and the Right-wing backlash. He is deft at setting a scene with lightning sketches and, while he slips bn the tightrope over the credibility gap, he manages to stay on in spite of having written, in real life, episodes for “The Avengers” and “Mission Impossible.” Furthermore, to refute what is said about television violence, James glamorises spies boyishly through the eyes of his main character, but not the violence they may be part of. “A Spy at Evening” is a Christmas present for that rakish bachelor uncle who drives a sports car and has not quite grown up, but it is definitely not a pr.m maiden aunt’s cup of tea. — BARRY HOLLAND.