The Last Supper

Author: Charles McCarry

List Price: $24.95

Pages: 276

Publisher:  Overlook Hardcover (March 23, 2006) 

Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches

ISBN: 1585677620   

First published in 1983, this is one of a half dozen of McCarry's espionage¹ thrillers² featuring CIA agent Paul Christopher, an old school spy who operates in a world where clever and vicious communists are unquestionably the villains³, and who is handsome, dedicated⁴ and never short of compliant⁵ women. Dismissing his lover Molly Benson's feelings of dread⁶, Paul leaves her bed to fly off to 1960s Vietnam. Sure enough, Molly is quickly murdered. Abruptly⁷, the book flashes back to 1926 Germany where Paul's father, a young American writer, encounters minor⁸ Prussian nobility and the woman who will become Paul's mother. Apolitical until the Nazis⁹ arrest his wife in 1939, Paul's father joins the OSS that becomes the postwar CIA. At this point, fans of this veteran author will settle back to enjoy nearly 400 pages of nasty scheming. Paul's father spies successfully, but his obsessive¹⁰ efforts to track down his wife lead to Paul's father's murder. Following his father's footsteps into the Cold War "outfit," Paul travels the world to counter communist skullduggery, while delivering plenty of his own. He retires (after a 10-year stint¹¹ in a Chinese prison) but continues to investigate his father's death. In so doing, he finds the answer as well as the reason for Molly's murder, leading to a shocking twist that turns his world upside down.

Book review

This is without question the best spy/epionage book I have ever read. McCarry takes you through a maze¹² of war, violence, family pain...frankly¹³ he misses nothing. This book is so rich and intelligently written you just can't put it down. I have found it rare that a book of this genre¹⁴ illicits this kind of depth.

The fact that McCarry was a CIA operative in real life comes through quite obviously. His knowledge and understanding of this subject, undeniable. This novel spans over decades and unlike so many spy novels, builds and unfolds the characters like few books do, let alone a spy novel. That's what gives this book it's brillance, McCarry took his time and so carefully and painstakingly¹⁵ crafted these characters...wow!

Unlike some reviewers, I don't go into the storyline and frankly with this novel that would be too challenging to do anyway...yeah the story is that big. This novel however will make future spy novels that you read pale in comparison and has raised the bar. A great follow-up read to this is Old Boys, which is a continuation of the Paul & Lori Christopher characters. Whatever you do, read this book-because you just haven't read first rate espionage fiction until you do.

Author introduction

Charles McCarry was born in 1930, and spent much of his non-writing life working for the CIA. He divides his time between the Berkshires and Florida's west coast.