Kingfisher: A novel - Hardcover

Seymour, Gerald

3.95

223 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671400150 ISBN 13: 9780671400156

Publisher: Summit Books, 1977

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After one of their friends disappears, three young Soviet Jews hijack an airliner and demand passage to Israel. In the style that has won him comparisons to Graham Greene and John le Carr�, acclaimed thriller writer Gerald Seymour zeroes in on the moral ambiguities of the activists' deeds. As several nations agonize over the conflict between political freedom and the safety of innocent bystanders, Seymour forces us to wonder whether the hijackers are victims, terrorists, or both.

As in all his novels, Seymour focuses on the everyman foot soldier torn between the enemy before him and the high-ranking diplomats at his back. Charlie Webster is a world-weary counter-terrorism expert who has been called away from his soft desk job to negotiate with the hijackers. Gripping, explosive, yet still fully human, Kingfisher demonstrates the concept that elevates all of Seymour's stories: victory in multinational political conflicts is quite often Pyrrhic at the personal level.

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About the Author:

Once a reporter for Independent Television News, Gerald Seymour has lived in the West Country for several years. His bestselling novels include Harry's Game, The Glory Boys, Field of Blood, Killing Ground, A Line in the Sand, Holding the Zero, The Untouchable, Traitor's Kiss, The Unknown Soldier, and Rat Run.

From AudioFile:

This is a thriller that doesn't seem too thrilling because the listener simply expects everything to turn out badly. What else could happen in a novel about Jewish youth highjacking a plane out of Russia? Nigel Graham reads this long narration with few accents or changes of pitch. One should probably feel sympathy for the job he has of recreating these young people, simply to have them killed off before the listener can decide whether they're heroes or terrorists. B.H.B. � AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright � AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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