Bonfire Night.

Publication Date: 2002. Written by: James Mitchell. Published by: Severn House. 192 pages.


THE PLOT:

Callan has basically won at Life. He is wealthy, owing to his investment in Roger Bullivant (Lonely), who improbably had the exact right mind to become a massive success when the digital revolution exploded. Callan now owns a large estate, complete with servants and enough money that he doesn't have to be careful how he spends it.

He is also in love, having fallen for Fiona Wilton, a woman whose late husband's gambling addiction had left her and her daughter Ellie broke. His meeting Fiona is not chance. Her daughter has recently divorced Voss, a sadistic former Stasi operative who had kidnapped Callan at the end of the 1980s. Voss was in the process of torturing the one-time Section agent, with Callan saved only by the timely collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Now Voss is back. With the patronage of Callan's treacherous one-time employer, Bishop, Voss has already made one attempt on Callan's life, and the aging spy may not survive the next one. Fortunately, he has allies: The Section as well as the Israeli operative whose life he saved while escaping from captivity. Unfortunately, not all of Callan's allies can be trusted...


CHARACTERS:

Callan: The latter seasons of the series made a point of the fortyish Callan being "over the hill." Smear Job, the last of the 1970s Callan novels, devoted multiple chapters to getting him back into shape. Bonfire Night, by contrast, seems like wish fulfillment, with the character spared from any of the limitations that plagued his aging and ailing creator. If anything, he's more fit in his sixties than he was in his forties. A couple of interesting character notes break through, with Callan more haunted by Voss's past torture of him than he wants to let on. Unfortunately, not enough is made of that past trauma, with most chapters portraying Callan as basically invulnerable.

Hunter: Bonfire Night presents the first female Hunter, probably because James Mitchell also saw Goldeneye. Her introduction is promising, with Callan observing (and telling the reader) that she wouldn't have gotten this position without being formidable, and she quickly gets Callan to discuss his past with Voss and even admit to having been left fractured by the experience. After this strong initial impression, however, Mitchell spends the rest of the novel writing her like most of his female characters: smart enough, but also soft in a way that would never work for any Hunter.

Roger Bullivant/Lonely: Lonely's success has led to him fully assuming the identity he first coveted in Smear Job; and except for when he's introduced, Mitchell is commendably consistent in referring to him as "Roger" and not "Lonely." Bizarrely, I have less of a problem with Lonely the Computer Genius than I do with Callan the Superman. Mitchell's explanation that Lonely was able to see computer code as just another type of lock to be mastered is one that I can just about accept. His success has made him more confident, but he's still socially awkward - It's just that when you're worth billions, people will go along with that. He remains steadfastly loyal to Callan, and his scenes are among the book's highlights.

Fitzmaurice: No, not the same character as in Death and Bright Water and Smear Job. More's the pity, as that Fitzmaurice evolved into a genuinely interesting character. No, this is his son, who is resentful of Callan for exactly one chapter before following him around like a dutiful foot soldier for the entire rest of the novel. He works with The Section, and he and fellow Section agent Mars form a sort of double act, though sadly not a particularly memorable or amusing one.

Fiona: Callan's love interest, she was burned by her marriage to Ellie's father and she hated seeing her daughter suffer in a sham marriage to Voss. She is temperamental, often responding to Callan by throwing breakable objects at him... which seems to be foreplay for her, since the object throwing is regularly followed by sex. She works reasonably well as a foil for Callan, being too smart and too stubborn to be satisfied by his surface glibness. At his height as a writer, James Mitchell could have made a memorable romance - though sadly, this book does not represent the writer at his height.


BACKGROUND:

I debated whether or not to include Bonfire Night in my Callan reviews. As the foreword by Peter Mitchell details, this was a book written while James Mitchell was in decline. Per the younger Mitchell, it was wonderful therapy for the aging writer... but it's not a book that should ever have been published.

If this had been a Hemingway-like case of something from a bottom desk drawer being put out posthumously a decade after the fact, then I would likely have treated this as a non-professional work and respectfully omitted it. Even now, it feels almost unfair to include this alongside novels that were written when Mitchell was in full control of his craft.

However, this was not written exclusively as self-therapy, and Mitchell didn't shove it onto a personal bookshelf or into a bottom drawer. He wrote it for publication while he was still alive. As such, and however bad I may feel about it, the final novel for both David Callan and author James Mitchell has to be reviewed on that basis.


THOUGHTS:

I'll start with the positive. I've read far worse books than this one. James Mitchell may have been in decline, but his ability as a writer still comes through at several points.

There are excellent individual moments: Callan and Hunter, talking about the fall of the Berlin Wall while looking out on the equipment in the junkyard that is The Section's cover; the way that junkyard equipment, which seems to just be there to lend extra atmosphere, ends up actually being folded into the narrative; a reflective conversation between Fiona and her uncle; and, unsurprisingly, most of the interactions between Callan and Lonely. In these and a few other scenes and chapters, I found myself getting sucked in.

The story is simple, probably the simplest of any of the Callan novels, but it isn't well told. There's a vague sense that important scenes just aren't there. Multiple chapters see Callan and other characters talking, often in Callan's mansion, with the plot seemingly having advanced offstage. Characters are introduced, then go unmentioned for half the book, with us just expected to remember them when they pop back up suddenly. As a result, what should be a straightforward narrative is left seeming muddy and hard to follow.

The Voss storyline gets relatively little focus, which I'm fine with, because Voss is a dull villain. He's only directly seen a couple of times, once near the beginning when Ellie demands a divorce, then in the middle when he's acting against Callan, and - of course - at the end. Exactly none of these appearances show him as particularly formidable. He's ultimately just a pawn being used by the (entirely offstage) Bishop, and I'm fairly certain Mitchell had a follow-up in mind with Callan going after Bishop directly.

Mitchell seems more interested in the romance between Callan and Fiona. This works better than the spy plot, because it actually feels as if we're seeing all of this story. Even so, it becomes repetitive. Callan never struggles to achieve any goal. He wants Fiona, he gets her. She gets mad at him a few times and throws things, but there's never any tension, any sense that he might genuinely lose her. This leaves the romance just as lacking in stakes as the spy story.

A significant misjudgment, in my opinion, is the decision to set this in the then-present. Mitchell's sensibilities are very much those of the 1970s and '80s. There's a scene in a hippy bar that is absolutely ludicrous in a story set in 2002. The same scene would be perfectly fine if the story was taking place in the late 1970s or the early 1980s. Losing the Berlin Wall backstory would be a pity, as those references work quite well, but I think it would be a fair trade if it meant the story actually belonged to the world in which it's set.


OVERALL:

Bonfire Night is a frustrating read. The book isn't so much mis-structured as unstructured, a morass of scenes that mostly just exist instead of building on each other. The plot is simple, but it's told in a way that makes it difficult to follow, as if big chunks of the story are simply missing.

Every time I started to fully dismiss it, author James Mitchell would deliver an excellent moment that would remind me why I'd become interested in these characters in the first place. But every time something caught my attention, the book would quickly go back to seeming unformed. Add in a weak villain and a protagonist who feels less like Callan than like a retired version of the Sean Connery James Bond, and the results are uninvolving.

In the end, both the television and literary Callans came to their natural ends, only to return with disappointing revivals: Wet Job on television, Bonfire Night in print. In both cases, I'm left thinking that the character's legacy would have been stronger if he had been left in the 1970s, where he seemed to truly belong.


Overall Rating: 3/10.

Previous Novel: Smear Job

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Smear Job.

Publication Date: 1975. Written by: James Mitchell. Published by: Hamilton & Co. 316 pages.


THE PLOT:

Callan is doing well for himself, working in private security and using Lonely's skills to create "demonstrations" for prospective clients. It's safe, it's lucrative, and - in a change of pace for Lonely - it's legal.

Inevitably, this easy civilian life is disrupted by The Section. Hunter calls Callan in for a case requiring his (and Lonely's) skills. Callan is to participate in a card game, with orders to clean out Gunther Kleist, whose position in East Germany makes him an attractive prospect for The Section. The game is just a side issue, though. More important is where it's occurring: at the Sicilian estate of the Earl of Hexham, a British noble in possession of a very particular book that Hunter wants. While Callan plays cards with Kleist and Hexham, Lonely is to case the property and find the book.

What Callan doesn't realize is that this is only the beginning of a long and complicated series of events that will take him from London to Sicily to the underbelly of Las Vegas - and into the private inquiries of a U. S. senator and his inquisitive daughter.


CHARACTERS:

Callan: When he's called out of retirement, this time he goes with considerable reluctance. He muses that he's "lost the desire" for his old life. He is even halfway honest with Lonely about the job, asking for help rather than trying to trick or intimidate him. When he later has to resort to intimidation to get Lonely focused, he reflects just how much he despises Hunter. He's "gone soft" during his time away. His taste for liquor has become full-blown alcoholism, and Hunter warns him of consequences to himself and Lonely if he can't manage to stay sober for the duration of the job.

Hunter: "Greed takes many forms... What I crave is information, and I'm not alone in that craving." Hunter is particularly cold blooded in this book. When dissatisfied with Callan's training, he has Meres face him, knowing that a beating from his hated rival will spur a desire for revenge - which Hunter then takes steps to thwart. He is equally cold with Meres, lightly but distinctly threatening him after he gives into his worst impulses at a particularly bad moment. Meres spends most of the rest of the story trying to make that error up to Hunter, and Hunter doesn't hesitate to keep dangling it over his head.

Lonely: For the card game, Callan enlists the aid of card sharp Bulky Berkeley. Lonely becomes instantly jealous, because he has always been Callan's "expert." Callan observes Lonely's reaction and deals carefully with it, warning Lonely to lay off Bulky because he's "almost" as good at cards as Lonely is at locks. Lonely picks up on the phrasing and preens at the compliment. As the series repeatedly reminded us, Lonely actually is that good. Chapter 16 is largely occupied with the burglary, detailing his meticulous operations. He feels guilt at destroying an antique mirrored bureau-cabinet, where the book is hidden, appreciating the craftsmanship even as he dismantles it.

Meres: He loses his self-control when he's sent to question a female spy, carelessly killing her in anger. This doesn't go down well with Hunter, who punishes him by making him befriend Kleist - the woman's grieving boyfriend - to manipulate the gullible man into helping to achieve the Section's goals. Meres does, hating every second that he spends with the self-pitying German. As he feeds Kleist lies that are as eagerly gobbled up as candy, Meres reflects on love as something he preferred to avoid ever feeling: "If it made the impossible that easy to believe, what chance would you have?"

Fitzmaurice: The hulking black Section agent introduced in Death and Bright Water returns, and his second appearance builds and improves on the characterization established in the previous book. Smear Job also mercifully drops most of the racial slurs. When he works with Callan in the second half, Fitzmaurice makes it clear that he is ready to enforce Hunter's will if he needs to. Still, he turns out to be a lot more like Callan than like Meres. He'll do the nasty work, but he doesn't revel in it. When the mission's over, he confides in Callan that he's growing to hate this job in the same way that Callan once did, and for a lot of the same reasons.

Bulky Berkeley: The card sharp Callan uses to ruin Kleist. Berkeley is smart enough to recognize that he's out of his depth with Callan. He chooses to focus solely on the game that he's there for and to ignore whatever else Callan and Lonely are up to. He's consistently pleasant, and his demeanor combines with his unquestioned skill to create a good working relationship. He's a well-drawn and entertaining character, and I was actively sorry to see his role reduced in the second half.

Congressman Manette: A separate strand runs through the book involving Manette, a US congressman who has been attached to an Intelligence committee. While it's a while before we know exactly why, he is actively investigating information that's fallen into his lap. He uses his college age daughter, Elizabeth, to identify a contact who will lead him closer to his goal, then uses intimidation based on his position to gain further information. Not unlike Hunter, come to think of it, though with a lot less skill and subtlety.

Elizabeth Manette: Many scenes in the first half of the book are written from the viewpoint of Elizabeth Manette, the congressman's precocious daughter, as she does her father's bidding by completing an investigation whose details are quite vague. These scenes establish that she's bright, both through her questioning of people in a way that's designed to come across as innocent and in her comprehension that she should not ask for any details that haven't been given. She has a good heart underneath her surface sophistication. When she finds herself talking to the mother of a college boy who recently died, she listens to every piece of information she can gather... but then tells her father that she's done with this. Too bad for her that she gets dragged back in for the second half. She also has a fascination for older men, so no prizes for guessing who she ends up in bed with.


EXCELLENT CHARACTERIZATION:

Smear Job was very nearly the last of author James Mitchell's Callan novels. It wouldn't be until 2002's Bonfire Night - more than a quarter century later, at the very end of Mitchell's life - that he would release one final book in the series.

As was often true of the television series, characterization is this book's greatest strength. The supporting cast is particularly good. I loved the interactions between Fitzmaurice and Lonely's shrewd Uncle Lennie. Lennie instantly recognizes Fitzmaurice as someone to be respected, and Fitzmaurice responds by treating the man with absolute respect. I also enjoyed the relationship that built between Fitzmaurice and Callan in the second half. Each man is wary of the other. As the mission continues, however, they develop mutual respect, with Fitzmaurice able to recognize a lot of himself, and his likely future trajectory, in the older agent.

The book moves between different perspectives throughout.  Several scenes in the first half are written from the viewpoints of Congressman and Elizabeth Manette, whose scenes end up feeling sharper and more interesting than a lot of Callan's early scenes. Other moments take us into the head of Kleist, Callan's hapless German victim, as he's roped into becoming an asset for The Section. The scene in which he completes a minor job, alternating between fear and pride at how well (he thinks) he's doing, is a particularly good one.


...BUT A MESS OF A PLOT:

Smear Job soars with its characters. Too bad, then, that it keeps being yanked down to Earth by a story that doesn't best serve its excellent cast.

There are a lot of threads here - too many. The first half jumps between the amateur investigations of Manette and his daughter and Callan's attempts to fleece a gambling addicted German noble. The second half sends Callan and Fitzmaurice on a mission to (a very generically portrayed) Las Vegas, where they somehow end up taking a road trip to Mexico with the Manettes. There are also cutaways to Meres manipulating Kleist, and still more cutaways to a group of petty criminals who cause complications even after a visit from Meres that's designed to warn them off.

The locations are uneven in realization. The scenes in Sicily come across strongly, but the American scenes feel generic, particularly during the Las Vegas chapters. The book labors to create connections among all these people and places, but many of these connections seem... well, labored. The end result often feels less like a novel and more like Mitchell stuffed two novellas and two additional short stories into a literary blender and pressed, "Purée."


OVERALL:

Like its predecessors, Smear Job is highly readable. All the individual parts are good, the characters in particular. But the individual pieces don't add up to a satisfying whole. While reading, I encountered chapters-long stretches in which I couldn't have told you what the book was about. The first half and second half almost seem to be entirely different stories, with only a fairly mild link between them.

It's generally well written, and I enjoyed reading it on a chapter-by-chapter basis. However, at the end, the overall choppiness and lack of focus left me feeling underwhelmed. Smear Job is easily the worst of the Callan novels I've read to date - and I'd also rate it below most of the offerings of the television show.

Ultimately, I'd rate this as one for Callan completists only.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Novel: Death and Bright Water
Next Novel: Bonfire Night

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Death and Bright Water.

Publication Date: 1974. Written by: James Mitchell. Published by: Hamilton & Co. 194 pages.


THE PLOT:

Callan has left The Section and is determined to put his old life behind him... until he's contacted by an associate of Greek dissident Sophie Kollonaki. Once a freedom fighter for Greece during the war, Sophie now lives in Paris, in exile from the "The Colonels," the military dictatorship currently ruling her home country.

Sophie and her brother, Michael Vardarkis, were once on the same side - but now Michael is a rich businessman, and a firm supporter of the Colonels. He subsidizes her exile and protects her, but he also has leverage to keep her in check: Her daughter, Helena, who is being kept in Greece, safe and comfortable, but also under constant guard.

Sophie wants Callan to rescue her daughter. Not out of any particular affection - just so that she'll be able to once again act freely. Her brother wants Callan to accept the job, but to deliberately botch it.

But the important thing is what Hunter wants - and Hunter wants Callan to rescue the girl and to bring her straight to him, giving him leverage over everyone...


CHARACTERS:

Callan: As the book opens, he is doing manual labor. He dislikes the tedium of it, complaining to Lonely: "They'll tell you (hard work) never killed anybody. Don't you believe it, old son." He acknowledges that it has improved both his mental and physical condition, and his wits are certainly sharp. He recognizes immediately that Sophie's Soviet backers have set her up to fail, and he has no interest in being sacrificed for her cause. When Hunter coerces him into accepting the assignment, he trusts nobody except Lonely. He genuinely likes Dimitri, Sophie's contact inside the house where her daughter is being held, but he knows Dimitri is working to his own agenda. After Callan agrees to break into the house on one day, he immediately makes plans with Lonely to break in exactly one day before.

Hunter: He knows Sophie from her time as a partisan "up in the mountains, knocking off Germans." When Callan dismisses her as "a clown," Hunter firmly responds that he would trust Sophie "with (his) life," a vow a man like him doesn't make casually. After the Greek rebels make an attempt on Michael Vardarkis's life, Hunter muses about how much the rebels genuinely hate the man. He seems almost envious: "In this country, we don't seem to hate anymore... Or love, for that matter. We've lost the talent for it."

Lonely: Lonely is a genuine friend, which Callan is reminded of (yet again) when he learns that he's been stopping by his apartment since he left to check in and to clean. Lonely is indignant when Callan asks if he was followed, observing: "If I didn't want to be followed could you follow me?" His skill as a thief continues to impress, and he forgets to be afraid when he's working the locks during the final operation. His usual cowardice only returns after the alarms are bypassed and the door is open.

Meres: Shows outward respect for Hunter, but inwardly he's impatient. When Hunter muses about the Greeks, he mentally mocks the older man's reflectiveness. "Another minute and the old boy would be crying." Still, the only outward sign he allows is a slight shifting in his chair - and if I was inclined to bet, I would wager that Hunter knows exactly how impatient Meres is with his musings.

Fitzmaurice: A black agent in Hunter's employ, Fitzmaurice's interactions with Callan amount to exchanges of racial slurs. I suspect these scenes are what compelled the publisher of the modern reprint to add a disclaimer: "Please note that these books were published in the 1970s, when social attitudes were very different." Still, give James Mitchell credit: Fitzmaurice is no stereotype. Every time he appears, he is portrayed as completely competent. When he shares a job with Meres midway through, he's the one who shows restraint and keeps Meres from going too far.

Blythe: A mild mannered, homosexual dentist who loves Greece probably more than most of the actual Greek citizens do, and who is completely sympathetic to Sophie's cause. He endures a fair number of slurs about his sexuality, but he is portrayed in entirely sympathetic terms. By the end of the book, even Callan is impressed at his surprising courage in a crisis, and he ends the book determined to continue helping the resistance, even though he's every bit as sure as Callan that this will eventually end badly for him.

Helena Kollonaki: She has no interest in her mother's revolutionary activities. She is actually much fonder of her uncle, her supposed kidnapper, than of her mother. She is genuinely shocked when she sees Callan kill with casual efficiency, but she maintains a realistic attitude toward her situation.


THOUGHTS:

Death and Bright Water was published in 1974, the same year that the Greek junta, aka The Regime of the Colonels, fell after a mere seven years in power. There was no way that James Mitchell could have known that it was about to collapse. Still, it's clear that he did his research, and a sense of decay hangs over the story.

The main plot is well structured. The initial chapters see Callan learning of the job and meeting all the key players. He turns the job down, only for Hunter to intervene and make him accept. The next third or so follows Callan's meticulous preparations, while introducing complications: Dimitri, an ally he likes but can't afford to trust, and Bradley, the latest eager young assassin who lacks Callan's judgment but has enough strength and speed to make him wary. The final third chronicles the operation and the subsequent escape from Greece.

Somewhat surprisingly, it's the setup portion that works best. Mitchell's writing is at its most effective when detailing Callan's preparations and showing how he adjusts to every potential bit of treachery. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Callan tricking Lonely into thinking they're on vacation before springing the job on him. As was true of both the series and Russian Roulette, the Callan/Lonely interactions are a highlight throughout.

The later action scenes are also well done, described in a way that's appropriate to both Callan the character and the series. In contrast to Meres or Bradley, Callan uses violence only when it's his last option. When violence is needed, he goes in with full recognition of his own mortality. There's no sense of excitement when he eliminates some guards during the escape or when he prepares an ambush for a would-be murderer. It's just a methodical, if unpleasant, task that he must accomplish in order to stay alive.

Mitchell's descriptions remain spare, with just enough description for the reader to clearly visualize settings but not so much as to slow down the pace. His writing feels sharper and more polished than in Russian Roulette, however. Descriptions of locations feel more distinct, probably because of the need to bring the Greek locations to life. Transitions, particularly switches in point-of-view, are also much smoother than in the previous book. There was at least one viewpoint switch in Russian Roulette that briefly threw me, something that never happens here.

I do have one quibble: a subplot involving a stubborn young police officer tracking Lonely. Though this thread arises from the main plot, it doesn't actually go anywhere. Yes, it showcases The Section's ruthlessness... but frankly, the scenes between Hunter and Callan already do that far more effectively. In my opinion, this entire strand should have been jettisoned, as all it does is steal focus from the more interesting central story.


OVERALL:

I thoroughly enjoyed Death and Bright Water. The story is well plotted, and it makes good use of the background involving The Regime of Colonels without ever getting bogged down by it. It also features fine character moments for Callan, Lonely, and Hunter, along with a passably interesting guest cast.

I'd rank this as an excellent addition to the series for Callan fans, as well as being a rather good thriller in its own right.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Novel: Russian Roulette
Next Novel: Smear Job

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Russian Roulette.

Publication Date: 1973. Written by: James Mitchell. Published by: Hamilton & Co. 202 pages.


THE PLOT:

Callan is seeing double. At the optometrist, he sees two doctors, two desks, and two eye charts - though he does find some compensation in also seeing two of the office's pretty nurse. The doctor gives him eyedrops to restore his vision, but it's a temporary solution: To permanently correct it, he will need surgery. If he doesn't get it, he will go blind.

The timing couldn't be worse. When he arrives at The Section, Hunter tells him point blank that he has sold him out to the Russians. In exchange for a top agent who was discovered by the KGB, Hunter has granted permission for the Russians to kill him. Three assassins are on their way, and Hunter is leaving him helpless: No guns, no money to buy guns. Section agents have even confiscated his model soldiers.

With just a little over twenty pounds to his name, Callan finds himself on the streets of London, left to wait for his three executioners. But he doesn't intend to go down easily...


CHARACTERS:

Callan: Offered up as a sacrificial lamb, he's left to rely on his abilities and, perhaps even more importantly, his determination to live. He's fortunate in that the assassins only come after him one at a time. Between the problem he's having with his vision and his inability to lay claim to a gun, he would have no chance against all three. But he has long experience as a killer - a hunter, if you will - and by taking on his would-be murderers one at a time, he is able to find opportunities to seize the advantage.

Hunter: Makes the deal with the Soviets out of cold calculation. He explains that he weighed Callan vs. the other spy and determined that Callan simply had slightly less value. For all that, he arranged very specific terms. The Section won't kill Callan for the enemy, but the Section will allow the KGB agents into the country and will deny Callan a weapon to defend himself. When Callan manages to kill the first assassin, Hunter openly admires his resourcefulness, and he seems regretful that the odds remain stacked against him.

Lonely: Though most of the book is told from Callan's perspective, we do get bits that follow Lonely. The first chapter from his point of view sees him once again trying to procure a gun for his friend, only to find that all of his usual sources have been "warned off." When he's thrown out of one place in a way both "painful and undignified," Lonely reflects that "the lack of dignity he could live with," but not so much the pain. He waits on another source, ruminating that he is "used to waiting for the attention of more important people. It was a part of life." For all his supposed cowardice, he refuses to let Callan warn him off him. "What kind of a mate would I be if I ran away now?"

Meres: One element that separates book Callan from TV show Callan is the relationship with Meres. In the show, the two were wary and often adversarial, but even in the first season there was respect, which bordered on being a bizarre sort of "not-friendship" by the end of the second season. Not here. Meres is portrayed as a snake, his feelings for Callan limited to malicious envy. He still suggests Hunter break the deal with the Soviets once their agent is returned, but that seems mostly borne from self-interest, in case he's ever in a similar situation.


OFTEN LESS INTERESTING THAN THE TELEVISION SERIES:

James Mitchell's first Callan novel was A Red File for Callan. This was adapted into the series' pilot, A Magnum for Schneider and was adapted again into the 1974 film, Callan - which is why I'm skipping it for the time being. I've already watched two versions of Callan's reluctant cat-and-mouse game with Schneider in as many years. It's a good story, but at the moment I'm not much interested in experiencing a third version of it.

I'm instead starting my look at the Callan novels with Russian Roulette, which was released one year after the end of the television series. And... honestly, in a lot of ways, I find it to be less interesting than the series. The deeper themes and layered characters are mostly discarded in favor of a straightforward action thriller. Callan and (particularly) Lonely still come across strongly, but Meres has been flattened into two dimensions. Never mind being less interesting than Anthony Valentine's television portrayal - This Meres isn't even as layered as Cross!

The story also starts from a premise I have difficulty accepting. I have no trouble believing Hunter selling out Callan for the right prize - but he wouldn't do so carelessly. Hunter dedicates the full might of The Section to making sure Callan can't even the odds, meaning that other agents know what's happening. As Meres points out, sacrificing one of their own is neither a morale builder nor a way to inspire loyalty.

The last part of the book offers up a couple of reveals. I'll avoid spoilers, except to say that both plot turns are telegraphed far too heavily to actually surprise.


LEAN AND EFFICIENT:

For all the flaws, which I think were fixable, I still enjoyed Russian Roulette. Taken as a lean, efficient little thriller, it's a good read. The story may be simple, but it wastes no time. It starts right out the gate, first introducing Callan's double vision and then Hunter's deal with the Russians, and it builds straight on from there.

James Mitchell's writing style is much like Callan himself: plain and blunt. There are no flowery descriptions. Physical settings are established quickly, with only the detail needed to allow for easy visualization. Scenes between characters are dominated by dialogue and action, with the prose kept as succinct as possible.

The Callan/Lonely material is unsurprisingly the most interesting part of the book, and Mitchell's writing is at its best when focusing on this. Scenes from Callan's perspective don't linger on emotion at all: He observes his surroundings and plans what he will do. Lonely's scenes fold in a sense of the man's weakness compared to most of the people he deals with, and the character's mix of fear and acceptance of his lot in life seeps into the descriptions during his scenes.

It's this aspect of the book that leaves me hopeful that some of James Mitchell's other Callan novels will rise above being just expendable "good reads."


OVERALL:

I would not rank Russian Roulette alongside the best episodes of the television series. Aside from the Callan/Lonely material, very little of the show's complexity makes it into this story. This is no moody rumination on Cold War politics, abuses of power, or the psychological impact of violence on those who perpetrate it. It's just a straight-up thriller.

The thing is... It's a rather good straight-up thriller. It zips along, and there's some cleverness in the ways Callan deals with his would-be assassins. All told, I think this would have made for a pretty good movie.

If nothing else, it's certainly a better continuation for the characters than 1982's Wet Job.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Novel: A Red File for Callan (not yet reviewed)
Next Novel: Death and Bright Water

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Goodbye, Mary Lee.

Written by: James Mitchell. This review is based on an unproduced script, published in Callan Uncovered. The story follows the Series One setup, with Callan outside The Section.


THE PLOT:

Gorgeous Mary Lee Townsend is the daughter of a conservative American senator. Disowned by her father after taking part in Freedom Marches and antiwar protests, she now works as a flight attendant for American Airlines - and also as a low-level courier for the other side. The CIA approach Hunter for a favor: Frame Mary Lee for a non-political crime, something that will put her safely in prison for the remainder of her father's term.

Hunter sets to work immediately, assigning a promising female agent the task of setting up Mary Lee to look like a drug pusher. However, there is one complication Hunter hasn't taken into account. Mary Lee has a boyfriend in London. A certain David Callan...


CHARACTERS:

Callan: Is besotted with Mary Lee, but that doesn't dull his senses. When she loses track of some unspecified "papers," he instantly realizes what sort of mess she's gotten herself into. He gives her the best advice possible - to just get out of it. Still, he can't help but protect her, particularly when he realizes that she's put herself into Hunter's sights, leading him to a painful final decision.

Col. Hunter: "Do you ever find our trade disgusting?" he asks operative Charlotte Rigby as they prepare to frame Mary Lee. Charlotte replies that she only thinks of their actions as "necessary," but it's clear from his question and from descriptions of him looking "weary" that he is less sanguine. This character beat actually echoes a few moments from Series One (notably his distaste for Meers' sadism), indicating that his external detachment may have at least in part been a front.

Mary Lee: She despises her father, and there's a sense that her dedication to social justice is as much to rebel against him as anything else. Certainly, there's nothing noteworthy about her political convictions, which fall firmly within the stereotype of the self-righteous campus radical. That creates the single biggest problem with the script: I simply never believe that Callan feels anything for someone this naive and shallow.


THOUGHTS:

An unproduced script by James Mitchell, Goodbye, Mary Lee "reads" like a Series One episode. Mitchell likely intended it for Series Two, before two things happened that made the script untenable: actor Ronald Radd did not return for Series Two, and incoming producer Reginald Collin (wisely) made the decision to make Callan a full-time Section member. A new Hunter could have been written around; but the amount of rewriting needed to make this story work with Callan inside the Section would have been equivalent to creating a whole new teleplay.

Had this been produced, I think it would have ranked among the series' weaker entries. The entire story relies on the odds-defying coincidence that Callan's current girlfriend is also the target of Hunter's operation. I suspect this is the exact sort of thing that made Collin determined to reformat the show. Even in the filmed Series One episodes, the ways in which Callan became entangled with The Section often stretched suspension of disbelief. This script outright snaps it. Even if Mary Lee wasn't a dreadfully scripted character, it would be hard to buy into this particular setup.

Had this been filmed, the main things that would have been interesting to see would have been the realization of the "psychedelic party" that forms the story's main set piece (it probably would have been laughable). I also would have personally enjoyed watching the scene with Ronald Radd's Hunter out-cheating Lonely at cards.

Whether by design or coincidence, elements similar to this script did make their way into some early Series Two episodes. The idea of Callan trying to protect a naive young woman who foolishly made herself a target for the enemy? That is the basic premise for The Most Promising Girl of Her Year, which ended up being one of Series Two's stronger episodes. Callan getting romantically involved with a young woman who is linked to a current crisis? That would be one piece of the excellent Let's Kill Everybody. Whether this was deliberate recycling or not, in both cases, the filmed episodes made better use of the ideas than the unproduced script.

In the end, I'd rate Goodbye, Mary Lee as an interesting curio. But I can't say that I'm sorry that it didn't end up as an episode of the series.


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