The Corporal's Wife Synopsis
A suspenseful and thrilling novel about a small British team sent into Iran to smuggle out a feisty, independent young woman named Farideh. If they are caught, they will all be executed by the fundamentalist government - the Brits because they are effectively spies and Farideh because her husband is regarded as a traitor and she has a dangerous mind of her own. Farideh's husband is a corporal in the Revolutionary Guard, entrapped by MI6 and held in a safe house in Austria for interrogation. His lowly position would not normally make him a target, but his job as a driver to a top general means that he knows the location of secret nuclear sites and has overheard many unguarded conversations. But he won't talk unless they will bring out Farideh. The SAS say it's too dangerous, but the director of the operation doesn't want to lose his prize. He assembles a little team of three ex-soldiers and one student drop-out who knows the language and smuggles them into Tehran. The journey out is an epic of drama and suspense, culminating in a never-to-be-forgotten run for the border. Along the way, we meet many characters, both British and Iranian, who display courage, cowardice, hatred, and love.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781444758573 |
| Publication date: |
13th February 2014 |
| Author: |
Gerald Seymour |
| Publisher: |
Hodder Paperback an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton General Division |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
420 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Thriller and Suspense
|
| Recommendations: |
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Gerald Seymour Press Reviews
Those [Seymour] sends off into dangerous territory are, in fact, his readers. With each book, we enter a dangerous universe, and are totally involved with utterly plausible characters, faced with moral choices that are rarely straightforward ... The single most important element here is the obsessive Winnie, whose pursuit of revenge for her dead agent is the motor for all that happens. Winnie is a forceful creation, with her burning resentment against those who feel contempt for the way the rest of us live. -- Independent
Once again demonstrating his ability to probe the moral murkiness of the spy trade and create an absorbingly diverse ensemble, Seymour crafts a sophisticated, reader-teasing tale. -- The Sunday Times
[Seymour's] books are rich in the drama of people reacting to events and situations they never could have expected. -- Weekend Press,New Zealand
Picking up a novel by Gerald Seymour is like taking a deep breath of fresh air ... his subject here is the Middle East, presented with a vividness and veracity that makes most of his rivals look footling ... As always with Seymour, the sense of a minatory foreign landscape is acutely rendered ... never have the badlands of Iraq been evoked with such oppressive rigour. And how many other writers would have fleshed out the bomb-maker, who would simply represent evil in most thrillers? Seymour allows us into the life and consciousness of this man, movingly describing his marriage to a mortally ill woman. When readers get to the nailbiting climax, involving an agonising wait for airborne rescue, they may be wondering why they should bother with any other thriller writer. -- Independent
Gerald Seymour is the grand-master of the contemporary thriller and Deniable Death is his greatest work yet. Gripping, revealing and meticulously researched, this is a page-turning masterpiece that will literally leave you breathless. -- Major Chris Hunter, author of Extreme Risk
After 28 novels, Seymour's empathy for those he ensnares in his moral minefields remains movingly even-handed. -- Daily Telegraph
gripping thriller -- Sun
Mr Seymour is ... on form ... The tradecraft of silent watching and the discomfort, thirst and increasing claustrophobia of the hideout are brought very much to life ... the grim landscape of the border region and the harsh lives of its inhabitants are skilfully evoked -- The Economist (Australia)
Seymour is not one to cut corners. He does his research, thinks hard about his story and gives us richly imagined novels that bristle with authenticity. -- Washington Post on THE COLLABORATOR
Seymour [is] incapable of creating a two-dimensional character
The Times
'Discerning thriller readers can safely say that the best practitioner currently working in the UK is the veteran Seymour. He is, quite simply, the most intelligent and accomplished in the current field ... Here, we have a typically compromised Seymour anti-hero, a masterfully organised globe-spanning narrative and a mass of highly persuasive detail. The Dealer and the Dead is Seymour firing on all cylinders, and his rivals need, once again, to look to their laurels. -- Barry Forshaw With Seymour, not only do you get a cracking story deftly told, but you also feel you are learning something. -- Birmingham Press
In a class of his own -- The Times on THE WAITING TIME
'one of the modern masters of the craft' -- Daily Mail on THE COLLABORATOR'
About Gerald Seymour
Gerald Seymour was our Guest Editor in August 2014 - click here - to see the books that inspired his writing.
Gerald Seymour exploded onto the literary scene in 1975 with the massive bestseller HARRY'S GAME. The first major thriller to tackle the modern troubles in Northern Ireland, it was described by Frederick Forsyth as 'like nothing else I have ever read' and it changed the landscape of the British thriller forever.
Gerald Seymour was a reporter at ITN for fifteen years. He covered events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, the Munich Olympics, Israel and Northern Ireland. He has been a full-time writer since 1978.
Author Photo © Gillian Seymour
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