Old men should stop wars not start them.

Firstly, a confession. George Kuch is one a my most preferred narrators, especially when the story calls for an older man to tell the story in the first person. He has the knack of being able to talk straight to the reader as if he were right there, confidentially including them in his explanations (see also the excellent Lady Justice series). It was because he was reading this book, and it was written in a preferred genre, that I purchased this book. And I am so glad that I did. The narration was as good as expected - intimately real, with passion seeping through at appropriate places, a dogged recalling of thought and feelings as well as actions, the grouchy cynicism leaking out through the sarcasm and self loathing so expertly portrayed - and the story itself well written, different from the usual hard bitten, rather clever PIs.

In fact, Max Bowman isn't a P.I.at all. He's a nearing sixty years old, retired, not very good CIA agent, (desk duries), who'd been subsidizing his income by occasionally doing odd jobs looking fkr , mostly, missing persons, for an old but still current CIA buddy, Howard. But Howard denied sending him the latest client, a weird looking man who was paying him an huge sum of money to look for a celebrated war hero everyone knew was dead.

Great story filled with question marks and tension, rather than full action scenes, though those are there, too. Good characterisation of the leading protagonists combined with colourful characters and the ongoing mystery. And funny, sometimes laugh out loud funny. Strangely, for all of it's wierdness, it felt very plausible. Great narration, too, ofcourse-- I loved this book. Highly recommended.

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