Wed 26 Oct 2022
An Archived Spy Thriller Review by Bob Adey: ANTHONY PRICE – Other Paths to Glory.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
ANTHONY PRICE – Other Paths to Glory. Dr. David Audley #5. Gollancz, UK, hardcover, 1974. Doubleday, US, hardcover, 1975. Mysterious Press, US, paperback, 1987
When Anthony Price is on form he really. does write a.very good novel of espionage and intrigue – and in this one he’s quite definitely on form. The particularly intriguing puzzle he poses is why should anyone in 1974 want to kill off those few remaining people with expert knowledge about a little known first War battle waged in 1916.
One of the intended victims is young military historian Paul Mitchell, but by sheer luck he survives,·and is at once recruited to find the reasons by Dr. David Audley, that devious agent for the Defence Ministry. The action (and the intrigue) rattle along at a good old pace, and the solution is quite feasible. A book I found myself stealing time to read.
October 26th, 2022 at 6:05 pm
Quoting from a long essay about Price and Dr. Audley I found online:
“The series begins with 1970’s The Labyrinth Makers and Dr. David Audley, a socially awkward, prematurely middle-aged Middle East expert with a fascination for archaeology and history – subjects that remain abiding concerns throughout the subsequent eighteen novels.”
and
“Price builds his characters not so much through description of their physical appearance – although one can’t help but see Price himself in the figure of Audley – nor through their deeds, but through their conversations. Time and again he presents us with long stretches of dialogue, as Audley, Roskill, Butler and others work through problems and intuit solutions, and as a consequence grant insight into their psyches.”
and
“Price builds his characters not so much through description of their physical appearance – although one can’t help but see Price himself in the figure of Audley – nor through their deeds, but through their conversations. Time and again he presents us with long stretches of dialogue, as Audley, Roskill, Butler and others work through problems and intuit solutions, and as a consequence grant insight into their psyches.”
https://www.existentialennui.com/2011/06/author-anthony-price-david-audley.html
The one book in the series I’ve read (not this one) was excellent. I’ve always intended to read others, but alas, so far I haven’t.
October 26th, 2022 at 8:18 pm
I’m a huge fan of Price. There is a 1983 series with Terence Stamp as Audley that is quite good, CHESSGAME, consisting of six episodes, THE ALAMUT AMBUSH, ENTER HASSAN, THE ROMAN COLLECTION, DIGGING UP THE FUTURE, FLYING BLIND, COLD WARGAME.
The series is available on YouTube as three theatrical features THE ALAMUT AMBUSH, THE DEADLY RECRUITS, and THE COLD WAR KILLERS.
Carmen du Sautoy, and Michael Culver co-starred.
October 26th, 2022 at 10:20 pm
Yes, the TV series is quite good too, Very good, in fact. I thought I’d reviewed one of them for this blog some time back, but looking for it now, I found only a brief reference to it, too short to be worth adding a link to it.
October 26th, 2022 at 11:27 pm
I began reading Price in the 1970s and once I’d read all the ones available I looked for every new book.
Price stopped writing because he couldn’t type due to RSI. Presumably this is an occupational hazard for writers, but I’ve never heard of someone else who had that problem.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:35 am
There’s a note on the tv series Chessgame here: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=471. Price hated it, however:
https://www.existentialennui.com/2011/08/interview-with-anthony-price-author-of_03.html?m=1.
October 27th, 2022 at 9:27 am
Never saw the series, unfortunately, but I read all the books and liked the series a lot. I like books that have a modern and a “past” parallel story (as in Kate Ellis’s Wesley Peterson series). This is one of the best, as I remember it.
October 27th, 2022 at 7:36 pm
Roger, re RSI Dick Francis had to seriously curtail his contacts with his fans and rely on his wife and increasingly his son Felix because the injuries to his hands during his steeplechase career made writing difficult and painful.
I’ve known a few writers who had such bad CTS they had to virtually wear casts while writing.
October 27th, 2022 at 11:20 pm
Henry James was famous for dictating his later work (which reads as more intensively written than the books that were actually written), but I’ve never learned why he did. You’d think that eighteenth or nineteenth century writers producing enormous books with quill or steel dip pens would have problems with their hands, but they aren’t mentioned.