Eye of the Archangel (2007) by Forrest DeVoe, Jr.

I have long been a fan of all things espionage-related, but especially the various book series that flourished in the wake of the popularity of the Bond movies in the 60s. I’m not talking A-listers like Matt Helm, Quiller, Modesty Blaise, or Sam Durrell here. I’m talking about the books that sincerely aspired to be also-rans, decent copies of the original that could be churned out quickly while the iron was hot to satisfy a marketplace hungry for spy-fi hijinks. They had their cinematic equivalents in the realm of cinema as well, with countless Euro-spy movies made on minuscule budgets with mostly unknown actors doing their best 007 impersonations. As with all fads, they ran their course and mostly fell out of favor, although the best of them were able to hang around for a while into the 70s and 80s.

I say all of this to highlight how unique it was to have someone with a clear and genuine love for those 60s spy-fi movies and books to write a love letter to them in the form of a 2-book series published in the mid-2000s by Forrest DeVoe Jr. A little research quickly reveals that DeVoe is in fact a pseudonym for Hard Case Crime cofounding publisher and editor, Max Phillips. Phillips clearly has not only great affection for this very specific type of genre thriller, but he also understands the most important element in making it all hang together—a refusal to descend into camp; no matter what is happening, the book never turns into an outright parody; Phillips respects the genre.

There are some books and movies that can be either a parody or an homage to its inspiration, yet simultaneously be a successful example of the same. I have held for years that while the movie Galaxy Quest is a dead-on parody of Star Trek, it also happens to be a better Star Trek movie than almost all of the official movies, nailing everything that made the series work in the first place. Such is the case with these espionage adventures featuring the team of Jack Mallory and Laura Morse who work for The Consultancy, an international freelance spy firm that deals in information and secrets of worldwide importance.

Eye of the Archangel is the second book featuring the spy team of Mallory and Morse and for my money, the slightly better of the two, with a sharper focus and a clearer understanding of what the author is trying to achieve. Our duo is tasked with trying to locate Archangel, a Nazi satellite that was thought lost following the fall of Hitler’s regime. In the course of their quest, the agents chase a German scientist and a fiendish international arms dealer through Monte Carlo and the Swiss Alps as they attempt to get their hands on this secret weapon which portends danger for the entire world unless located and disarmed.

Take a dose of James Bond, swirl in a healthy portion of The Avengers TV series, especially in Laura Morse's similarity to Emma Peel (especially her martial arts expertise), toss in a megalomaniacal villain with a hi-tech plan to upset the balance of world power, then add a suitably impossible countdown to destruction timeline and stir all ingredients together. There's even an excellent extended Grand Prix race to keep things hopping!

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book. It all leads to a genuinely thrilling ending within the villain’s secret headquarters atop the snowy Swiss Alps. The climax also proves to be unexpectedly filled with emotional gravitas. If you have an affection for 60s-era spy thrillers with a sci-fi bent, then you owe it to yourself to check out the adventures of Mallory and Morse. Highly recommended!

Review by Steve Carroll