I recently read my first-ever Adam Hall book, The Peking Target, which I’d found in a thrift store. I hadn’t been aware at the time that The Peking Target was in fact the 10th book in the Quiller series, a series which ended with its 19th installment in 1996. This book, Quiller Bamboo, is 15th in the series.

What drew me back to Adam Hall was the realism I’d found in that first book I read. Sure, the situations seemed occasionally fantastic and yes, Quiller sure seemed to survive a crazy number of attacks, but something just made it feel real. That “something” was the internal monologue he runs through each step of the way. Sometimes his thoughts are carefully articulated and complete. Other times they’re more like short bursts, decisions made in the moment. At all times, though, his thoughts are logical, and we get to see the spy at work, both in what he does and how he thinks. It really was a fun style of reading!

Quiller Bamboo is the only other novel that I was able to find recently in my Libby app, so it’s what I chose next. With so many books in the series, I realized that Quiller’s missions likely don’t have much to do with each other, though the men who lead his operations and those whom he might meet along the way very well could be recurring characters. But like with Clive Cussler‘s Dirk Pitt Adventures, it probably doesn’t matter a lick to read them out of order.

On this mission, Quiller is responsible for sneaking a prominent Chinese professor from his known location and into hiding in Tibet. Quiller must keep this man alive while Chinese agents hunt him down, for his survival might mean the very downfall of China’s Communist rule. This book was published post-Tiananmen Square, so it has much to do with the rising “threat” of democracy in the region.

I didn’t feel that this book had quite the level of excitement that Peking Target had, but still I enjoyed the story enough to keep going. And like with the first Quiller book I read, Adam Hall didn’t disappoint with his poignant observations about life as a spy. I’ll close with these four insightful comments he makes in the text:

We grow old in this trade before our time. We grow canny, cunning, cynical. Steeped in subterfuge, versed in stealth. We grow obstinate, difficult. We grow intractable. And we grow afraid. (Chapter 1)

Arrogance is a dangerous trait in the netherworld of subterfuge, where an inflated ego can prove fatal. (Chapter 4)

Mercenaries can change sides at the drop of a doubloon. (Chapter 4)

If you cannot find them, let them find you. Let them see you. Let them come for you. Let them trap you, and if it becomes necessary let them do the most dangerous thing of all, let them take you. (Chapter 21)

©2024 E.T.

Read More from Adam Hall:

• The Tango Briefing (1973)
• The Peking Target (1981)
• Quiller Bamboo (1991)