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THE CLOUD COLLECTOR (2015)

Reviews

The Cloud Collector
The in-depth knowledge of the espionage business that Freemantle (The Namedropper) brings to this fly-on-the-wall look at the technical and bureaucratic aspects of the spy world helps compensate for the novel’s lack of excitement. CIA officer Jack Irvine, who heads a mission known as Operation Cyber Shepherd, and his operators troll the “darknets” of cyberspace searching for terrorist groups. Once Irvine and company hack into these groups, they uncover attack plans, turn various terrorists against one another, and alert security agencies. Working with smart, stubborn British MI5 agent Sally Hanning, Irvine racks up several conspicuous successes—thwarting attacks on the Coliseum in Rome, a nuclear reactor in Sellafield, England, and the Washington Monument in the U.S.—but mastermind terrorist Ismail al Aswamy escapes. Irvine’s most dangerous foes are members of his own team and hostile politicians who need these government cyber warriors to cover their own asses. This realistic, disheartening thriller may be too downbeat for some fans of the genre. (Nov.)
- Publishers Weekly / September 8, 2015

The Cloud Collector
NSA hacker Jack Irvine has penetrated the Iranian intelligence service’s computer network. He has identified some jihadists and follows them on Facebook, and he has even planted disinformation that spurs one jihadist cell to slaughter another. Bits of intelligence Irvine has discovered allow British MI5 analyst Sally Hanning to divine and then thwart coordinated attacks on the U.S., Britain, and Italy. But more attacks follow, and a man spooks think is the mastermind has slipped CIA surveillance and is loose in the U.S. The Cloud Collector seems to be veteran espionage novelist Freemantle’s first foray into the world of jihad, and the results are mixed. He works hard to explain Irvine’s accomplishment, but readers not fluent in darknets and botnets will likely struggle. But carefully detailed scenes of managers of myriad U.S. intelligence agencies clashing in meetings read like verbal knife fights and have a dispiriting plausibility. Some of the managers are covering up their own failures. Others are pushing careerist agendas, or simply reflexively doing bureaucratic battle against rivals—while the jihadist mastermind plans something even more sinister.
— Thomas Gaughan

Red Star Rising.
Freemantle, Brian (Author)
Aug 2010. 368 p. St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne, hardcover, $25.99. (9780312315535).
When a dead man’s disfigured body is discovered on the grounds of the British embassy in Moscow, MI5 veteran Charlie Muffin is charged with solving the murder. Not an easy task, given porous security at the embassy and Russian obstructionism, but a good fit for his unusual talents all the same. As Muffin navigates a political maze on the home front, and plays a chess match with his counterparts in the host country, it’s obvious that the man’s death is significant, but the whys and hows are maddeningly elusive. More important to Muffin is his hoped-for reunion with Natalia, the former KGB agent to whom he’s secretly married, and their daughter, Sasha—but, for safety’s sake, he can barely see them. Alternately cautious and daring, self-critical, pragmatic, and fatalistically idealistic, the maverick Muffin will appeal to fans of John le Carré’s George Smiley and to readers of classic espionage novels. The USSR is now Russia, and the KGB is now the FSB, but this is still a story of telephone booths and old-school spycraft—old-school quality, too.
- Keir Graff

Betrayals
Betrayals is ‘compelling… This adventure by the author of the Charlie Muffin series careens along at a breakneck pace, enhanced by its cast of believably despicable characters and by a convincing portrayal of a maturing heroine.’ –
Publishers Weekly

Goodbye to an Old Friend
‘A thriller in the Green-le Carré tradition about a seedy old Etonian working for the Counter-Intelligence in the home office. The character of Dodds is excellently described.’
– Harpers

‘Admirably clever… If Mr Freemantle can keep up this standard of mystery and of characterization, then he’ll do very well.’
– The Times Literary Supplement

The November Man
‘He makes the possibility of global disaster sound like the next spin of the roulette wheel. A chilling entertainment.’
– The Guardian

Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie
‘This harsh tale establishes Mr. Freemantle as Mr Deighton’s heir – that is, if his Face Me When You Walk Away, of a few years back, hadn’t already established him as one of the most exciting spy thriller writers of the nineteen-seventies.’ – Oxford Mail

Face Me When You Walk Away
‘Brian Freemantle’s splendid new thriller occupies the middle ground of the genre: urbane, yet without the smirking knowingness of the Fleming-Haggard school; and credible, while eschewing the relentless inabilities of the Deighton-le Carré dirty-mac brigade. Mr. Freemantle’s Russian background is very sharp, with an excellent vignette of the Moscow colony of defectors.’ – The Time Literary Supplement

The Man Who Wanted Tomorrow
‘The most revealing published account ever likely to exist of the conflict between Israeli intelligence agencies and the highly secret neo-Nazi movements. This book excited the attention of the CIA officers who monitor that conflict, at first because they believed it was based on one of their cases, and later because they saw it as a remarkable example of how near well-researched supposition can come to the truth.’ – Observer Magazine

The Button Man
‘The devious manoeuvrings of both sides are well portrayed by an experienced hand and the tension kept going till the final pages.’ – Sunday Telegraph

‘Freemantle is an expert manipulator of suspense… the resulting combination of thrills and realism is a heady one.’ – Daily Mail

‘A Cast of well-drawn characters used brilliantly as the investigation builds up to a stunning denouement … a worthy successor to Freemantle’s previous spy thrillers.’ – Mail on Sunday

Gold
‘Freemantle’s devious plot is mesmerizing, the elaborate scheming has a frightening verisimilitude. A top-notch global thriller that’s guaranteed to entertain’ – Booklist

At Any Price/Takeover
‘An outstanding job.’ – Kirkus

Charlie Muffin and the Russian Rose
‘Cracking free-wheeling Freemantle where wits are best kept about one.. And surely one of the wickedest terminal turnabouts of all time.’ – Sunday Times

Rules of Engagement
‘It has pace, plot and power. Its backgrounds are convincing and the whole novel is an excellent experience.’ – Leslie Thomas

Charlie Muffin San
‘Brian Freemantle’s best adventure yet. The character of the wilful Charlie has grown so familiar that he has become an old friend… The writing is first-class.’
– Sunday Mirror

Comrade Charlie
‘Intricate plotting, gripping intrigue, and a memorable romance add up to the tastiest Muffin in many a year.’ – Kirkus

“Intricate, Funny, and highly satisfying… Charlie’s latest escapade should send new readers scurrying to find earlier Charlie Muffin tales”
– Publishers Weekly

Target
‘A deft, consistently absorbing global thriller, proving once again that, le Carré aside, no one does this sort of thing better.’
– Backlist

Dead Men Living
‘Freemantle, like le Carré, knows that the conflict at the heart of espionage fiction is not west versus east but individual versus organization. Charlie Muffin carries the individual’s colours as well as any character in the genre.’
– Booklist

Little Grey Mice
‘Freemantle creates solid characters and a plot filled with undercurrents that expose surprising scenes of human frailty and strength.’
– Booklist

‘Richly textured characters, the unusual premise, and the hypnotically cruel seduction – all make this one of Freemantle’s finest.’
– Kirkus Reviews

O’Farrell’s Law
‘…an expert and thought-provoking work…’ – The New York Times Book Review

‘O’Farrell’s Law is by Brian Freemantle. That’s good enough for me: I’d buy whatever Freemantle writes.’ – Chicago Tribune

No Time for Heroes
‘His thrillers are both sleek and tough, filled with gritty characters and superb plotting… vintage Freemantle.’ – Chicago Tribune ‘Brian Freemantle, one of the best espionage writers in the business, has found the perfect formula for maintaining the tensions and rivalries between the United States and Russia.’ – Orlando Sentinel

‘An impressive blend of full-bodied characters and nerve-plucking action… it all ends in a tremendous climax that leaves tragic echoes and may be Freemantle’s most affecting ever.’ – Publishers Weekly

In the Name of the Killer
‘If Brian Freemantle isn’t the best writer of spy novels around, He’s certainly, along with John le Carré, in the top two… It doesn’t get much better than this.’ – The Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Like most Freemantle novels, the plot moves swiftly the dialogue crackles with life, and there is a real kicker of an ending.’ – The Flint Journal

‘A classy, atmospheric, and pleasantly cynical tale… every scene and conversation is a fencing match or chess game; every turn of events threatens to topple the dense edifice of politics, lust, subterfuge, and insanity. A real winner.’ - Booklist

Red Star Falling published Spring 2013,
completes Freemantle's latest Trilogy.

The Cloud Collector