The Miernik Dossier

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The Miernik Dossier

First of this Outstanding Series

Tears of Autumn

Every once in a while a 'unique' novel come out, this is one

A necessary book for those who read espionage seriously

The Miernik Dossier
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1585677361

Book Description

"Charles McCarry is the best modern writer on the subject of intrigue," wrote P.J. O'Rourke and Time Magazine has declared that "there is no better American spy novelist." McCarry's first book, The Miernik Dossier, originally published in 1973, is a riveting and imaginative tale in which a small group of international agents embark on a car trip in a Cadillac, from Switzerland to the Sudan.

Related as a collection of dossier notes written by the five characters, the novel reveals a complicated web in which each spins his or her own deception: each is a spider, and each is a spy...and the Miernik Dossier is a thorough-going masterpiece.

Customer Reviews:

The Miernik Dossier.......2007-09-28

I enjoyed this book very much. I liked the way the various journals, reports and communications tied the plot together and the suspense was also very well done. This book reminded me of "My Cousin Rachel" by Daphne DuMaurier. I do not think that someone who likes lots of action would enjoy this book because it is slow actioned with the gradual building up of suspense. Definitely, a good "Who Done It?"

First of this Outstanding Series.......2007-09-21

This the first book in this exceptional, albeit short, series about the fictional American spy Paul Christopher and his cohorts. Luckily, the earlier books have now been reissued and are available. Set in the Cold War era, which may seem long ago, the earlier novels are so well crafted that they are still great reads today and more than relevant.

Tears of Autumn.......2007-08-07

I found the Tear of Autumn to be a page turner with a satisfying twist at the end. McCarry writes clearly and in a highly readable manner. Great Author.

Every once in a while a 'unique' novel come out, this is one.......2007-05-16

This was McCarry's first novel (and first Christopher novel) that he published after leaving the 'Company' in 1973. What makes this novel unique is the way it's presented. It is a compilation of reports that are from a variety of services (both ours and theirs) that are used to tell the story of a trip by a group of friends (all who are spies for different agencies).

The story itself, is interesting, but the mode in which the story unfolds, by reports of clandestine meetings by the different operatives, overheard conversations, dead letter drops, etc. give the book a feeling of being in the library at Langley and reading through an after action report. It's quite a coupe and brings the story together using an interesting premise.
Your can feel that McCarry has a real ability to write about the clandes- tine world of espionage. I'm looking forward to reading more of his novels.

A necessary book for those who read espionage seriously.......2007-02-08

The Miernik Dossier is one of the finest espionage novels ever written, and a treasured secret of those who write in the genre. Charles McCarry's first novel was overlooked commercially, yet has found critical acclaim from those who seek it out. With good reason, MD is one of the first novels to explore the problem of disinformation and its consequences in the confused world of human intelligence (humint), and only Grahme Greene's "The Human Factor" or LaCarre's "Smiley's People" explores similar themes of the division of the secrets of the heart with duty and love. Well written in an alternating voice of authentic government jargon, with reports blasted in the staccato of facts style taught to any agent (a discipline left over from the telegraph and secure cable systems of the past).

The story follows a small cast of characters as they move from one Mediterranean local to an exotic north African one. They might as well be on a desert island, for each is known well to the other, each agenda is known or suspected, and one will draw a short straw as a sacrifice to their distant masters, where failure and success will both look alike as it is papered over in bureaucratese.

McCarry's flaw is he loves his creation Paul Christopher too much, making him both an object of admiration, envy, heroic example, and pity (spelled out more fully in subsequent novels). Christopher represents the last generation of Ivy Leaguers who were admitted because their father went there rather than merit, and such exclusion and entitlement is assumed to create pathos when the hero in a turn of noblesse oblige becomes a government agent, posing as something or other (usually a Puritan version of a Playboy, stoic to the point of sociopathology, but supposedly selling or writing something).

McCarry's strengths are a voice that rings true, an eye for detail, and well crafted prose. The Miernik Dossier is a very good novel bordering on greatness, and surpasses others in the genre by light years.

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Miernik Dossier
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1585679429
Release Date: 2007-10-30

Book Description

Paul Christopher is cool, urbane, clear-sighted--a perfect American agent in deep cover in the twilight world of international intrigue. But now even he does not know which side is good or bad in a maze of double- and triplecross. A small group of international agents embark on a car trip in a Cadillac, from Switzerland to the Sudan--a comical Polish exile whose fear is no joke, a beautiful Hungarian seductress whose fiery sexuality makes her almost too hot to handle, and a North African prince whose appetite for women and lust for power are limitless. Christopher only knows that he has to find whose finger is on the trigger of bloody terrorism and Cold War takeover--and God help everyone if he makes a mistake.

Product Description

In The Miernik Dossier, five international agents embark on a car trip in a Cadillac, traveling from Switzerland to the Sudan. Among them is Tadeusz Miernik, the shy and bumbling Polish scientist who might be the leader of a terror force that could set the Cold War aflame.

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The Miernik Dossier (Unabridged)
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B000F3T95E

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THE MIERNIK DOSSIER
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVU0VO

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THE MIERNIK DOSSIER
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: N A L
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K3RE2E

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THE MIERNIK DOSSIER
Charles McCarry
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K3M6SQ

Amazon.com

Sano Ichiro, the Shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, is back in action in Laura Joh Rowland's latest, The Samurai's Wife. After a heated dispute with his colleague and archrival, Honorable Chamberlain Yanigasawa, Sano finds himself in Miyako, Japan's imperial capital, investigating the mysterious death of Minister Konoe Bokuden. Apparently a victim of murder by kiai, a martial arts technique in which a burst of pure mental energy is concentrated in the voice of the killer, Konoe had been plotting an overthrow of samurai rule. Sano must determine whether his death is a personal or political matter, all the while tiptoeing around the delicate sensibilities and violent tempers of the Emperor and his Imperial Court. His roster of suspects ranges from the Emperor himself to Kozeri, Konoe's former wife, a Buddhist nun whose habit barely conceals a powerful and disturbing sensuality.

Rowland has obviously done her homework; her zest for historical detail complements, rather than overwhelms, the story, giving the reader a glimpse into the ceremoniality of 17th-century imperial Japanese culture: "In the southern sector of the imperial enclosure stood the Purple Dragon Hall.... The austere half-timbered building faced a courtyard bounded with covered corridors supported by vermilion posts. The ground was covered with white sand to reflect the light of the sun and moon onto the hall. A cherry tree and a citrus tree flanked the entrance, representing the guardian archers and horsemen of ancient tradition. Leading up to the door, eighteen steps, framed by red balustrades, symbolized the number of noble ranks in the court hierarchy. Sano and Hoshina slowly approached the bottom of the steps, where a line of courtiers waited."

Unfortunately, Rowland seems sometimes to sacrifice accuracy for the sake of action, creating a bond between Sano and his spirited wife Reiko so modern that one feels that even the most liberated Genroku woman would have been far more circumscribed by ritual and expectations. On the level of plot, rather than philosophy or politics, Sano's deductions have less to do with dogged investigation than with divine inspiration.

Laura Joh Rowland's previous Sano mysteries include The Concubine's Tattoo and The Way of the Traitor. Mystery fans intrigued by the notion of a Japanese mise en scène may be interested in Dale Furutani's Death at the Crossroads and Jade Palace Vendetta, also set in 17th-century Japan. --Kelly Flynn

Book Description

IN THE IMPERIAL CITY OF KYOTO, POWER IS MERELY CEREMONIAL. BUT AN ANCIENT EVIL STILL SURVIVES....Far from the shogun's court at Edo, Most Honorable Investigator Sano Ichiro begins the most challenging case of his career. Upon the insistence of his strong-willed and beautiful wife Reiko, Sano arrives with her at the emperor's palace to unmask the murderer-who possesses the secret of kiai-"the spirit cry"-a powerful scream that can kill instantly. A high Kyoto official is the victim. Treading carefully through a web of spies, political intrigue, forbidden passions, and intricate plots, Sano and Reiko must struggle to stay ahead of the palace storms-and outwit a cunning killer. But as they soon discover, solving the case means more than their survival. For if they fail, Japan could be consumed in the bloodiest war it has ever seen....A legendary land comes alive in this compelling murder mystery set in seventeenth-century Japan. Filled with finely drawn characters and suspenseful plot twists, THE SAMURAI'S WIFE is a novel as complex, vivid, and artful as the glorious, lost world it portrays.AUTHORBIO: LAURA JOH ROWLAND, the granddaughter of Chinese and Korean immigrants, grew up in Michigan. She is the author of four previous Sano Ichiro novels, The Concubine's Tattoo, Shinju, Bundori, and The Way of the Traitor, and lives in New Orleans with her husband and three cats.

Customer Reviews:

Lovely Environment, Questionable Situations.......2006-06-15

This is the fifth book in the Sano Ichiro series, set in Japan of the 1600s. Sano is a detective working for the Shogun. In book 4 he had just taken a wife who wanted to help him with his detective work - and at the end of the story he had reluctantly agreed. At the time they had only been married a few days. Now, in The Samurai's Wife, we flash forward to a year later, where apparely they've been working together all year long as partners.

I have to admit I was disappointed to realize that all of that "getting to know each other" storyline had been skipped over so handily. Book 4 (The Concubine's Tattoo) involved Sano and wife Reiko barely knowing each other, fighting over her role in his life, and she had only barely gotten him to agree to let her occasionally help out by the end of the story. Now, suddenly, we start this book with them both on an important stake-out, watching to land the final blow. It seemed that all of that give-and-take, all of the delicate balances involved in forging the relationships, would have been fascinating to read about. Instead we skip it all and land right into "OK they're married for a year and she's pregnant, and they're a team." You might think therefore that the pregnancy would have involved a lot of cool details involving how the Japanese viewed pregnancy, just as the previous book involved a lot of wedding details, but as a plot device it is mentioned maybe 3 times and then completely ignored. So much for life-shattering changes!

I've studied feudal Japan for many years and I really love all books set in this time period. I don't need them to be accurate. I understand how hard it is to write with every single detail being perfect. However, I at least want to feel, somewhat, that I am in a different time, with different attitudes and situations. I also want the story to make contextual sense - that is, I want the story not to contradict itself illogically.

So I was on one hand impressed and had fun with the setting of the Emperor's City - Kyoto - which is where the Imperial Family lives. They are stuck in the past, doomed (they might feel) to an insignificant life as figureheads. On the other hand, there were numerous comments about this situation that struck me as quite out of tune. Apparently everyone in the Imperial Court is "barred from engaging in trade" - which is like saying that a shogun's wife is barred from being a prostitute! Japanese at the time looked down on merchants as a very low class, and in fact nobles didn't carry money so they would not sully themselves with the cash. The book refers to this not-having-cash several times in fact. It's as if the author knew some tidbits - but didn't realize the actual meaning.

Another situation - the book makes very clear that a samurai's wife shouldn't be going around on her own investigating murders. This is a big source of contention between Sano and wife Reiko. In fact when Sano arrives at Tokyo, he doesn't introduce Reiko as she is "just a family member". However, only a few scenes later, Sano's police officer equal is discussing where their investigation is going. The officer asks Sano what his plans are for the next day. Sano replies that he is going to do xxxx and that "my wife will do yyyy". Why in the world would he bother to tell a policeman about his wife's personal plans? It made no sense at all.

Just one more, because this one really bugged me. At one point they are talking about what happens to members of the Emperor's family if they lose power (because the Emperor abdicates or so on). The book says that for a woman to enter a nunnery "represented utter humiliation". WHAT??? Some women GLADLY entered nunneries because they were sick of the office politics and wanted a life of religious quiet and contemplation!! To equate a nunnery to humiliation just had me shaking my head. Sure, some women who wanted to be sexy and having wild parties and loved being the center of attention would, if told suddenly "Shave your head, you are going to a nunnery for the rest of your life", be quite upset. But this wasn't some sort of a blanket reaction that every single female had.

I still have an issue with Reiko in general. I found her really annoying and incongruous in book 4. I found her perhaps a little more toned down and reasonable here, but still wildly out of context for the book's setting. Let me reiterate that I am ALL for strong female characters. For example I really liked the character of Lady Jokyoden. Reiko is just over the top, though. She has little common sense and her demands for attention are very childish. In the real world, people earn respect - but she just wants it given to her immediately.

Book 4 was quite full of sex, sex and more sex. This book toned that down quite a bit, although people who flinch at homosexual situations are going to have their hands full with arch-enemy Chamberlain Yanigasawa's exploits. What The Samurai's Wife has instead is outrageously implausible fantasy elements. Up until now the series has seemed "reality based" - that you felt transported to the real Japan of the 1600s with the people and places that existed. Now, suddenly, we have people running around with KIAI power, in essence screaming and slaying other people. Seems to me that if the Japanese could do this, we'd have heard about it. Not only that, but characters talk to historical individuals that have been dead for centuries, and others have the power of mind control.

In the meantime, the plot is guessable pretty much right from the beginning, and the characters both skip incredibly obvious clues and also get clues dropped into their lap with little effort at all.

So, once I retooled my expectations to consider this a fantasy novel that had some Japanese elements in it, to enjoy for its pretty scenery rather than its robust characters or intricate plot, it was pretty enjoyable. Not all books can be complex machinations that you love reading 30 times. This was a fun afternoon read and gave me my fix of Things Japanese.

By no means unreadable, but ..........2005-06-10

The basic plot outline has Sano sent to investigate a murder at the highest levels of society (the Emperor is a suspect) to clear his name of slander. His spunky wife accompanies him, and while initially he worries about her safety he eventually comes to accept her as a partner in his investigation.

There's an odd sort of quality to this novel; it really wants to please, and it offers up a series of interesting set-pieces, characters who sound like they should be fascinating, and a complex mystery to be solved.

Unfortunately, the solution to the mystery is obvious before we've even finished meeting all the suspects, all of the characters are cardboard cutouts, and most of the different lines of the plot just stop abruptly. The chamberlain is so much more interesting a character than Sano Ichiro that, slimy as he is, I kept having to stop myself from rooting for him.

Worst of all, there's enough magic used to qualify the book as a fantasy novel instead of a historical mystery. A little bit of that is okay as the expression of the general mysticism of the era, but the solution to the mystery hinges on it. That's just not playing fair.

While I kind of enjoyed The Samurai's Wife, it's definitely "beach reading" ... moreso even than the Legend of the Five Rings series.

Modern madness.......2005-01-03

Although a number of prior reviewers loved this novel, I found it impossible to enjoy, despite an overwhelming desire to like this book. As a martial artist, I couldn't get past the silly plot. Worse yet, the characters, especially the main characters, are far too modern (and Western). Likewise, the dialog was stilted, direct, and unlikely to be spoken by even modern Japanese. If you aren't looking for historical accuracy, you may be happy with the novel.

The Best of the Sano Ichiro Series.......2004-04-16

I really enjoyed this book. It was the best of the Sano Ichiro books I have read so far (I can't wait to read "The Perfumed Sleeve"). It was really enrapturing, and this is just a little bit better than "The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria".
The characters in this one were really interesting, at times you almost want to root for the suspects, such as: Lady Jokyoden. Besides from the fact that it was good, it was informative.The culture is really well researched.
Some people may think it's a little over the top, with all the "events", but things like this probably happened in 1600's Japan. It's dramatic but believable and this plot was cool, because it incorporated the imperial family. Who didn't even govern the country, but were just considered living gods.
If you've read the other ones you have to read this, it's the best.

It's getting to be too much!.......2003-02-18

This is the fifth or sixth Sano Ichiro book that I read. The only reason that I keep coming back is the futile hope that perhaps the next one will be different. But it is not. The characters in these books have a one-dimensional comic book quality that does not change or mature with age. The antagonism between Sano and the Chamberlain gets to be boring after so many absurd confrontations. The evolution of plot and detective work is always pathetically arbitrary. The only saving grace is what to the reader appears as an interesting view and description of 17th century Japan.

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The Samurai's Wife
Laura Joh Rowland
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000OH1BNO

The Samurai's Wife (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)

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The Samurai's Wife (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)
Laura Joh Rowland
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTMXNY

Tales of the samurai;: Oguri Hangwan ichidaiki, being the story of the lives, the adventures, and the misadventures of the Hangwan-dai KojiroÌÂ„ Sukeshige and Terutehime, his wife. ÌÂ

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Tales of the samurai;: Oguri Hangwan ichidaiki, being the story of the lives, the adventures, and the misadventures of the Hangwan-dai KojiroÌÂ„ Sukeshige and Terutehime, his wife. ÌÂ
James S De Benneville
Manufacturer: The Fukuin Printing Company, limited]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00087IJKI

4 Titles in Sano Ichiro Series - Shinju - The Way of the Traitor - Samurai's Wife - Dragon King's Palace

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4 Titles in Sano Ichiro Series - Shinju - The Way of the Traitor - Samurai's Wife - Dragon King's Palace
Laura Joh Rowland
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Product Description

4 massmarket paperback Titles in Sano Ichiro series (not in sequence) - Shinju - The Way of the Traitor - Samurai's Wife - Dragon King's Palace

Tales of the samurai;: Oguri Hangwan ichidaiki, being the story of the lives, the adventures of the Hangwan-dai KojiroÌÂ„ Sukeshige and Terutehime, his wife. ÌÂ

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Tales of the samurai;: Oguri Hangwan ichidaiki, being the story of the lives, the adventures of the Hangwan-dai KojiroÌÂ„ Sukeshige and Terutehime, his wife. ÌÂ
James S De Benneville
Manufacturer: [The Fukuin Printing Co., Ltd.]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000855FJI

Customer Reviews:

Liavek - The Players of Luck.......2000-04-09

This is the second of five books based in the city of Liavek -- home of wizards and magic. The only problem with getting involved with this series is the books are difficult to find. I hunt for them on auctions and in libraries. They are great short stories.

Liavek 1 - 5: Liavek; The Players of Luck; Wizard's Row; Spells of Binding; Festival Week (set of 5 books)

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Liavek 1 - 5: Liavek; The Players of Luck; Wizard's Row; Spells of Binding; Festival Week (set of 5 books)
Alan Moore , Steven Brust , Kara Dalkey , Pamela Dean , Jane Yolen , Patricia C. Wrede , Caroline Stevermer , John M. Ford , Gene Wolfe , and Gregory Frost and others
Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TT4U58

Product Description

The complete set of five books.

Book Description

"An essential step in Thoreau's recovery of a `natural life' is to reawaken and expand his awareness of the present moment, not only in the sense of knowing more of the world around him, but of entering into it fully. Admitting in Walden that `I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans,' he also confesses to moments in which he neglected both of these conflicting duties. . . . In periods of reverie, Thoreau gave himself over to his senses, finding a fulfillment in his own attentive presence at the pond and the surrounding hills."—from Natural Life

Henry David Thoreau's Walden was first published 150 years ago, an event celebrated by many gatherings scheduled for 2004 and marked by the publication of this exceptional book. David M. Robinson tells the story of a mind at work, focusing on Thoreau's idea of "natural life" as both a subject of study and a model for personal growth and ethical purpose. Robinson traces Thoreau's struggle to find a fulfilling vocation and his gradual recovery from his grief over the loss of his brother.

Robinson emphasizes Thoreau's development of the credo of living a "natural life," a phrase drawn from his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. The depiction of the contemplative life close to nature in Walden exemplifies this credo. But it is also fulfilled through Thoreau's later life as a saunterer in the fields and forests around Concord, devoted to his studies of the natural world and dedicated to a life of principle.

Natural Life takes note of and encourages growing interest in the later phase of Thoreau's career and his engagement with science and natural history. Robinson looks closely at Walden and the essays and natural history projects that followed it, such as "Walking" and "Wild Apples," and the remarkable and little-observed writing on night and moonlight found in Thoreau's journal.

Customer Reviews:

Thoreau's Path into the Natural World.......2004-10-23

I'm finding out, by reading a fair number of scholarly books on Thoreau, how each author has a somewhat different understanding of Thoreau's interests and intentions. Of course, no one would wish to write what someone else had already written, but I also suspect Thoreau was such a unique individual that he can't easily be fitted into our preferred categories.

In this book, the specific emphasis is on Thoreau's most complex and rewarding relationship--his on-going discourse with the natural world itself. It traces Thoreau's disappointment with and estrangement from the world of men, and his simultaneous exploration of and integration practically into the landscape itself. Thoreau's books become a record of this experience as well as a ground-breaking path to such a relationship with nature.

This book is also an extended literary analysis, an in-depth, point-by-point discussion of Thoreau's writings. It is certainly well done for what it is, and should be of great interest to dedicated Thoreauvians, aspiring naturalists and intrepid English majors.

The Best Critical Study of Thoreau Available, No Question.......2004-09-19

I've been reading Thoreau criticism for well over twenty years now, and I have never been as excited about a critical study of Thoreau. Robinson nails what is most important in Thoreau and then convincingly uses that insight to trace the arc of Thoreau's career. An astonishing achievement, indeed. If you have the time or interest to read only one critical study of Thoreau, this is the study you will want to read. An added bonus is the unusually low price, particularly for a critical study by a university press.

Thoreau's landscape within: how he came to know nature, and through it came to know himself.(Book Review): An article from: American Scholar

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Thoreau's landscape within: how he came to know nature, and through it came to know himself.(Book Review): An article from: American Scholar
Kent C. Ryden
Manufacturer: Phi Beta Kappa Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00096T59C
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa Society on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1277 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Thoreau's landscape within: how he came to know nature, and through it came to know himself.(Book Review)
Author: Kent C. Ryden
Publication: American Scholar (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Volume: 74 Issue: 1 Page: 132(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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