The Undercover Gentleman

The main concept underneath Anthony Pour's The Undercover Gentleman was probably born some point in between Ian Fleming's Bond novels and Somerset Maugham's style. Astonishingly, Pour is able to put together all the different characters, scenes and moods without losing the plot and simply mixing all the elements in a perfectly structured set. Suspense is left untouched with the reader not being able to second-guess the ending right up until the last page. A reluctant secret agent, a chancy wild goose chase, romance, many far-off locations are the main ingredients of The Undercover Gentleman. Altogether, the thriller and action story walks side by side with the tender relation between the middle-aged protagonist and his young girlfriend, both of them getting sucked into a maelstrom of events that are beyond their control, yet naturally interweave with their personal story. One of the greatest talents Pour shows in writing this book is the ability of creating not just suspense and atmosphere, but also characters with unique yet perfectly plausible personal stories. The trick is that all of them have a well-defined past, present and personality, so the reader feels their existence and wants to know more about them. The way in which this novel is written is outright brilliant--with two story lines being orchestrated into reflecting one another, thus helping to build up to an astounding ending when the two plot lines collide.