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Quiller #16
Quiller Solitaire
Quiller's survival skills have never been so crucial as in this eerily prophetic mission torn from today's headlines. Standing over the smoldering corpse of the agent he had sworn to protect, Quiller vows to make things right. The killer's trail leads to a terrorist network targeting the next American flight out of Berlin. But what are their plans for this flight, and why are they trying so desperately to get their hands on a nuclear weapon…?
296 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 1992
15 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Adam Hall
148 books99 followersAuthor also wrote as Elleston Trevor.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 22, 2012
Through the seventeen Quiller books I’ve read, Hall has sustained his style and drive, maintaining tension and edge-of-seat action and suspense, never flagging. That can’t be said of many prolific authors.
Quiller is the spy’s codename. We never know his real name. He uses aliases – Gage, Locke, Longstreet, but there are others too. He’s a shadow executive working for the Bureau out of London. Officially, the Bureau doesn’t exist. It isn’t part of MI5 or MI6. Like Le Carré, Hall has devised believable spy-jargon for his secret service world. Quiller often refers to himself and others of his ilk as ferrets, ‘to be put down a hole’.
Quiller is a man alone – and that’s how he prefers to operate. His missions are given operational names which are then put up on the board at Control in London. Barracuda, Bamboo, Salamander, Meridian and so on. Solitaire draws Quiller for personal reasons – one of his fellow operatives was killed by a shadowy organization called Nemesis. He’s sent to Berlin to infiltrate Nemesis, a terrorist faction.
It matters not that the novels are narrated in first person. We know the narrator will survive to tell us of his latest mission, but what’s riveting is the cat-and-mouse games he plays with the villains, the psychology he employs to survive against the odds, and the sheer persistence of a man who will never accede to defeat.
If you’ve never read a Quiller novel, you’ve missed something quite special. Adam Hall knows the rules of writing but, when necessary, breaks some of them with verve. In one action paragraph that runs to nineteen lines, he uses only a single sentence – strung together by one ‘and’ after another, but the speed and action make the repetition of ‘and’ shadowy, hardly visible, as your eyes and mind race through the superb action scene. Any kind of punctuation would simply slow down the pace.
If you have read a Quiller novel, then you probably don’t need me to recommend this book – which I do, by the way, unreservedly.
Quiller is the spy’s codename. We never know his real name. He uses aliases – Gage, Locke, Longstreet, but there are others too. He’s a shadow executive working for the Bureau out of London. Officially, the Bureau doesn’t exist. It isn’t part of MI5 or MI6. Like Le Carré, Hall has devised believable spy-jargon for his secret service world. Quiller often refers to himself and others of his ilk as ferrets, ‘to be put down a hole’.
Quiller is a man alone – and that’s how he prefers to operate. His missions are given operational names which are then put up on the board at Control in London. Barracuda, Bamboo, Salamander, Meridian and so on. Solitaire draws Quiller for personal reasons – one of his fellow operatives was killed by a shadowy organization called Nemesis. He’s sent to Berlin to infiltrate Nemesis, a terrorist faction.
It matters not that the novels are narrated in first person. We know the narrator will survive to tell us of his latest mission, but what’s riveting is the cat-and-mouse games he plays with the villains, the psychology he employs to survive against the odds, and the sheer persistence of a man who will never accede to defeat.
If you’ve never read a Quiller novel, you’ve missed something quite special. Adam Hall knows the rules of writing but, when necessary, breaks some of them with verve. In one action paragraph that runs to nineteen lines, he uses only a single sentence – strung together by one ‘and’ after another, but the speed and action make the repetition of ‘and’ shadowy, hardly visible, as your eyes and mind race through the superb action scene. Any kind of punctuation would simply slow down the pace.
If you have read a Quiller novel, then you probably don’t need me to recommend this book – which I do, by the way, unreservedly.
January 27, 2014
Quiller, British counter-terrorism's prize ferret, penetrates to the heart of a terrorist cell that aims to down an airliner. Adam Hall (pen name for Elleston Trevor) ranked with Len Deighton as a spy novelist, and Quiller, who is driven by the need to live on the edge, is the ultimate fictional spy (19 books). Even reread after thirty years the Quiller books carry a kick.
April 8, 2011
Not sure how I stumbled into reading this, but they're pretty quick, entertaining spy reads for airports and the like. An action-filled, generally fast moving spy thriller set against a backdrop of reunified Germany and the Middle East. Although it's somewhat slow to get moving, the tension does become very gripping in a usual spy agency vs. terrorist group thriller.
April 16, 2018
Another very good Quiller novel I think.
It starts off as a revenge story and switches to anti terrorism.
As other reviewers have commented the pre 9/11 use of a plane as weapon was well described and it is surprising that other authors got the credit for the idea even though they wrote after this.
Only a couple of books left in the series now for this re-read including my first read of balalaika which seems a very difficult book to get a copy of in the first place.
I hope the last couple keep up the remarkably high standards for the Quiller series overall.
Cannot recommend highly enough.
It starts off as a revenge story and switches to anti terrorism.
As other reviewers have commented the pre 9/11 use of a plane as weapon was well described and it is surprising that other authors got the credit for the idea even though they wrote after this.
Only a couple of books left in the series now for this re-read including my first read of balalaika which seems a very difficult book to get a copy of in the first place.
I hope the last couple keep up the remarkably high standards for the Quiller series overall.
Cannot recommend highly enough.
January 10, 2021
How far from the Berlin Memo we have come! Though honestly, I think I liked this tale the most. Not sure if it’s because it followed a pretty straight forward 007 pattern or structured action/thriller plot.
January 24, 2023
A breathtaking read! Probably my favourite Quiller story yet (and he doesnt get the girl). Interestingly written in 1992, when Ghadaffi was the ‘ogre’ of the day, some elements if the plot are prescient. The end is a bit of a cliffhanger as ‘baddies’ Klayus and Maitland are unaccounted for.
Read
April 11, 2022Tight, action-packed thriller - a good one!
August 13, 2024
As exciting and tense as usual for a Quiller book, but I also felt like there were not as many surprises as there usually are in a Quiller thriller.
January 13, 2025
The early 1990s were a challenging time for espionage thriller writers. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, it was difficult to find adversaries that were both convincing and menacing enough to make dramatic villains. China was not yet ready for prime-time as the West’s new arch-rival, drug lords weren’t sufficiently organized or ideological, Third Reich holdovers were too long in the tooth, KGB-sponsored terrorism of previous decades had died down, Islamic terrorists hadn’t yet struck hard, Russian gangsters hadn’t yet emerged as a new bogeyman, and sinister corporate overlords struck too close to home. Was the era of the super-spy over?
Apparently not. In Quiller Solitaire , the 16th installment of the Quiller series published in 1992, author Elleston Trevor (aka Adam Hall) manages to weave a compelling mission for Quiller in the post-Cold War era that involves a Red Army Faction splinter group, ex-Stasi officers, Islamists and a terrorist plot that looks rather prescient given the Bojinka plot and the 9/11 attacks of the decade to come.
As the novel opens, Quiller is being debriefed about the death of a fellow Bureau agent who was incinerated when his car was run off the road and exploded. Quiller, who was following the agent to his rendezvous, witnessed the crash and now feels guilty over the death and obligated to avenge it. The agent had been investigating the murder of a diplomat in Berlin by suspected terrorists of the German Red Army Faction, and now Quiller is sent in to investigate both murders. Quiller learns that a group called “Nemesis” is planning a imminent terrorist attack using a commercial airliner, possibly inspired by the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, when a bomb aboard a Pan Am flight exploded over Scotland, killing all 270 people. Desperate to stop the plot, Quiller goes in alone, posing as an international arms dealer and dangling a deadly carrot in front of the Nemesis leader in hopes of luring him out and destroying the organization.
Like most novels in this series, a large chunk of the narrative consists of Quiller attempting to surveil and avoid surveillance by enemy operatives, both on foot and in automobiles (he’s an expert driver), his stream-of-consciousness calculations punctuated by short, sharp hand-to-hand encounters (he’s also a lethal martial artist). Quiller novels are “spy procedurals” in much the same way Parker novels are “thief procedurals”: we get a detailed look inside the world of a very focused and disciplined shadow operator, see how he plans his operations, seizes opportunities, neutralizes threats and moves relentlessly forward to complete his missions despite the inevitable f*k-ups, plot twists and enemy actions.
Also typical for this series, in the last third of the book the action really heats up, as Quiller learns more details about the plot and takes desperate measures to stop it. Operating deep undercover, cut off from Bureau directors, he has to fly by the seat of his pants and gamble his life on an apparently suicidal mission. Things get increasingly eerie as the enemy plot begins to resemble 9/11; was Kalid Sheikh Mohammed a fan of the series? The highlight of the story for me was an airdrop into the depths of the Sahara desert by an exhausted Quiller, as he penetrates to the heart of the Nemesis operation and moves toward the cliff-hanging airborne climax.
Quiller Solitaire is one of my favorites in a series that is one of the masterworks of the spy fiction genre. 27 years and 16 books into the series, there is no sign of any decline in quality and the stories remain as riveting as ever, even as the Cold War that spawned Quiller is history.
Apparently not. In Quiller Solitaire , the 16th installment of the Quiller series published in 1992, author Elleston Trevor (aka Adam Hall) manages to weave a compelling mission for Quiller in the post-Cold War era that involves a Red Army Faction splinter group, ex-Stasi officers, Islamists and a terrorist plot that looks rather prescient given the Bojinka plot and the 9/11 attacks of the decade to come.
As the novel opens, Quiller is being debriefed about the death of a fellow Bureau agent who was incinerated when his car was run off the road and exploded. Quiller, who was following the agent to his rendezvous, witnessed the crash and now feels guilty over the death and obligated to avenge it. The agent had been investigating the murder of a diplomat in Berlin by suspected terrorists of the German Red Army Faction, and now Quiller is sent in to investigate both murders. Quiller learns that a group called “Nemesis” is planning a imminent terrorist attack using a commercial airliner, possibly inspired by the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, when a bomb aboard a Pan Am flight exploded over Scotland, killing all 270 people. Desperate to stop the plot, Quiller goes in alone, posing as an international arms dealer and dangling a deadly carrot in front of the Nemesis leader in hopes of luring him out and destroying the organization.
Like most novels in this series, a large chunk of the narrative consists of Quiller attempting to surveil and avoid surveillance by enemy operatives, both on foot and in automobiles (he’s an expert driver), his stream-of-consciousness calculations punctuated by short, sharp hand-to-hand encounters (he’s also a lethal martial artist). Quiller novels are “spy procedurals” in much the same way Parker novels are “thief procedurals”: we get a detailed look inside the world of a very focused and disciplined shadow operator, see how he plans his operations, seizes opportunities, neutralizes threats and moves relentlessly forward to complete his missions despite the inevitable f*k-ups, plot twists and enemy actions.
Also typical for this series, in the last third of the book the action really heats up, as Quiller learns more details about the plot and takes desperate measures to stop it. Operating deep undercover, cut off from Bureau directors, he has to fly by the seat of his pants and gamble his life on an apparently suicidal mission. Things get increasingly eerie as the enemy plot begins to resemble 9/11; was Kalid Sheikh Mohammed a fan of the series? The highlight of the story for me was an airdrop into the depths of the Sahara desert by an exhausted Quiller, as he penetrates to the heart of the Nemesis operation and moves toward the cliff-hanging airborne climax.
Quiller Solitaire is one of my favorites in a series that is one of the masterworks of the spy fiction genre. 27 years and 16 books into the series, there is no sign of any decline in quality and the stories remain as riveting as ever, even as the Cold War that spawned Quiller is history.
September 15, 2016
The Name of the protagonist-derived from the great critic, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch is indicative of the standard of writing. Adam Hall, who was Elliston Trevor, was a great writer.
Quiller knows psychology and physiology like the back of his gun hand even though he doesn't carry a gun.
The action - whether it's in his mind or in fact- never stops. He has a strong sense of ethics and duty and he kills( I like to think his name Quiller is pronounced the French way)
Solitaire is a superb spy/thriller-action packed and edgy, it takes Quiller from the refinements of Reigate to the depths of the Sahara dessert.
Seekers after sex will be disappointed because that's not what Hall is about (although there is the standard titillation).
Hall deals in espionage, edge of the seat thrills, and, believe it or not, human relations. This is a grerat read and I am sorry its finished.
Quiller knows psychology and physiology like the back of his gun hand even though he doesn't carry a gun.
The action - whether it's in his mind or in fact- never stops. He has a strong sense of ethics and duty and he kills( I like to think his name Quiller is pronounced the French way)
Solitaire is a superb spy/thriller-action packed and edgy, it takes Quiller from the refinements of Reigate to the depths of the Sahara dessert.
Seekers after sex will be disappointed because that's not what Hall is about (although there is the standard titillation).
Hall deals in espionage, edge of the seat thrills, and, believe it or not, human relations. This is a grerat read and I am sorry its finished.
September 29, 2017
Unrelenting tension, unstoppable pacing. Hall (Trevor) is the absolute best at the spy thriller. Here, Quiller penetrates a Berlin-based terror group. As the story unfolds, I quickly figured out (and you will too) that the plot could involve using a commercial jumbo jet as a weapon. Written in 1992, Hall invented 9-1-1 a decade before Bin Laden. What Hall didn't think of is the destructive power of tons of jet fuel; his bad guys load the plane with explosives.
Tom Clancy also had bad guys crash a plane into the Capitol in 'Debt of Honor', written in 1994. After 9-1-1 Clancy was given 'credit' for inventing the concept; it appears he may have copied Hall.
Tom Clancy also had bad guys crash a plane into the Capitol in 'Debt of Honor', written in 1994. After 9-1-1 Clancy was given 'credit' for inventing the concept; it appears he may have copied Hall.
September 27, 2016
Quiller in the UK, Berlin and Algeria in pursuit of a terrorist plot involving a commercial airliner, with the previous year’s Lockerbie bombing fresh in the public consciousness. Another solid but largely undistinguished Quiller installment, with one exception. The exception is that . That is enough to raise the rating to four stars.
January 26, 2008
Adam Hall is John le Carre without the metaphysics or the morality -- dextrous, nimble, and never puts a verbal foot wrong.
January 5, 2013
Terrorism, pre-9/11, was of a less spectacular variety. Hijack a plane here, blow up a public building there ... expected, and within parameters of a scale that was literally blown apart.
February 22, 2019
My first Quiller series, it made to want to read the rest of the series which I did. Though its very hard to find a paper back copy or pdf copy.
January 14, 2020
Adam Hall is a very intelligent writer. Slightly dated now but a very interesting journey.
November 23, 2024
Old-school, taut, and muscular, Adam Hall's writing is always reliable.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews