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Type of bind: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Amazon Remainders Account
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 480
Printing Date: April 26, 2005
Publishing house: Amazon Remainders Account
Sale Popularity Level: 274690
Studio: Amazon Remainders Account
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Product Description:
Charles McCarry is considered by many to be the master of world-class spy fiction, garnering praise from peers and critics alike for his riveting novels. Christopher Buckley wrote that McCarry “is not only one of the best writers in America but one of the most important. He dazzles, from epigraph to epilogue,” and the Los Angeles Times hailed his work as “first rate, in the tradition of the best espionage fiction, John Buchan to Eric Ambler and John le Carré.” In this magnificent new novel, which the Washington Post named a Best Book of the Year, McCarry returns to the world of his legendary character Paul Christopher—who has mysteriously disappeared. Led by Christopher’s cousin Horace, a group of his retired colleagues—the “Old Boys” from the Outfit—embark on a thrilling worldwide search for the master spy and an ancient scroll that may reveal an unspeakably dangerous truth.
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Rated by buyers 
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"Old Boys" started so well, with every indication that it would continue the artistry found in much of the very first five books in the Paul Christopher series. Unfortunately, the globe-trotting senior citizens wore me out more than it did them. And yet, you'll keep reading to fill in the historical gaps about what happened to three generations of the Christopher family. So, athough many of the later chapters read like a second-rate espionage wannabe, the mixed-bag ending was generally satisfying.
If you enjoy reading this type of genre, try Len Deighton's Bernard Samson series. Be sure and start with "Winter: A Berlin Family" before proceeding into the series itself.
Rated by buyers 
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I'd heard lots about McCarry and this series, and was interested this. At times Paul Christopher is a bit too enigmatic for me to really grasp, but his cousin's devotion is touching-- indeed the whole family is devoted, in an isolated, loner kind of way. I particularly liked learning so much about falconry and hawks.
Rated by buyers 
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Not what I would usually read and did not hold my interest as some books do. I bought it on the off chance I would enjoy it and it wasn't one of my best picks. Worth what I paid for it though.
Rated by buyers -
I hesitate to be too unkind about this book because Charles McCarry is getting on in years and doesn't need me to dump all over what could be his last book. He has also put some effort into this work (120,000-word books don't write themselves). That said, "Old Boys" is remarkably unthrilling for a thriller. I gave up reading Alan Furst's books because you know nothing will ever happen to the hero and it's the same with McCarry. The book starts as a group of geriatric former agents gathers to try to find fellow ex-spy Paul Christopher, who has vanished in remote China as he tracks his 94-year-old mother. She just happens to have in her possession an ancient document that could undermine the basic tenets of Christianity -- and guess what? An evil Islamic extremist, who just happens to have 12 small nuclear bombs stored away somewhere, wants the document too. I use "just happens" deliberately because there are far too many fortunate coincidences here. So we meander our way across the world and watch with a yawn as this bunch of 70-year-olds effortlessly evades death at the hands of much younger and allegedly highly-skilled assassins of all stripes. The book is too complicated and too long-winded and could do with some serious trimming and the loss of a sub-plot or two. Even the revelation at the heart of the book -- the explosive document -- is handled in such a ho-hum way that it underwhelms the reader.
Rated by buyers 
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I could have been okay with this book as a light summer read, what else could it be with its grossly exaggerated characters and comic book plot. The deal breaker turned out to be that I couldn't stand the protagonist and threw the book in the garbage 2/3s of the way through it. The character celebrates the worst stereotypes of a right wing, ethnocentric US government operative. He belongs to a club that is (apparently) for whites only, all the cabbies are shady South Asians, all the Russians are smelly crooks, all the Arabs are backwards savages, etc. The last straw came when the character talks about Judas Iscariot being a diabolical genius (fine) and that someone like that only comes along once in a millennium, and that it wouldn't happen again until "bent genius" Mohammed came along. Yet whenever anyone's alone with the Jesus scroll a strange spiritual presence is felt and angels sing. The whole thing is SO biased against anyone who's not a white Christian male. It's like the writer is injecting his own personal, xenophobic slant into the novel. He's like the character Welch from Sam Shepard's political comedy The God of Hell, only here I'm supposed to root for him instead of laugh at him. His helpers are always white, midwesten farm boys who swoop in to save him, etc. It felt like it was written by whoever writes the NRA magazine, or an 8th grade white boy in the midwest who's really into church and 24. I couldn't take it anymore. If you want some real, smart intrigue check out Umberto Eco instead. McCarry's a joke.
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