Declare

by Tim Powers

William Morrow, January, 2001.
Hardcover, 517 pages.
ISBN: 0380976528
Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Declare by Tim Powers

John Le Carre meets Dean Koontz in Tim Powers' latest edge of your seat thriller. Andrew Hale was inducted into Britain's secret service when he was only seven years old. After serving as a top-level spy during World War II and afterwards, for the last ten years he has been living the quiet life of an academic at Oxford. But he is suddenly recalled into the "Great Game" in order to finish up his last operation of the war, known as "Declare". Hale is plunged back into a gray world of spies, assassins, secret codes and betrayals as he attempts to complete his mission, which failed the first time he attempted the dangerous exercise on the top of Turkey's Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah's Ark. But there is more to Hale's mission than meets the eye, and Hale is faced with a terrifying opponent of supernatural origins, and the possibility of the permanent loss of his one true love, superspy Elena.

Tim Powers takes a classic Cold War story of intrigue and the infamous Philby/Burgess/McLean spy scandal and comes up with a gripping paranormal thriller which will delight his many fans. Powers takes the true historical facts (such as the many odd details surrounding the life and activities of the infamous British traitor Kim Philby and the amazing life of Lawrence of Arabia), and gives an incredible, alternate explanation for the true reasons behind the Cold War. Skillfully weaving true facts with fantastic explanations is Powers' hallmark, and he exhibits his skill to great effect in Declare.

--Claire E. White