MadBastard
01-19-2007, 05:51 PM
Judging by the cards, pistol and cognac on the cover of the Silencers trade paperback, you might think that it’s a James Bond story. However, the work created by Aswith and Taylor is quite a bit more complex and satisfying than your average 007 flick.
Much like Queen & Country, Silencers revolves around a group of specialized covert operatives. Silencers, though, is set in that twilight era of espionage when the Berlin Wall had come down, but the Soviet Union had not entirely collapsed. East Germany exists, but mostly in word, with its once brutal secret police (or Stasi) waiting in the wings for the end to come. While this goes on, the diplomatic world holds its breath, knowing that any misstep could crack the fragile hope of peace.
Despite this, or perhaps more importantly because of it, the business of the Silencers goes on. At the beginning of the book a veteran agent is gunned down during a routine extraction while a new agent goes missing while on his first drop. These two events, seemingly uninvolved but running parallel, set the stage for the rest of the book.
Silencers does a number of things very well. First, it dispels the notion of James Bond espionage. Even in the highly dangerous work that this team of covert operatives performs, it makes it clear that much of the time an agent’s job is combating boredom, staying on their toes in the midst of routine. Any standard job could explode into violence at any moment, as it does early in the book. For an agent to lapse in his duty could have deadly results for himself, as well as disastrously ripple out to the world at large.
Which brings up the other thing that Silencers does well. The story does an excellent job of conveying that the plot doesn’t take place in a bell jar, but more at the center of a web. Everyone, from the Canadians to the Soviets, is involved in this and they all have a stake in the game. One move by one participant affects the entire structure, universally elevating the stakes. While the majority of the book deals with this in how it affects the large entities playing, it also brings it down to earth by showing the impact these things have on the individuals involved and how they choose to respond. Be prepared to give the book your full attention, though, as a reader can get lost in the complex narrative if not careful.
The art in Silencers is strong black and white. The character expressions do an excellent job of adding to the small parts of the story that make it a humorous and human read. Unfortunately, it also tends to hamper the story as the flow and layout sometimes make it difficult to tell exactly what is happening. This is only encumbered by the fact that much of the action looks as if it was taking place in still life.
The book is an interesting look at the world of espionage when that world was changing. I plan on looking for more in the future.
Much like Queen & Country, Silencers revolves around a group of specialized covert operatives. Silencers, though, is set in that twilight era of espionage when the Berlin Wall had come down, but the Soviet Union had not entirely collapsed. East Germany exists, but mostly in word, with its once brutal secret police (or Stasi) waiting in the wings for the end to come. While this goes on, the diplomatic world holds its breath, knowing that any misstep could crack the fragile hope of peace.
Despite this, or perhaps more importantly because of it, the business of the Silencers goes on. At the beginning of the book a veteran agent is gunned down during a routine extraction while a new agent goes missing while on his first drop. These two events, seemingly uninvolved but running parallel, set the stage for the rest of the book.
Silencers does a number of things very well. First, it dispels the notion of James Bond espionage. Even in the highly dangerous work that this team of covert operatives performs, it makes it clear that much of the time an agent’s job is combating boredom, staying on their toes in the midst of routine. Any standard job could explode into violence at any moment, as it does early in the book. For an agent to lapse in his duty could have deadly results for himself, as well as disastrously ripple out to the world at large.
Which brings up the other thing that Silencers does well. The story does an excellent job of conveying that the plot doesn’t take place in a bell jar, but more at the center of a web. Everyone, from the Canadians to the Soviets, is involved in this and they all have a stake in the game. One move by one participant affects the entire structure, universally elevating the stakes. While the majority of the book deals with this in how it affects the large entities playing, it also brings it down to earth by showing the impact these things have on the individuals involved and how they choose to respond. Be prepared to give the book your full attention, though, as a reader can get lost in the complex narrative if not careful.
The art in Silencers is strong black and white. The character expressions do an excellent job of adding to the small parts of the story that make it a humorous and human read. Unfortunately, it also tends to hamper the story as the flow and layout sometimes make it difficult to tell exactly what is happening. This is only encumbered by the fact that much of the action looks as if it was taking place in still life.
The book is an interesting look at the world of espionage when that world was changing. I plan on looking for more in the future.