The Corporal's Wife - Hardcover

Seymour, Gerald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1444758551 ISBN 13: 9781444758559

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 2013

Synopsis

A suspenseful and thrilling novel about a small British team sent into Iran to smuggle out a feisty, independent young woman named Farideh. If they are caught, they will all be executed by the fundamentalist government - the Brits because they are effectively spies and Farideh because her husband is regarded as a traitor and she has a dangerous mind of her own.
Farideh's husband is a corporal in the Revolutionary Guard, entrapped by MI6 and held in a safe house in Austria for interrogation. His lowly position would not normally make him a target, but his job as a driver to a top general means that he knows the location of secret nuclear sites and has overheard many unguarded conversations.
But he won't talk unless they will bring out Farideh. The SAS say it's too dangerous, but the director of the operation doesn't want to lose his prize. He assembles a little team of three ex-soldiers and one student drop-out who knows the language and smuggles them into Tehran.
The journey out is an epic of drama and suspense, culminating in a never-to-be-forgotten run for the border. Along the way, we meet many characters, both British and Iranian, who display courage, cowardice, hatred, and love.

About this title

Review:

Those [Seymour] sends off into dangerous territory are, in fact, his readers. With each book, we enter a dangerous universe, and are totally involved with utterly plausible characters, faced with moral choices that are rarely straightforward . . . The single most important element here is the obsessive Winnie, whose pursuit of revenge for her dead agent is the motor for all that happens. Winnie is a forceful creation, with her burning resentment against those who feel contempt for the way the rest of us live. (Independent)

Once again demonstrating his ability to probe the moral murkiness of the spy trade and create an absorbingly diverse ensemble, Seymour crafts a sophisticated, reader-teasing tale. (The Sunday Times)

[Seymour's] books are rich in the drama of people reacting to events and situations they never could have expected. (Weekend Press, New Zealand)

Picking up a novel by Gerald Seymour is like taking a deep breath of fresh air . . . his subject here is the Middle East, presented with a vividness and veracity that makes most of his rivals look footling . . . As always with Seymour, the sense of a minatory foreign landscape is acutely rendered . . . never have the badlands of Iraq been evoked with such oppressive rigour. And how many other writers would have fleshed out the bomb-maker, who would simply represent "evil" in most thrillers? Seymour allows us into the life and consciousness of this man, movingly describing his marriage to a mortally ill woman. When readers get to the nailbiting climax, involving an agonising wait for airborne rescue, they may be wondering why they should bother with any other thriller writer. (Independent)

Seymour is a master of the thriller set on the murky edges of modern war . . . As ever he juggles action, context and suspense with a special-forces level of expertise. How long before he turns to Libya? (i)

Gerald Seymour is the grand-master of the contemporary thriller and Deniable Death is his greatest work yet. Gripping, revealing and meticulously researched, this is a page-turning masterpiece that will literally leave you breathless. (Major Chris Hunter, author of Extreme Risk)

After 28 novels, Seymour's empathy for those he ensnares in his moral minefields remains movingly even-handed. (Daily Telegraph)

gripping thriller (Sun)

Mr Seymour is . . . on form . . . The tradecraft of silent watching and the discomfort, thirst and increasing claustrophobia of the hideout are brought very much to life . . . the grim landscape of the border region and the harsh lives of its inhabitants are skilfully evoked (The Economist (Australia))

Seymour is not one to cut corners. He does his research, thinks hard about his story and gives us richly imagined novels that bristle with authenticity. (Washington Post on THE COLLABORATOR)

Book Description:

A nail-biting thriller about a small British team of men sent into Iran to smuggle out a feisty, independent, beautiful young woman.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1444758551
• ISBN 13: 9781444758559
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432