Into the Volcano: A Mallory & Morse Novel of Espionage

By Forrest Devoe Jr.

Book Overview

The year is 1962. John Glenn is in orbit, Audrey Hepburn is breakfasting outside Tiffany's, and Elvis is recording "Bossa Nova Baby." The Gibson and D tente are both in fashion, and both are served icy cold. And in the Foreigners' Quarter of Istanbul, a middle-aged Dutch spy has just met a fiery death.

Enter Mallory and Morse. Jack Mallory is a laconic ex-soldier from the oilfields of CorpusChristi. Laura Morse is a frostily beautiful Boston Brahmin adept at Floating Hand karate. Both are top operatives for the Consultancy, a shadowy covert-services network run by the enigmatic British ex-commando known as Gray. The Consultancy exists to execute those missions too dangerous or too dirty for the world's conventional intelligence agencies. The murdered man was their friend and colleague, and Gray has ordered them to take revenge.

It won't be easy. All signs point to athlete-turned-arms-dealer Anton Rauth, a man of vast means, refined tastes, and questionable sanity, currently holed up in his HQ inside an extinct South Seas volcano. His minions include two battle-hardened ex-GRU assassins: the dour Sasha Kurski and the genially murderous Piotr Nemerov, both rigorously trained and utterly remorseless. It's Mallory's job to let himself be captured. It's Laura's job to help him fight his way free again. With what they learn, they must penetrate the "nightclub" called Club Europa and then -- armed with little but scuba gear and nerve -- Rauth's island fortress itself.

But as they know all too well, Rauth is expecting them. He may even have factored them into his plans. And his plans -- for both Mallory and America -- are literally earthshaking ...

Into the Volcano is an homage to James Bond, Modesty Blaise, and the golden age of the spy thriller, a time when America was more innocent and its enemies possessed a dash of Space Age style. It takes the reader from bustling New York to steamy Istanbul, from Cannes' balmy breezes to the island known as the Dragon's Throne, and at last into the molten heart of the Cold War.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060723769
• ISBN13: 9780060723767
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

60's kitsch that works

Great story in the Bond manner. Absolutely over the top but so much fun to read and just get away to a different time.

Cool Retro Spy Fun

This 60s era cold war throwback is admirably played straight, and not for Austin Powers style laughs. There are even a few nicely drawn whacked-out thugs in the Elmore Leonard mode. Let's hope the true blue heroes are given a little more substance in the follow-ups.

Cool Sixties Spy Novel

For those who like the James Bond and Matt Helm books, this one is a must. It's every bit as good as the best of Fleming. The book is set in 1962 (like Fade to Blonde) and is reminiscent of not only the Bond books, but the Avengers (and a little Cool & Lam) as well in that it's a team of a man and woman spies. There's lot's of humor, but Phillips never resorts to satire ala Austin Powers. His villain is one to rival Dr. No, Blofeld or Goldfinger.

excellent spy drama

Hired by the Consultancy, Van Vliet is in Istanbul where he believes that the Club Europa is being built as a cover for something else. Before he informs Gray, the head of the Consultancy, a profit-making black-ops organization, he is killed in his shower by a head that emits flame instead of water. It is 1962 and the cold war is fought by the Consultancy who the CIA hires to find out what is going on in Istanbul. Gray sends his two best operatives, Jack Mallory and Laura Morse to Istanbul where they learn that their old nemesis Anton Rauth hired mercenaries to kill them. Still alive, the duo find an earth digging machine in the cellar of the Club used to construct a tunnel into the Turks equivalent of Ft. Knox. Jack and Laura are sent to the volcanic island of He' Konau where Rauth has his base of operations inside the volcano. There assignment is to gather intelligence but they are caught snooping and only a miracle will save their lives and that of millions of people when Anton unleashes his master weapon. No doubt about it, the team of Mallory and Morse are the equal of 007 and other spy heroes that graced the pages of the spy thrillers of the 1960's. There is action, action and more action but like James Bond there is much tongue in cheek humor that lessens the tensions when it threatens to become overwhelming. Forest DeVoe Jr. has written an excellent spy drama and one can only hope he writes more starring the intrepid protagonists Mallory and Morse. Harriet Klausner