Post by Nick B. on Aug 15, 2003 9:48:47 GMT -5
Author: Greg Rucka and Various.
Type: Espionage/Thriller
Synopsis: The Special Section is the (fictional) dirty tricks division of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS - also known as MI6). Under the auspices of D-Ops Paul Crocker, the Section's 'Minders' tackle the jobs normal SIS agents aren't trained to handle: Kidnapping. Blackmail. Assassination. In spite of this (and perhaps because of it), the Section is perpetually undermanned, underfunded, and always a hair's-breadth away from disbandment for being a political liability. Queen and Country teaches that in the modern-day British secret service, the most important battles aren't fought and won in the field, but rather in the dusty corridors of Whitehall. Vol.1 (BROKEN GROUND) opens with Special Section agent Tara Chace putting a sniper rifle round through the head of Russian Mafioski Grigorivich Markovsky in war torn Kosovo, and then deals with the dramatic consequences of that single gunshot back in London. Subsequent arcs take the cast to Afghanistan, Egypt, Bosnia, France (!) and most recently, Georgia.
Review: Loosely based on the classic British TV spy series The Sandbaggers from the 1970s, Queen and Country is a taut, relentless and entirely unglamorous espionage thriller with an ugly, frozen heart. Its characters inhabit a world refreshingly devoid of political, moral or emotional absolutes, and the series turns on how they survive (physically and psychologically) within it. A sophisticated, adult, and hugely enjoyable read. DG relevance? Meticulously researched, uncompromisingly realistic, superbly plotted. 'Nuff said.
(interested parties can read a lengthier review of BROKEN GROUND here - also by me
)
Type: Espionage/Thriller
Synopsis: The Special Section is the (fictional) dirty tricks division of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS - also known as MI6). Under the auspices of D-Ops Paul Crocker, the Section's 'Minders' tackle the jobs normal SIS agents aren't trained to handle: Kidnapping. Blackmail. Assassination. In spite of this (and perhaps because of it), the Section is perpetually undermanned, underfunded, and always a hair's-breadth away from disbandment for being a political liability. Queen and Country teaches that in the modern-day British secret service, the most important battles aren't fought and won in the field, but rather in the dusty corridors of Whitehall. Vol.1 (BROKEN GROUND) opens with Special Section agent Tara Chace putting a sniper rifle round through the head of Russian Mafioski Grigorivich Markovsky in war torn Kosovo, and then deals with the dramatic consequences of that single gunshot back in London. Subsequent arcs take the cast to Afghanistan, Egypt, Bosnia, France (!) and most recently, Georgia.
Review: Loosely based on the classic British TV spy series The Sandbaggers from the 1970s, Queen and Country is a taut, relentless and entirely unglamorous espionage thriller with an ugly, frozen heart. Its characters inhabit a world refreshingly devoid of political, moral or emotional absolutes, and the series turns on how they survive (physically and psychologically) within it. A sophisticated, adult, and hugely enjoyable read. DG relevance? Meticulously researched, uncompromisingly realistic, superbly plotted. 'Nuff said.
(interested parties can read a lengthier review of BROKEN GROUND here - also by me
)