The Negotiator
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
Like all the best Forsyth novels, the first hundred pages or so are nothing but dudes sitting around reading reports and talking about international politics. And after that it's mostly just detailed explanations about the different subsections within British intelligence agencies. It's wonderful
Frequently wooden, occasionally terrible, prose; rather too much tell-not-show; an excess of cardboard characters; a big fat cliche involving a pretty FBI agent who wins the hero's heart; the road map of Europe described in excessive detail... this book is full of faults.
BUT! It's a cracking story! The pace, slow at first, builds to a fabulous crescendo. Forsyth's dialogue is crisp and on point, the way people actually talk. The twists keep you turning the pages until way past your bedtime. The research and detail that sometimes bog the book down also give it heft and substance, and you feel as if you've learned something from reading it. I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would at the start.