Peter Hanington - A Dying Breed

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A great read

I agree with the almost universal praise this book has received.  I thought it was very good indeed – well written, extremely well informed and very gripping.

The book is set in London and Aghanistan and involves an old-school BBC reporter (the dying breed of the title) who has discovered a story which The Authorities don't want brought to light.  Put that crudely, it sounds very hackneyed, but it is so well done that it felt very fresh and I became completely involved.  The shady dealings and the journalist's attempts to expose them were very plausible and extremely well portrayed so they made a gripping story, but where this book really shines is in the characters and setting. 

Peter Hanington paints very convincing portraits of a variety of characters from his central protagonist, the world-weary, drink-addled but dogged reporter William Carver to an Afghan drug- and warlord.  Even his most minor characters convince, and he creates a story in which believable people do believable things – something of a rarity in spy fiction.  He also creates a wonderfully convincing backdrop of both journalism and of Afghanistan.  These are both areas which Peter Hanington knows intimately, and it shows.  I found the settings completely convincing, and a very involving part of the book.

There are a couple of minor false steps like the quite lengthy and rather irrelevant details of the personal life of an editor, or the mercenary who informs Carver that this is his last job and talks of the peaceful life he has planned…well, you just know what's going to happen when someone says that, don't you?  Nonetheless, I thought this was a great read; it's intelligent, gripping and very well done ad I can recommend it warmly.