Prelude to Terror (Robert Renwick)

This is the first of 3 books where Robert Fenwick is a character. However he is not the main character. Colin Grant an art advisor is the main character. This book does introduce Renwick and the work that he does. It is full of action and plot twists. However it also is very descriptive of Vienna and all of the characters in the story. It is definitely a page turner - be sure to block off room on your calendar for a great read. You won't be able to get much else done once you start the book. I highly recommend it.

Here books are shy of being classics, but really good. I mistakenly read the three Renwick books in the wrong order, the last first, before realizing that the reason there seemed like there was some pre-history there. There was. Prelude to Terror is chronologically first, and we get a look at Colin Grant and Robert Renwick, the main characters, first interacting. It is interesting that though most readers and the publishers consider them "Robert Renwick" novels, Grant is really the central character in the first book. Not only does the action follow him most often, but MacInnes likes romance, and Grant has the developed romance. In the third book, others share the stage with Renwick. But, okay, he's in all three. There is definitely a sameness to MacInnes' work, but that's not a criticism. It is what the publishers want and probably most readers too. There are the good guys - and they are very decent - and an evil organization (starting in her first books with the Nazis) - and a long slow pursuit of the bad guys by the good guys while the baddies try and sometimes succeed in murdering them. There is a passionate romance threatened by violence (and sometimes successfully) as in most action novels. There is a sameness to her characters, but, it is not a bad sameness - it's comfortable. I only discovered MacInnes this year when I decided to start reading more fiction again. I'll probably eventually read all her books. I've read I think 4 or 5 and there hasn't been a bad one yet. I can't say she is Le Carre, but no one else is either. She's a top notch thriller writer and I highly recommend this or her any of her other works.

This was a very enjoyable and well written suspenseful mystery. There was never an obvious clue or easy to figure out what would develop next, except for the missing Lois... Some parts were a definitely easy to predict, but the writing of the story was so well done that this was not a deterrent to the story.

I started reading above suspicion and from there could not get miss macinnes,s other books. The stories showcase the cold war and people who lived it. The stories mirror what is going on. Great reading!

Another McInness thriller. Colin Grant, an art expert is asked to go to Vienna to buy a painting. It,s owner is in Hungary, and smuggled the painting out prior to his own escape from the communist country. The painting will fund his life in the West. Grant meets Bob Renwick, a NAtO agent, who is looking into a group who buy smuggled art and use the funds to further the communist cause. He enlists Grant,s help to prevent the communists from getting possession of the painting.

I liked most of the characters and the storyline build. This was still just an okay read for me. Some of this was predictable. The art guy was an annoying know it all, who didn't respect the experienced professionals.

The last of Helen MacInnes's books I finally caught up with on Kindle. It solved a mystery for me, as there was a reference to the characters in a later book and could never find out which book it was. As usual, her characters are well drawn, the places easy to visualise and the pace excellent and keeps one turning the pages. She has been for many years an author I have sought out but could only pick up her books on 2nd hand stalls, so has taken me years to read all 21 of her novels. Here in NZ, her novel The Unconquerable was my first purchase and the one which introduced me to her writing. It remains my favourite and has been read many times, as have all her books.

I have been a Helen MacInnes fan for many years. The paperbacks I bought during the '70s are falling apart. I am delighted to see that Amazon has made them available electronically. Ms. MacInnes was noted for writing thrillers set during the war years. They seem to me to be well researched and VERY well written. Not a lot of violence. No filthy language. Just well constructed who-done-it stories. I love her work. The way she can talk about the area the story is set in is amazing.

An American art expert is hired by a millionaire collector to travel to Vienna to bid on a painting which is being smuggled out of Hungary by a Communist defector. Of course all is not what it seems, and he soon finds himself embroiled in conspiracy and espionage. This also marks the first appearance in three books of Robert Renwick, employed by NATO as an expert in counter terrorism. Written in 1978 during the height of the Cold War, MacInnes, as usual, provides a detailed portrait of the politics of the time and the locale in which the action takes place, in this case Vienna and surrounding areas in Austria. Fast paced and suspenseful, a top notch entry in the MacInnes catalog.

Great book