Redfalcon
Redfalcon is the second of Robert J. Harris’ books based on the adventures of John Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay. The action has moved to the Second World War, and Hannay – now considerably older and contemplating his retirement – is called upon to unearth a secret buried with the ancient Knights Hospitallers. He is assisted by the Gorbals Die-Hards (Buchan’s Glasgow street urchins now grown to manhood) and Dr Karissa Adriatis, an attractive but formidable Greek archaeologist.
Their quest will take them to Gibraltar and Morocco, and at stake is the future of the island of Malta and, potentially, the outcome of the war. For Hannay the tension is heightened by the fact that his own son is serving in Malta, and the story becomes a desperate race against time.
This is a yarn in the manner of The Da Vinci Code, and a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required: it is hard to imagine the hard-pressed War Office of 1942 committing valuable resources to what is essentially an archaeological expedition. I have to admit that I found the style slightly stilted and the characters two-dimensional. On the other hand, I enjoyed the descriptions of wartime Morocco, as the story moved from the chaos and confusion of Casablanca (with an implied homage to the film of the same name) to the remote Atlas Mountains. This is a novel for anyone who wants an undemanding, page-turning read.
