FRANK DELANEY

Frank Delaney is an agent with the CSIS.

At the start of the three-book series, Delaney is a reporter for a major Canadian newspaper. He likes what he does and he is not looking for any change in profession, certainly not getting involved with spies, but that is what happens when his investigation into the death of a Polish expatriot coincides with a similar one by his country's Intelligence service. He is asked to help and he decides to do so even though that puts him up against some very nasty people.

Life and some very nasty experiences change Delaney considerably in that first adventure, so much so that in the second novel, taking place five years later, Delaney thinks of himself as a spy first and reporter second, if he thinks about it at all. The head of the Service, a spymaster who starts out as a man Delaney would gladly have drowned and who turns to become one of Delaney's closest friends, thinks of him as a spy first and second but knows that his stated profession of journalist is too good to not use when possible.

The Delaney in the first book is friendly enough but not too outgoing. The Delaney of the second and third books is a far colder fish, made that way by a life that was not friendly to him and that he apparently, appropriately, resents. This does make him able to dislike the bad guys a lot since he already tends to dislike, so it seems, most everything else.

As a former journalist, the ability of Delaney to pass along the feel of the locations in which he operates is quite good and the books, especially the last two, are as good of a travelogue as they are spy novels.

I read a customer review of this series complaining that the main character was a Canadian-phile with his love of Canadian beer and many other things Canadian. Reading the books I would agree with the fact that Delaney is indeed a fan of his country's products but being Canadian, well, it seemed sort of reasonable and not the least off-putting.

In fact there is nothing in the series that is the least bit offensive or objectionable. The adventures are reasonable and the work-up logical and the writing enjoyable. The books do tend to languish a bit in the middle like a lot of adventures when the exciting lead-in has slowed but the climax has yet to begin building. In its defense I would point out that the modern mechanation of having another round of superfluous action that resolves nothing is wonderfully lacking.

There was something just a bit missing on this series but it was not much and it remains hard to pin down. The writing style is definitely not it as the author is really good at his craft. It was perhaps that the character was a tad too cold. Like I just said, though, it is hard to pin down.