DAVID LLEWELLYN

David Llewellyn is an agent for the President.

Actually employed by the State Department, Llewellyn had been a combination diplomat and secret operative, specializing in activities in the Scandinavian area from where he could also keep on eye on Soviet operations. When an agent for the other side tried to eliminate him but instead killed his wife, Katherine, he withdrew from the clandestine work and concentrated on the diplomacy side, eventually becoming Acting Ambassador to Sweden at the death of the formal ambassador.

Fluent in numerous languages, including those of Sweden and surrounding countries, Llewellyn was expecting a permanent posting there when he was called into the President's office at the beginning of the series. Instead, the Commander-in-Chief asked him to help in another arena, one that would again require the wearing of both hats. It was not a role he wanted to play but his friendship with President before that man took office, and his respect for the man now that he had the job, did not give him any room to argue.

Interestingly, the new work that the Chief Executive has for Llewellyn, a man extremely knowledgeable about northern Europe and the Scandinavian region, will take him far south into the hot, arid region of the Middle East.

While Llewellyn is not a young man anymore, being in his early 40s, he is still an imposing man standing well above 6' and in excellent physical condition. If it were not for the spreading gray through his dark hair, he would easily pass for a man a decade younger.

In his new assignment to Israel, Llewellyn meets and eventually falls in love with an Israeli agent named Daniella Zadik, a resourceful and efficient operative who plays a vital role in both documented adventures.

I didn't find out about David Llewellyn for a long time after I started my spy series hunt. I would see the books in the used book stores often but would pass them by as being war dramas. Certainly the covers give them the look of an 80s techno-thriller with state of the art aircraft and ships and other weapons of war.

Once I finally took a closer look, though, I learned that the covers were quite misleading. Certainly the threat of war looms heavy in the Middle East adventures but these are darn good spy novels far more than they are war novels.

David Llewellyn is an excellent character, one who can do the covert work but would rather not but who still does the best he can because a friend, the President, asks him.

I really wished there had been at least one more book with he and Daniella. They make a great couple.