Word: blackford
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There has always been something of the self-delighted mischiefmaker about William F. Buckley Jr., America's Tory toreador. In his summer-weight spy thrillers about the Ivy League CIA agent Blackford Oakes (The Story of Henri Tod, Saving the Queen), the payoff lies partly in the impudence with which Buckley rewrites cold war incidents to include his hero's exploits. This new pastiche begins in early 1963 with failed and sometimes bizarre CIA efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro. U.S. readers are sufficiently detached from the Cuban strongman to see this as comedy, perhaps. But the plot winds...
...about to be caught looking like a privileged idler. On his 30-day haul from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea in June 1985, his seabag included manuscripts, stacks of correspondence and a portable computer on which he wrote letters, articles and, it is suggested, portions of a Blackford Oakes novel. Buckley's boatmates, too, seemed eager not to appear that they were getting away from it all. In addition to sharing sailing duties with a paid crew, the author and three of his companions stood literary watch. Evan Galbraith, a former ambassador to France, was drafting his memoirs. Richard Clurman...
Cold war buffs by now should be familiar with Blackford Oakes, William F. Buckley's tony spy hero of six previous novels. The cold is something he never had to come in out of. He knows that he works for the good guys. In his latest adventure, Blacky confronts the Evil Empire, circa 1954. Stalin is dead, Georgi Malenkov sits unsurely as party chief, and the ruthless Lavrenti Beria, head of the KGB, plots his own ascension. The monolith is in transition, and the U.S. and Britain launch a secret commando raid to overthrow the Soviet- dominated government of Albania...
...Havana to help alleviate tensions between the U.S. and the Castro regime, Blackford begins a series of negotiations with Che. The Commandante is a sardonic figure who sometimes talks like William F. Buckley in fatigues and beret: "Disappointing . . . is a distinctively English, meiotic expression." Wherever Oakes settles in, a pair of alluring hazel eyes cannot be far away. This time they are blinked by Catalina Urrutia, a Cuban translator, moralist and flirt. After the requisite tango, the CIA man and the beautiful bilinguist end up in the percales. Heavy breathing leads to weighty revelations, and the smitten Catalina shows Blackford...
Still, history through hindsight is a mug's game, and Buckley never forgets his plot or pace. If Blackford Oakes had a bit more wattage--his creator could spare some--he might be worth an additional sequel or two. As for Castro, one suspects that he is so plausible because Buckley shares many of his attributes --among them an affection for crowds. The author dedicates this book to 49 nephews and nieces and acknowledges help from 22 individuals. One of them, he says, "couldn't stand the book's title, and I think the world should know how heavily...