This book wasn't for me.
Max Flynn is a spy for MI5 he is based in New York. First published in 1981 so it is very dated.
He gets into all sorts of scrapes meets lots of strange characters, Someone is trying to kill him but he is unsure who it is. It turns out its his own side with an elaborate plan to get rid of him and some of the other long serving spies.
Max is also in love with a Girl called Sumpy who disappears and Max needs to find her.
He moves around between America and England trying to work out who the good guys are.

This book had to many characters was very very far fetched, I didn't like Max or any of the people involved. I was so pleased when I finished this book. ( )

I managed to read up to p.74, but it has been a struggle. The story just doesn't do it for me. Sorry PJ!

Dead Letter Drop isn't necessarily a bad read, but it isn't a particularly good one either, at least not for an American reader. It is full of British references, slang and terminology, much of which is strictly a foreign language for a reader from the U.S., and indecipherable without a reference book providing explanations. I was able to muddle through the alleged one-man spy operation vs the world story line, but didn't like it and didn't find it believable or entertaining. Getting toward the end of the tale I had the sense that Mr. James was running out of gas, or interest. In any case the story was brought to closure in a rushed two pages and felt forced and abrupt.

There are too many skilled writers out there for me to spend my time on low caliber story writing such as Dead Letter Drop. Accordingly, I won't be delving into anything else penned by Peter James. Borderline 2 stars, at best. ( )

This is the first book written by someone (Peter James) whom I'd never heard of but who apparently has written a metric ton of crime and suspense novels, many of them quite successful. Or, as his homepage declares: "International Bestselling Thriller Writer".

Dead Letter Drop wasn't terrible but it was pretty clearly a first novel. It's a spy yarn featuring a British MI-5 (or is it 6? I can never keep them straight) agent operating in New York City, who has to figure out who is trying to kill him and why before they succeed. It was written around 1980, so the bad guys are Russians, of course (although I suppose that particular trope is coming back into vogue these days). Overall, it's pretty sloppy with regards to details, leaving me to wonder if Mr. James had ever actually visited New York City before writing it. He sends one potential assassin out to sea in a rowboat off Fire Island (which is the south shore of Long Island) and writes that his next landfall would be Nantucket. Which, no; Nantucket is north of New York. Another gaffe concerns the hero walking into a convenience store in Boston in the middle of a late November snowstorm and watching a baseball game on the television behind the counter. Yeah, no. And the timeline in general is wonky all to hell and back: the book opens the week before Thanksgiving and even though no more than a few days seem to pass before the book ends it's already Christmas. Just weird.

Still, the writing isn't terrible and the plot certainly keeps moving. I might be inclined to sample another James book, if only to try to catch a glimpse of what made him an international bestseller. The one thing I know for sure is this one wasn't it. ( )