Gavin Lyall writes two types of thrillers: tales of high adventure, told in the first person, structured around an unusual mission, and usually featuring a former military pilot or hired bodyguard as protagonist; and tales of the British intelligence services, narrated in the third person, structured around a national or international crisis, and featuring a serial protagonist, Major Harry Maxim. The high-adventure novels belong in the tradition of Geoffrey Household and Raymond Chandler. Chandler lends the tough-guy style, the heavy reliance on dialogue to carry the tale, and the careful use of place to suggest the moral dimensions of the story as well as to provide a vivid sense of scene. Lyall's landscapes mirror the condition of society, and his plots are well crafted. The adventure novels are romantic and somewhat sentimental at the same time. They feature protagonists in the manner of Chandler's Marlowe and Norman Mailer's...