Lessons Learned
The novella ‘Lessons Learned: The Flint Stryker Thriller Series – Book 1’ by author Allen Gregory is a portrait of the violent shadowy underworld of international espionage.
Where do spies come from? Contrary to popular fiction series such as Ian Fleming’s ‘James Bond‘or Robert Ludlum’s ‘Jason Bourne‘, spies rarely originate from a hostile foreign power or are brain washed with ideology. In most cases, the much less glamorous truth is that they are recruited from the local population: an otherwise devoted wife desperate to bury a momentary transgression; a hardworking husband trying to conceal an addiction. Otherwise everyday people that just happen to be vulnerable to leverage.
Nevertheless, ever since the Cambridge Five spy ring scandal, it has been clear that colleges and universities provide fertile ground for the potential future recruitment of spies. Sow the seeds in the young and then just wait to see which ones bear fruit.
But is it really that easy for hostile forces to infiltrate a civilisation by simply corrupting exactly the people that are the best hope for creating a bright future for everyone? Is there no way to fight back?
…a ‘Build your own spy novel, ages 12 to 18’ construction set…
Of course there is. Spying is equal parts espionage and counter-espionage. If students are willing recruits, then why shouldn’t the goodies snag the best ones first before the baddies even get a chance?
The novella ‘Lessons Learned: The Flint Stryker Thriller Series – Book 1’ by author Allen Gregory is a portrait of just such an induction as a naïve college student is dragged into the violent shadowy underworld of international espionage.
Given the intriguing core premise:
With the right motivation, even Jo Average, champion of the shallow and mediocre, can become a heroic international man of mystery
and its modest length of 30 000 words, I found the book surprisingly disappointing and a real chore to read. In short, every aspect of this book vies to outdo the central character himself in terms of under achievement. It really is quite a shame. The things I most struggled with were:
- Prose – Riddled with typographic and grammatical errors, the phrasing was clunky with neither variety nor flow. I found myself continuously tripping up and having to re-read sentences that didn’t parse clearly at first go.
- Characteristation – Though the idea of turning a party-boy dropout into the next 007 is certainly intriguing and refreshing, every single other character in the book seems to come straight out of a ‘Build your own spy novel, ages 12 to 18’ construction set: a mild mannered mentor turned recruiter; a haughty and distant director; a sensual female super assassin; an overly muscular thug; a sweet but ultimately doomed love interest; an impassioned foreign super villain. Other than the fact that the protagonist spends much of his time retching his guts into the shrubbery, there really is no innovation.
- Convenience – Many things happen because the plot needs it that way, not because it makes sense. For instance, other than the core cast of cardboard cut outs, the University Campus where most of the action takes place appears to be deserted. No background bustle, no onlookers, no witnesses, no interaction of any kind with anyone, just tumble weed.
- Agency – Though it is a brave attempt at portraying a protagonist of this kind, there is no avoiding the elephant in the room. Lacking goals or ambition, the main character can only re-act to the impetus of others. Nothing he does is because he himself wants to do it. Like a human pinball, he passively clatters punch drunk from one crisis to the next as other people take action around him.
- Risk – Put simply, there is none. Thanks to the protagonist’s mysteriously acquired quasi-magical precognition, his worst case scenario is to end up living alone in a trailer park. It’s hardly earth shattering. Externally, the greatest risk appears to be that the questionably competent goodies might actually succeed in interfering with the plans of the utterly incompetent baddies. Quite honestly, the baddies appear to be so bad at being baddies that world peace would assuredly be best served by simply leaving them alone to discharge their own firearms into their own toecaps at regular intervals.
Whilst respecting the effort and determination that independent authors put into creating and publishing unique and ground-breaking works, I shan’t be reading any more books about Flint Stryker until they have received a high quality professional edit.
If you do decide to give it a try, please leaving a short comment to let me know what you think about my review.
Even better, if you have already read it, let me know if you agree with my assessment or if you think I have grossly misrepresented something, but do remember NO SPOILERS! We don’t want to ruin it for others.
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