Declare

By: Tim Powers

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

In his 11th novel, Tim Powers takes his unique brand of speculative fiction into uncharted territory, instilling the old-fashioned espionage novel with a healthy dose of the supernatural.

As a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, a coded message draws Professor Andrew Hale back into Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Elements from his past are gathering in Beirut, including ex-British counterespionage chief and Soviet mole Kim Philby, and a beautiful former Spanish Civil War soldier-turned-intelligence operative, Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga. Soon Hale will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named “Declare.”

From the corridors of Whitehall to the Arabian Desert, from postwar Berlin to the streets of Cold War Moscow, Hale’s desperate quest draws him into international politics and gritty espionage tradecraft—and inexorably drives Hale, Ceniza-Bendiga, and Philby to a deadly confrontation on the high glaciers of Mount Ararat, in the very shadow of the fabulous and perilous biblical Ark.

©2001 Tim Powers (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Dazzling…A tour de force, a brilliant blend of John le Carré spy fiction with the otherworldly.” ( Dean Koontz)

“[Powers] orchestrates reality and fantasy so artfully that the reader is not allowed a moment’s doubt throughout this tall tale.” ( The New Yorker)

“Highly ingenious…No one else writes like Powers, and Declare finds him at the top of his game.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

Disappointing

This started off well but didn't hold my interest. The characters drawn from history weren't convincing and I think this was the core of my disappointment. The timeline of the story was difficult to follow and as the narrative went on (and on) I stopped caring about where it was going.

I thought the narrator did a good job, although I did notice a couple of entertaining spoonerisms!

Superb. Intriguing. Speculative.

Holes in history are filled in supernaturally by Powers with amazing skill. It's a top notch spy thriller with Lovecraftian underpinnings.

Tim Powers’ absolute best

I have read this book twice and listened to it masterfully read on Audible. It is sui generis. WW2, espionage, and the preternatural.
If you like weird, you will love this. Plus very well written. Powers knows his English lit.

Intriguing, but belabored

What made the experience of listening to Declare the most enjoyable?

An intriguing mashup of old school cold war espionage and supernatural elements.

Any additional comments?

The author has the vexing tendency to say a lot and yet remain vague in order to conceal the secrets of the narrative whilst telling it in a non-linear manner.

Maybe it could have been this way.

Tim Powers weaves together a completely plausible story combining cold war spycraft and the occult. It took me a couple of hours of listening to get into the groove of the story but Simon Prebble's performance kept me listening until the story hooked me. Worth a listen.