Witch Hunt

Rating:
Summary: The hunt is on for the super-assassin known as "the Witch"
Review: A female assassin known as the Witch slips into Great Britain aboard a fishing boat, which then explodes, leaving behind no witnesses. A French fishing vessel out of Calais also sinks in the English Channel that day. A young intelligence technician in MI5 notes these two facts and figures out this means the most dangerous assassin in the world has just landed on their soil with the intention of killing someone very important.

Ian Rankin's "Witch Hunt" will remind many of "The Day of the Jackal," even though the best assassin in the world is now female, the detectives chasing her are British as well as French, and the targets are a whole bunch of world leaders who are going to be at a summit in London. Certainly the legendary Witch has a lot more flair than the Jackal, mainly because she uses her looks and feminine wiles to get the job done, but she has the same thought of focused attention to duty and detail that makes her successful. One of the strengths of Rankin's novel are the procedural details in terms of not only how the assassin plans her kills but how her pursuers piece together the information that might help to catch her, hopefully before she kills again.

Interpol has failed to catch the Witch, so now it is up to Scotland Yard and MI5 to try and stop her before she wrecks havoc at the summit. Leading the search is Dominic Elder, who comes out of retirement from Special Branch to finally catch the woman whose autograph he carries around with him as a reminder of his failure, along with a scar (there is reference to a fiasco called "Silverfish" that is never explained and a lost daughter that is somehow involved). There are a lot of agencies involved in the search, all stepping on each others toes and bickering out who will do what, but the other key figures in the chase end up being a couple of relative novices. Michael Barclay is from MI5 and the Dominique Herault is a spy from France's DSG, and you do not even need to ask if they will become as obsessed with each other as they are with getting the Witch.

The problem is getting a break in the case and while Rankin puts together some nice little clues to be uncovered and understood he stacks the deck a bit by having this particular assignment be "personal" for the Witch. This means the professional cold-blooded assassin gets to be a bit emotional about her mission and make what could be a fatal mistake. Of course for most of the book she remains a step ahead of her pursuers and there is a major plot twist that will keep readers on their toes.

This is the first book in the first of several novels the author wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey ("Bleeding Heart" and "Blood Hunt" come next), and as an espionage-thriller represents a departure from Rankin's usual mystery work. It takes a while in "Witch Hunt" for the deck to clear so that the battle of wits between Elder and the Witch can come to a climax, and your ability to enjoy this novel may well have to do with whether you dismiss such things as needless clutter or as part of the avalanche of data from which the true evidence eventually emerges. The situation in "Witch Hunt" might be overly complicated, but if this is an error on Rankin's part at least it was not on the side of being overly simplistic.

Rating:
Summary: A thriller with something for everyone
Review: Ex-Special Branch agent Dominic Elder comes out of retirement to aid with the investigation of a boat explosion when it appears that his long-time nemesis, a chameleon-like assassin dubbed merely Witch, may be responsible. The fishing boat sank in the British Channel during the wee hours of the morning, and the evidence points to murder. Using the boat as transportation from France, Witch left a subtle trail to announce her arrival in England. But she also left a message --- a personal one for Elder. Bluntly, she warned him: Don't bother looking for me. You won't find me. I will find you.

But that is the least of Special Branch's worries, if Elder's intuition proves correct. He has seen her work firsthand and knows her to be a truly frightening enemy, an enemy who always seems one step ahead of the authorities. Who does Witch have in her crosshairs this time?

It is due to the sharp eyes of young Michael Barclay that the investigation is launched at all. His thoroughness, however, lands him in hot water with his boss, who sends him to France in Inspector Doyle's footsteps to meticulously retrace his every move. Finally understanding the need to think outside the box, Barclay uncovers a new lead --- with the help of a resourceful police escort, Dominique. Aside from her invaluable translation (his French is, at best, meager) and guidance around Paris, Michael finds her deliciously attractive. But he manages to conduct a fairly good investigation despite his growing personal interest.

Back in England, Elder badly wants to capture Witch. It almost seems like a personal vendetta. In an effort to cover all bases, he takes Doyle and another inspector under his wing, realizing his own skills have softened during his years away from the game, years off after an abrupt retirement following an operation tersely referred to as Silverfish, nothing more.

With the upcoming summit of world leaders to be held in London, Witch's target seems obvious. Maybe too obvious. Elder and his team follow the leads she feeds to them, but wonder whether they are gaining on her or if it's all a merry chase.

WITCH HUNT is a well-paced thriller with something for everyone: drama, mystery, romance, and humor.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

Rating:
Summary: Cutting to the chase.
Review: In Ian Rankin's "Witch Hunt," the chase is as compelling as the outcome. "Witch" is the code name for a female terrorist who has wreaked havoc during her bloody career. She is an expensive hired assassin, and the only person who has come close to catching her is former British Intelligence Agent Dominic Elder. Elder has a huge "W" shaped scar on his back as a souvenir of his close encounter with Witch. There is fresh evidence that Witch has resurfaced and may be planning to kill a high-profile target in the near future.

Joining Elder in the hunt are two men from Special Branch named Greenleaf and Doyle. In addition, two novices, John Barclay and Dominique Herault, of British and French Intelligence respectively, are also eagerly putting their heads together to help find Witch before she strikes again.

Rankin concentrates on the personalities of his characters as much as he does on plot. Elder is bitter that Witch has eluded him in the past and he is anxious to get revenge. He is allowed back into the case partly because his former boss, Joyce Parry, still has feelings for Elder, who used to be her lover. Greenleaf and Doyle are uneasy partners who don't particularly care for one another. Barclay and Herault are both young and eager, looking for adventure and finding it in their first major investigation.

The search for Witch is complicated and time-consuming. It stretches across England, Scotland, France, and Germany. Every lead is followed up, especially since a summit is about to take place in London, with many dignitaries expected to attend. Unfortunately, Witch is so quick and clever that she always manages to stay a step ahead of her pursuers. Will they be able to run her to ground before she attempts her next assassination?

Although it is a bit long and meanders occasionally, I enjoyed "Witch Hunt." Rankin explores the intricacies of both police and intelligence work, showing that patience, persistence, and luck are all factors in a successful outcome. Witch is a fascinating uber-assassin, beautiful, changeable, brilliant, and ruthless. Rankin takes pains to humanize her, however, and we learn how she came to be one of the world's most sought-after killers. The ending is a nail-biter, filled with non-stop action and a few surprises to keep the reader off-balance. All in all, its dry humor, varied and well-drawn characters, sharp dialogue, and engrossing depiction of investigative techniques make "Witch Hunt" a winner.

Rating:
Summary: An Early Mainstream Thriller from Scotland's Finest.
Review: Oh, the blessings of being an author with too much time on his hands. I can just picture Ian Rankin sitting in the house (farm? cottage?) he and his wife bought in rural Dordogne, having whizzed through the manuscript for yet another increasingly well-written John Rebus novel and - having left behind all other employment across the British Channel and neither inclined to carpentry nor gardening - feeling his mind growing restless, in need of occupation. Now, wouldn't you have started looking for another outlet for your creative energy had you been in his spot?

The result of the aforementioned process, which Rankin describes in the foreword to a 2004 British compilation (alas, currently [???] unavailable in the U.S.) uniting all three volumes, were a series of thrillers he wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey: Jack for his newborn son, Harvey for his wife's maiden name.

"Witch Hunt" marked the beginning of Jack Harvey's unfortunately way too short-lived career. It is the story of a female assassin - the title character - who is pursued by various agents of the British and French governments, as well as retired secret service man Dominic Elder, who has both a private and a professional bone to pick with her. The plot moves at Rankin's trademark fast pace, from Witch's arrival on Britain's South Coast (leaving her calling card by blowing up both boats she'd used to cross the Channel from France ... with their crews inside) to her first order of "real" business in Scotland, then to London, where Witch implements her plan's second phase and where her hunters have meanwhile formed a reluctant coalition, to France and Germany, for two rookie agents' unlicensed investigation of the assassin's past, and ultimately back to London, for Witch's final coup, amidst a major international conference no less.

As in the Rebus novels, Rankin particularly excels in the creation of his male characters; they are three-dimensional and, all in their own ways, flawed and profoundly human(e). The book's few female protagonists strike me a bit too much as variations on the same theme (superwoman with varying degrees of femininity, or what passes for such in male eyes): while justifiable in the title character - especially if, as Rankin says, she was inspired by the "Elektra: Assassin" series - overall this made it a tad difficult for me to identify with either of them. For proof that Rankin, even then, could do much better, consider DC Clarke in the Rebus novels ... or Belinda, the (anti-)hero's companion in the second Jack Harvey novel, "Bleeding Hearts." Plot-wise, I don't necessarily think the final denouement of "Witch Hunt" is a let-down per se; although I would have wished it had been developed more fully, as had the private motivations of Dominic Elder and one of the rookies, French agent Dominique (!) Herault.

Still, Rankin's first Jack Harvey thriller is a major cut above average and a great introduction to the two following novels - and overall, while I'm happy enough for Rankin's success with Inspector Rebus and wouldn't want any story featuring Edinburgh's finest (and most hard-drinking) D.I. missing from my bookcases, in a way I regret that Rankin had to shelve Jack Harvey after only three books.

Rating:
Summary: She's Very Fit, Very Good Looking. She's a Killer!
Review: Poor Mr. Crane, he owned a small yacht, needed money and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When he is offered £5000 to pick up a lone woman from another boat off the English coast and to drop her somewhere else off the coast, he agrees. The woman isn't very talkative, but she does pay the money, then she swims the last few meters to shore. Shortly thereafter, the boat explodes and it's hasta la vista Mr. Crain. The other boat explodes as well and now the infamous female assassin know as the Witch is safely and anonymously ashore in England. Or so she thinks, because unknown to her a young intelligence tech reports the loss of two boats in the same night to his boss.

Six years earlier a fishing boat exploded off the coast of Japan, around the time of a peace conference, and the keynote speaker wound up dead. Intelligence agents thought the Witch had entered the country on that boat and destroyed it to cover her tracks. Today there is an international summit in the works in London and it looks like the Witch is back at work.

Now the story turns into a thrilling battle of wits between Ex-Special Branch agent Dominic Elder Elder and the Witch, reminiscent of the battle between the Jackal and Commissionaire Claude Lebel in Frederick Forsyth's classic "The Day of the Jackal". I particularly liked how Elder guided the younger operatives on the hunt and you know, like in Forsyth's book, I sympathized a bit with the Witch and I knew how it had to come out, however there was a twist I didn't see coming which made the book all the more thrilling. So, even though the book originally came out a long time ago with Mr. Rankin writing under the name Jack Harvey, it seems as fresh as his latest Rebus novel, but I did sort of miss the old curmudgeon.

Rating:
Summary: exhilarating espionage thriller
Review: They call her Witch because of her abilities to change her identity, "seduce" her opponents and her victims even without meeting them, and completing the kill; she is the ultimate cold blood professional assassin. This "Cassandra Chameleon" is so good at her trade, she is a legend.

New Scotland Yard investigates the sinking of two ships in the same night near Folkestone and off Calais; several counterintelligence agencies worry that the incidents parallel events in other places over the past few years that culminated with assassinations. MI5 fears that the sinking is the calling card of the magical Witch in England to kill a VIP. As the cops follow clues, espionage agencies in Britain and France struggle to cooperate to stop the ingenious femme fatale assassin who obviously targets some worldly figure or why else hire the best? However this time Witch knows she must be even more cautious to avoid mistakes because besides her hefty fee this job is personal, which means emotions could hamper judgment.

WITCH HUNT is an exhilarating espionage thriller that hooks the audience once the key cast is introduced and fans get over the fact that Rebus is not here. The story line moves quickly forward with several plots tied together through the Witch link in a sort of Sink the Bismarck kind of way as several groups independently give chase. Separately these various counterspy agencies and police force know they will fail, but if they can bury their jealousies and work as a team, together they might succeed; that is the timely message that Ian Rankin furbishes in his action-packed multiple perspective Sink the Witch thriller.

Harriet Klausner