I'd heard lots about McCarry and this series, and was interested this. At times Paul Christopher is a bit too enigmatic for me to really grasp, but his cousin's devotion is touching-- indeed the whole family is devoted, in an isolated, loner kind of way. I particularly liked learning so much about falconry and hawks. ( )

A very enjoyable novel about a group of old spies out for one last mission. I particularly liked the main character, especially his way of describing his own actions in a "modest" way; in other words, he is very good at what he does, but tries to conceal this to some extent. The book reminded me of the existence of Charles McCarry who wrote some of the best American spy novels of all time (especially The Last Supper and The Tears of Autumn). ( )

McCarry (Tears of Autumn) comes out of retirement and brings back the Old Boys from 'The Outfit' (aka the CIA). His storied agent Paul Christopher comes back from the dead - well, once at least.

The Old Boys are a bunch of retired spooks trying to find Christopher and the terrorist Ibn Awad and something called the Amphora Scroll - a Roman document from an Imperial agent in Palestine regarding the exploitation of the activities of one Joshua ben Joseph - aka Jesus. Christopher is seeking his now 94-year-old mother and guess what she has. The story traces her history as Reinhard Heydrich's involuntary concubine, her escape, and her life in hiding in southwest Asia.

Back in the present Paul's cousin, Horace Hubbard leads the search for Christopher and Ibn Awad...oh, and of course the nukes. The story leads across just about every continent and several historical eras, which is both part of its charm and its weakness. Things get a might complicated and the plot is stretched, but it's a good tale with a funny twist at the end.

Recommended for fans of the spy and adventure genres. ( )

Persons from the past appear and disappear and the "old boys" of the CIA have to go after then.
Not as interesting as McCarry's Shelley's Heart and predecessors. ( )