Book #169: Argylle by Elly Conway

 

Argylle

Elly Conway

 Released: January 9th, 2024

My 32nd book for 2026 was Elly Conway’s Argylle.  

Halfway to my goal for 2026.  I know the last few novels were short and kid-friendly, but I did read them, so had to count them in.

I saw this movie when it first came out.  It reminded me a lot of the James Bond series.  It was cool to see Henry Cavil in action (Aside from the Justice League, I missed his Superman movies).  John Cena was a neat surprise as well since I hadn't really seen his acting up to that point.

In this story a young agent Argylle is out to find the legendary Amber Room.  This was a room Nazi Germany created, and late hid to prevent Russians or another group from finding it and stealing it from them.  As he endures various threats, betrayals, and other obstacles, he eventually is led to where he needs to be.

I thought it was pretty cool that they made the book similar to how it is in the movie.  The biggest difference is where the film breaks the fourth-wall and actually showed author Conway and featured her in the plot, this one is an actual Argylle adventure.  In the film, the main character already has a book series about him (ala Bond), and it's neat to see them play out the Elly Conway pen name.  This one features the Argylle characters without the outside influence of the author joining in on the events.

I lost my attention through this one.  It starts slow but picks up as it goes along.  The ending is pretty action packed and moves at a quicker pace.

Since I saw the movie first, I couldn't help but think about the friendship/rivalry between Argylle and Wyatt.  I could only see Henry Cavil and John Cena tearing it up on the pages.

It's a good action book.  It won't grip your attention at some points, but for the most part, it is a decent read.  I'm not sure if it's just the way I read books, or if the book was truly disengaging at times.

Here is what I learned:

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• For Mom and Dad, who have been beside me every step of the way.

• “Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right?” - attributed to Vladimir Putin.

• “The women laughed and wept; the crowd stamped their feet enthusiastically, for at that moment Quasimodo was really beautiful. He was handsome - this orphan, this foundling, this outcast.” - Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

• “The Amber Room represents to Russians many of the things we have lost.” - Ivan Sautov, director of the Catherine Palace museum (quoted in Forbes Life magazine, 'Mysteries of the Amber Room', 29 March 2004).

• Aubrey Argylle. And to the author in a mountain range in Southern Poland.

• There are few places on Earth more desolate than Southeastern Siberia at dawn on a bitingly cold March morning.

• VF and IF stand for Vasily and Irina Federov.

• Tsar Nicholas II and his family were pulled in Yekaterinburg.

• Irina was given the “Bracelet of Fidelity”.

• Irina is the daughter of a president.

• The Golden Triangle is an area of South East Asia where Thailand meets Myanmar and Laos.

• Wat Phra That Pha Ngao is a Buddhist temple on a hillside.

• The Opium trade of the area has largely moved to Afghanistan.

• Sop Ruak is the town where Thailand meets Myanmar and Laos.

• Argylle speaks Thai, Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, French, German, and Russian.

• Sam Gor, aka “The Company”, is a Cantonese Chinese syndicate based in Myanmar.

• They are the most feared in the Golden Triangle.

• “I am a person who doesn’t smoke…but I would really kill for a Marlboro Light.”

• Chi Lop is the head of Sam Gor.

• He makes Pablo Escobar look like Mary Poppins.

• In private, Federov’s inner circle refers to him as the “Black Hole “.

• His mother is now a jaundiced alcoholic who lives on the 13th floor of an elevator-less housing estate in Novosibirsk.

• Argylle regularly meets up with his friend Somchai at the bar to shoot billiards.

• Argylle drinks Mekhong, which is supposed to be like whiskey, but tastes more like rough rum.

• It is illegal in Thailand to go outside without underwear.

• Semper Fi is the motto of the U.S. Marines.

• Scott Novak is a cover name.

• San Yuan Lai is the right hand man of Tse Chi Lop.

• He is known for murderous brutality.

• $22.59 is all that remains of Argylle’s inheritance from his parents death.

• Larry Ellison is an Oracle tycoon.

• Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud is one of the world’s richest men.

• “You should always do the thing that frightens you.”

• “When you’re faced with a choice, pick the option that scares you the most.”

• Camp Peary is in Virginia.

• Argylle didn’t go to school until he was 16.

• Ivan Volodin is the head security guard charged with protecting the bracelet.

• He is not opposed to a toot or cocaine before the end of a shift.

• Nice airport is the group’s temporary HQ.

• Wyatt enjoys the Foo Fighters.

• Josef Koller is the most famous lighting choreographer in the world.

• Argylle saw every Hitchcock film before he was 12 years old.

• Alexandru Skutnik is a charmless Romanian gangster.

• Rublyovka is Moscow’s answer to Beverly Hills.

• Carter is the daughter of immigrants.

• Carter is homosexual, but hasn’t come out to her parents yet.

• The bracelet is incorrectly listed in the newspaper as the “Bracelet of Piety”.

• The Amber Room was covered in wallpaper by the Russians to hide it from the Nazis.

• Natalie Chabert was an obscure French actress in the 40’s & 50’s.

• Ursa Major is the Great Bear constellation.

• The Peking Palace is in southern Montana.

• Rural France is full of unwritten rules.

• Naumann suffered from Syphilis.

• The Maison du Plaisir was used as a Nazi prison and torture chamber in World War 2.

• Glenn Dabrowski smoked his last cigarette 9 years ago when his son was born.

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Overall, the book is a decent action spy thriller.  It's a bit slow at parts, and while it reads well, it doesn't grip you the way an exciting spy novel should.  I didn't fully understand what was going on until about the last 100 pages.  I'll recommend it because it tells an exciting story with cool references to some historical things, just takes some patience.

Recommended

On to Book #170: Love Wins by Rob Bell.

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Need to catch up?  See previous blog post: Fly Guy Presents: The White House.