Host of Extras

Author: James Leasor
First Published: 1973
Pages: 176

James Leasor might be a name new to some readers. He was a notable writer of spy and historical fiction (as well as biographies and histories) who was enormously popular during the late fifties and  into the sixties and seventies. Probably the most famous of his books, was a second world war novel about the undercover exploits of a territorial unit assigned a mission to destroy a German secret transmitter on one of their ships in the neutral harbour of Goa. It was filmed as 'The Sea Wolves' starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven.

Speaking of David Niven, another of Leasor's books to be turned into a motion picture was the the first book in the very successful spy series starring the character of Dr Jason Love, Passport to Oblivion (of which I will be reviewing soon). This also starred Niven but this time playing the countryside doctor turned amateur spy, with the title changed to 'Where The Spies Are'.

A third film, taken from one of his historical novels, 'The One that Got Away' was made into a film starring Hardy Kruger, and I was very lucky to see it via the BBC iPlayer just recently. Check it out if you can - it's the trues story of a German prisoner-of-war and his continual efforts to escape the Allies.

Leasor also wrote an interesting series of books in the thriller vein. These were centered about the owner of a prestige second hand car dealership called Aristo Autos. Host of Extras comes from that series, but its not the first in the sequence - I just started with this one because I liked the cover of the eBook version (see above).

As you can see from the cover, the type of second hand cars we are talking about are not your run of the mill motors. These are classic cars from the twenties and thirties. It is very clear from his writing that James Leasor loved old cars. You will learn a few things about them reading one of his books.

Host of Extras is one of those books that very occasionally turn up from an author - and I dare say that if it had existed in 1973 it would have attracted the term "fan-service". Because this book stars both Aristo Autos and Jason Love in the same adventure.

Now... when I say adventure, I have to be clear with you. Leasor does not write the type of men's adventure novels you might necessarily be expecting. These are not paperbacks churned out for the mass market by house authors to please a hungry publishing house. Leasor's work is in less of a hurry to get you into the action. You will get there (and probably a lot faster in some of his other spy/thrillers perhaps) but he does like to set up the location and the background before he throws you into his nest of vipers. I, for one, took a while to get into this rhythm. But once I got there, I was really impressed. In fact the more I settled down, the more I found myself enjoying his descriptions and characters quirks rather than the plot in some cases - this is something I rarely experience (Chandler wowed me in the same way, but then nobody will ever write like him in my opinion).

Here are some examples:

The roar of the river seemed louder as the darkness deepened and the air chilled and the crickets wound up their clockwork ratchets and began to whir, while the sun, like a giant tail-light in the sky, slid away over the hills and went to bed.

I glanced at him. After years of buying and selling you become like an egg-sexer or a policeman; you can tell a baddie right away. There's something about their eyes, their hands, their smile; and Bonheur rang as wrong as a cracked bell to me. 

He was standing in the mews within fifteen minutes. A shortish, fat man with thin hair, the colour of black Cherry Blossom boot polish, and a dark blue chin. He wore a camel-hair coat so thick, it must have left many a brave camel bald.

The story for Host of Extras is told in the first person narrative buy the owner of Aristo Autos. The character is never named, and it is his point of view that you follow. He is a character with a very distinctive English/London voice and turn of phrase you will get encounter many times, such as, "I didn't bother to conceal my own - as the defendant in the raincoat told the magistrate."

Our narrator is handling the sale of two classic Rolls for the son of a deceased friend when he approached by Justin Amsterdam who informs him that his company, Pagoda, are making a picture in Corsica, and need three classic cars for some scenes. Jason Love turns up with his own classic car, a Cord roadster that Autos Aristo provide spare parts for, and along with the two Rolls, we have our three cars for the trip.

After arriving in Corsica, with sexy Victoria Bassett in tow as the third driver, our narrator becomes embroiled in some strange events. There does not seem to be any film crew; he's asked to drive a speed boat across a lake; finds a couple of pristine classic cars stashed in an ancient tomb and encounters a very colourful blind ranch owner with an amazing collection of second world war weapons.

Leasor handles the action with panache. When it comes, its usually brief and professional, short fist fights or gunshots. But its the atmosphere and the way the story is told that really shines. I was very surprised that I'd never heard of Leasor, perhaps I just missed him during my youth - perhaps some of his paperbacks never crossed my path whilst scouring through local bookshops because I was more interested in SF and Fantasy with their brash covers? It's a shame. Some of the seventies covers does a bit of a disservice to him, they do not really give a good representation of the contents of his work.

Overall, I was incredibly impressed with Host of Extras, maybe my initial struggle to settle into the style eventually provided more satisfaction at the end, and my appreciation of the prose increased with every chapter. I'm hoping that the Jason Love books have the same effect, although I do not think they will have the same narrative structure. I will definitely be reading more Aristo Autos books, and look forward to more being released on eBook format.