I was a big fan of the Mayo books way back, but that was before I read Ambler and Davidson, and more LeCarre. This is the first in the series, and really quite good, a strong showing in terms of plot and character and writing, but the bones of it are a more obvious to me and frankly, almost none of the characters are actually all that likeable - no, scratch that, the shady and villainous ones are actually likeable in their way. Still enormously readable, though.