We're very fortunate this week to have a review written by our friend and former colleague, Phil Gratton. Phil is also a member of The Pillar Society; Ottawa Gatineau Chapter.

Phil is reviewing The Marionette; a new novel by Canadian author Terry Fallis which is uniquely Canadian in its setting, its characters and - as you will learn - brings the reader to what Pillar Society members will recognize as some very familiar territory.

Sincere thanks to Phil for introducing us to this author and for sharing his perspectives on this book.

Ralph Mahar

The Marionette; A Novelby Terry Fallis

Published: October 7, 2025

Reviewed by Phil Gratton

If, like me, you feel there are too few novels that feature CSIS operatives or other elements of the real-life Canadian intelligence community, The Marionette (2025), the latest novel by Canadian author Terry Fallis, may be for you.

The book is set in the same universe as a previous book, Operation Angus (2021) and introduces a new cast of characters while bringing back the eponymous and affable Minister of Public Safety, Angus McLintock, in a supporting role. 

The Marionette is an “everyman story” in which an average Joe reluctantly gets caught up in a thrilling intrigue. Except that the main character, James Norval, is anything but average, being an international best-selling spy thriller novelist. And in willingly jumping into the fray, he is anything but reluctant: “Yes! I’m in! I! Am! In!” he eagerly blurts out when asked to be part of a top-secret Canadian government mission.

Mali is in lockdown after a presidential coup, stranding fifteen Canadian mine workers behind its border. Minister McLintock approaches Norval to help the Canadian Security Intelligence Service discreetly get an operative into the country to assess the situation and come up with a plan to exfiltrate the miners. The president of Mali, you see, is a huge fan of Norval’s books. 

But there’s much more going on, as our hero soon discovers.

I enjoyed Fallis’ unassuming, family-friendly wit (Fallis is a two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour) and, as a voracious reader of pulpish action thrillers, I appreciated reading one that didn’t include gratuitous violence or coarse language — not like, I imagine, the kind of novels James Norval might write, starring his improbably named swashbuckling CIA agent Chase Hunter.

As with any novelization of CSIS activities, I couldn’t help comparing it to my own experience. In the book’s acknowledgements, Fallis doesn’t obviously thank anyone from the Service for providing insight, unlike he did in Operation Angus, so I assume he wrote The Marionette relying on public sources and artistic license. 

There is a recurring motif about Norval having applied to become a CSIS intelligence officer some 30 years before but being screened out, to his resentful disappointment. Without spoiling too much, I’ll reveal that Norval eventually learns he was turned down because he was deemed “too witty, too sarcastic, too quick, too thoughtful, too independent, too eloquent, too confident, and too opinionated.” I’ll hazard to say that we’ve all met real-life characters who fit this profile at the Service! 

In any event, the book was a fun read, low on cynicism (something we can all do without these days) and high on inoffensive dad-joke-level humour. And while Mali has a history of violent presidential coups and terrorist incidents, the storyline felt more like an episode of The A-Team (not a bad thing in itself) than a gritty John le Carré novel.

And of course, as we well know, intelligence operations are a team sport. Norval and his CSIS partner run the entire venture mostly autonomously and under the direct authority of the Minister of Public Safety and his national security advisor, a former Director of CSIS — clearly a case of “selective realism.”

I mean, can you imagine an operation micromanaged at that level? (Ok, ok… best not to answer that.)

I look forward to reading more spy thrillers from Fallis, especially given how few are told from a Canadian perspective. Speaking of which, I need to get to reading Marc La Ferrière’s Escalating Fury.

Who else is writing Canadian spy novels, these days? Or in the past? Drop your favourites in the comments.

Ralph Mahar

Indigo / Amazon