Master of Irony II

A worthy successor to the original Master of Irony, O'Henry, Frederick Forsyth is his worthy successor.

And who might old FF be?  The author of a couple of familiar tales - "The Day of the Jackal" 1971, and "The Odessa File" in 1972.

Forsyth is now 81 and in 2016 said "I am giving up thrillers because my wife me that I am too old to travel to dangerous places."

After two years in Biafra, a lingerer after the Nigerian Civil War where Biafra was poorly prepared and the Nigerians were Brit trained.  In his time there, he became an agent for M16, the British intelligence service.  Makes you think of his spy books with a different eye, doesn't it?

"No Comebacks" from 1982 is a collection of 10 short stories, each and every one with a wonderful twist at the end.  "Hoist with one's own petard (wherever that may be located in the human body) is payback with a vengeance from characters a lot smarter  than I am.

Normally am not a short story fan but if they were all as good as this, I'd have to reverse course and become a huuuge fan!