Clive Lyle

Clive Lyle is a fictional character in the three important and last novels by Peter Niesewand, the South African journalist who spent 73 days in solitary confinement for his coverage of the last years of Ian Smith's government in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He features as a United States agent, working variously for the CIA and DIA. He uses his ambiguous sexuality ("Is that [homosexuality] true about you, Clive?" "Not necessarily") to advantage in The Word of a Gentleman, and sees sexual performance as a mere means to an end.

Lyle contrasts sharply with the recognisably humane David Cane in Fallback. Cane is sacrificed in the interests of national security, but Lyle is introduced as Cane's replacement, and ultimately trains Martin Ross to infiltrate Vologda and sabotage an offensive Soviet ICBM programme.

In Scimitar, Lyle takes on a more human aspect, admitting this ("Well that's something I never did, I never killed a kid.") as he and David Ross return from Afghanistan.

Lyle appears in: The Word of a Gentleman (1981),^[1] republished as Undercut in 1984, Fallback (1981),^[2] and Scimitar (1983).^[3]

Notes and references

1. ^ The Word of a Gentleman; by Peter Niesewand. Secker & Warburg, 1981, ISBN 043631021X. Paperback (as Undercut): Panther, 1984, ISBN 0586056262.
2. ^ Fallback; by Peter Niesewand. Granada, 1982, ISBN 0246117729. Paperback: Granada, 1983, ISBN 0586056157.
3. ^ Scimitar; by Peter Niesewand. Granada, 1983. Paperback: Panther, 1984, ISBN 0586058516.