Fallis’s comic thriller infiltrates book club

The Free Press Book Club and McNally Robinson Booksellers are pleased to welcome Toronto author Terry Fallis to the next virtual meeting on Tuesday, September 29 at 7 p.m. to read from and discuss his novel The Marionette.

Fallis, a former lawyer, bureaucrat and political consultant, is the author of 10 bestselling novels and the two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour (in 2015 for No Relation and in 2008 for The Best Laid Plans, which also won CBC’s Canada Reads in 2011).

His 11th novel, An End In Itself, will be published in November by McClelland & Stewart, who also published The Marionette in October 2025 (and which was also longlisted for the Leacock medal).

The Marionette follows James Norval, bestselling author of a series of thrillers featuring fictional CIA agent Hunter Chase. While in Tajikistan researching his next Hunter Chase novel, Norval is detained by local officials and subsequently freed and ferried away by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

The Canadian government, (including politician Angus McLintock, who has appeared in other Fallis novels), then tasks Norval with helping CSIS with the covert extraction of 15 Canadian nationals working at a mine in Mali.

“I had fun trying to figure out how I was going to make things exciting — where are the high points? Where are we going to bring the reader back a bit?” Fallis told the Free Press prior to the Winnipeg launch of The Marionette in November 2025.

“Readers who have read more than one of my books know there’s not going to be a ton of blood on the floor or a high body count.”

In her review of The Marionette for the Free Press, Deborah Bowers said “Terry Fallis’s latest displays his signature style: wit, humour and intrigue,” adding that “(r)eaders are in for a thrill ride that includes a nefarious villain, a heartwarming father-daughter relationship, multi-generational work teams and a few Canadian heroes” and noting that the book “contains thrills, laughs, and a clever title that becomes more meaningful as the story unfolds. There’s also enough heart to provide some thoughtful pauses.”

Fallis will join Free Press literary editor Ben Sigurdson, McNally Robinson Booksellers co-owner Chris Hall and Free Press audience engagement manager Erin Lebar for the virtual book club, and will read from The Marionette, discuss the book’s themes and field questions from viewers and readers.

Copies of The Marionette are available to purchase at McNally Robinson Booksellers; there’s no cost to join the book club or virtual discussion. Video of the meeting will be available for replay on the Free Press YouTube channel following the event.

The Free Press Book Club is free to join; for more information, including upcoming picks and how to join the mailing list, visit here.