I’ve been listening to this fast-paced spy thriller in my car for the past few weeks and it concluded a few days ago just as I was pulling out to go to the grocery store. Like all spy novels the plot is very complicated and involved so I’m just going to give the synopsis right from the jacket to you:
The most closely-guarded secret of the Cold War is about to be exposed – the identity of a SIXTH member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring. And people are killing for it…
London, 1992. Late one night, Edward Crane, 76, is declared dead at a London hospital. An obituary describes him only as a ‘resourceful career diplomat’. But Crane was much more than that – and the circumstances surrounding his death are far from what they seem.
Fifteen years later, academic Sam Gaddis needs money. When a journalist friend asks for his help researching a possible sixth member of the notorious Trinity spy ring, Gaddis knows that she’s onto a story that could turn his fortunes around. But within hours the journalist is dead, apparently from a heart attack.
And from there, Sam finds himself investigating a story that MI6 and the FSB (Russian Intelligence) does not want revealed. You can imagine the death and destruction that ensue as he chases the facts.
This novel is an intense and clever thriller. I don’t read very many spy novels so I don’t know how it stacks up against others in the genre, but I liked the constant churning of the plot, though it was kind of hard to follow when listening and driving.
The narrator, John Lee, has a dry, nasally tone that almost annoyed me until I got used to it. He does accents brilliantly, smoothly transitioning from the British characters to German to Russian.
I’m glad I experienced a Charles Cumming novel as I’ve been hearing a lot about his novels for years and he has become increasingly popular in my library system. I don’t know if I would read/listen to another of his novels because I have a feeling that they’re all very similar, but I will definitely keep him on my radar as someone to suggest to customers who like espionage.
A Certain Fondness 