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Moscow Exile – John Lawton

Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in Washington, D.C. with her second husband, but enviable dinner parties aren’t the only thing she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the Soviet Union. Charlie is surprised to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share.

Two decades later, in 1969, Joe Wilderness is stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, held captive by the KGB, a chip in a game way above his pay grade – but his old friends Frank and Eddie are going to try to spring him out of the toughest prison in the world. All roads lead back to Berlin, and to the famous Bridge of Spies…

My thanks to Ayo Onatade for the opportunity to join the blog tour for Moscow Exile.

My introduction to John Lawton’s books. First impressions of a new author are always important and I very much enjoyed the story and the style of the telling when I read Moscow Exile. The narrative zipped along and there always seemed to be something happening to push events forward. What I did find perplexing was when I looked at the blurb and found it was the fourth book in the Joe Wilderness series – I think I was around the half-way mark in the story before the lead character rocked up. Not that I was too conerned, I was enjoying the exploits of Charlotte Mawer-Churchill.

Charlotte,for me, was the vibrant and entertaining character I wanted to read about. We first join her in England in 1939 where she’s working in the background of parliament, helping her older husband steer his way through political waters and making a large contribution towards the thinking of government. During the course of the early war years she happens to cross paths with a dashing American, Mr Avery Shumacher. Charlotte didn’t mean to fall in love with Mr Schumacher but these things happen and her husband, recognising Charlotte needs to leave their marriage, helps co-ordinate a divorce. Charlotte Mawer-Churchill becomes Coky Shumacher and will be a post-war socialite hostess in Washington DC. She brings black musicians to play for the wealthy white families at her parties and ensures her home is a hub of engagement.

Washington is where the action is. Charlie Leigh-Hunt was living a life of fun in London, leaving a trail of one night stands in his wake until Burgess and McLean were discovered to be sharing information with the Russians. Their unexpected defection leads to Charlie being posted to Washington – get to America and report to Kim Philby – is the order he receives and before he can catch up on himself he is the sole agent in the American capital as Philby gets recalled to London. Charlie is the main man on the ground and the actions of his former colleagues have cast a shadow over the UK’s presence in Washington, he will have to do some serious damage limitation before he can even contemptate doing his job – if he knew what his job was supposed to be.

I really enjoyed the nuanced behavoiur of the central characters and their conversations are witty, serious and suitably cautious for a spy thriller. John Lawton slickly blends real people (I refer you to Philby and Burgess) with his fictional cast and it sells the perception of authenticity which great spy stories have.

Lawton’s lead character does make his appearance as the story develops – Joe Wilderness is in captivity, held by the enemy in foreign lands so there are plans afoot to get a rescue sorted. Charlies and Coky (she doesn’t like Charlie and Charlotte) will play a key role in the story and I easily felt myself slipping into their world as the story unfolded around me.

Returning readers will certainly have some advantage over new readers (like myself) as these are complex and well established players in a complicated diplomatic game which plays out over a number of countries. There are plenty of characters to keep track of, plots and situations which create dilemma and tension and the whole story is terrific fun to read. I enjoyed Moscow Exile, it reminded me I should be reading more spy thrillers – I always enjoy them but seldom get the oppotunity to get stuck into a new series. I’ll certainly be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Moscow Exile is published by Atlantic Books and you can order a copy of the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/moscow-exile/john-lawton/9781804710098

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October 15

Spook Street – Mick Herron

Never outlive your ability to survive a fight.

Twenty years retired, David Cartwright can still spot when the stoats are on his trail. Jackson Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day. He knows better than most that this is no vulnerable old man.

‘Nasty old spook with blood on his hands’ would be a more accurate description.’The old bastard’ has raised his grandson with a head full of guts and glory. But far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, Cartwright is consigned to Lamb’s team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House.

So it’s Lamb they call to identify the body when Cartwright’s panic button raises the alarm at Service HQ.

And Lamb who will do whatever he thinks necessary, to protect an agent in peril…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

If you’re not reading Mick Herron then you are missing out on some of the finest storytelling currently being published. These are the spy stories for modern days, the cold war is long behind us and only the dinosaurs in the service remember what it was like when the spooks knew their craft, when missions took them overseas and their lives were in constant peril.

Despite being long retired David Cartwright still keeps his secrets close to his chest but his memory isn’t what it was and he gets so easily confused. His grandson River is also in the service but he blotted his copy book and now resides at Slough House – the dumping ground for agents no longer trusted to work in the field. They are under the supervision of Jackson Lamb – a dinosaur in more ways than one – and Lamb (if you haven’t met him yet) is a dangerous enemy and a terrible human being. He is also hilarous to read about.

David Cartwright is in danger, he is a loose end and someone is tidying house. A killer is sent to end Cartwright’s life but once a spook, always a spook and the dottery old man manages to get one up on his would be assassin. Now River has to find somewhere safe for his grandfather and try to work out what the Old Bastard did in his past which may put his future in peril.

Lamb will protect his team – not through any kind of affection for them – because Lamb would hate the idea of someone other than him making life miserable for any of his Slow Horses. When Lamb is in action nobody will be safe and it isn’t long before some familiar faces find him knocking on their door.

The Slough House books (Spook Street being book 4) will make you reconsider how a spy story should be told. Everyone is playing everyone else and everyone is only looking out for their own interests – except River who is worried about his grandfather. But River is about to discover that his grandfather has been keeping secrets from him too and when old secrets are unearthed it never ends well.

Chase scenes, gun battles, killers and politics – there’s a lot going on in Spook Street and Lamb’s team are right in the thick of it. I had this book waiting on me for quite some time, I am pacing myself with this series as I just don’t want to catch up with the latest releases and find there are no more books to look forward to. The anticipation is great but the enjoyment of reading a new Slough House book is unbeatable.

Spook Street is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KXPVEJW/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6

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April 28

Geiger – Gustaf Skördeman

The landline rings as Agneta is waving off her grandchildren. Just one word comes out of the receiver: ‘Geiger’.

For decades, Agneta has always known that this moment would come, but she is shaken. She knows what it means.

Retrieving her weapon from its hiding place, she attaches the silencer and creeps up behind her husband before pressing the barrel to his temple.

Then she squeezes the trigger and disappears – leaving behind her wallet and keys.

The extraordinary murder is not Sara Nowak’s case. But she was once close to those affected and, defying regulations, she joins the investigation. What Sara doesn’t know is that the mysterious codeword is just the first piece in the puzzle of an intricate and devastating plot fifty years in the making . . .

My thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the Geiger Blog Tour and to the publishers for my review copy.

My introduction to Geiger was a powerful promotional tease. A woman waves goodbye to her visiting family, takes a phonecall on which a single word is spoken”Geiger”. She then retrives a hidden pistol and executes her husband. How could you not want to know what followed that?

When you pick up Geiger that tease happens right at the start of the book. The story opens with the end of a family holiday where the grandchildren had been staying with Grandma Agneta and Grandpa Stellan. The grandchildren’s parents have been on holiday but now return to see their parents and recover their children. A happy family gathering where Grandpa Stellan shows off his garden and all his plants and Grandma Agneta tries to keep a degree of calm amongst the brood of grandchildren before they are packed into cars and the holiday ends. As the families depart and goodbye’s are waved that phone call takes place. Grandma Agneta answers and shortly after she steps up behind Grandpa Stellan and shoots him in the back of the head.

Agneta goes on the run. Many years earlier she had a handler, a contact who ensured she had access to an untraceable car, money and another weapon. What prompted this shocking turn of events? The police will initially be stumped. Grandpa Stellan is famously known across Sweden as Uncle Stellan. He was one of Swedish televisions most beloved faces, for years he had been a reliable and safe pair of hands and everyone in Sweden knew and loved Stellan. His murder will cause shockwaves through the country. The disappearance of his wife, Agneta, is the most worrying element for the police – was she kidnapped, is she running for her life or has she been killed and her body hidden? It certainly does not occur to them that Agneta may have been responsible.

Sara Nowak is a Swedish police officer. She works to prevent prostitution, attacks on working women and to stop the men who are exploiting vulnerable women and working as their pimps. Sara struggles to supress her anger when she sees men abusing the women she is trying to protect. Men being arrested are fair game to a kick or a punch from Sara and it is causing problems with her colleague. Sara has just arrested a man for beating a prostitute when the call comes through about Uncle Stellan. As a child Sara had grown up with Stellan and Agneta and she had played with their daughters – Sara’s mother had been the cleaner for the family. Sara rushes to the crime scene intent on being part of the investigation.

From this point on Sara relentlessly pursues the truth behind the family she grew up with. She uncovers a hidden life for Uncle Stellan who appears to have been deeply sympathetic to the East German political approach and there are strong links to the Stasi. His political leanings are just the tip of the iceberg though and Sara will unearth more and more shocking information about the family she clearly did not know as well as she thought.

Dividing her time between official investigations into attacks on the working girls in Sweden and the digging she is doing into Stellan’s disappearance we see Sara stretched and worn down by events. She enlists help from journalists, other police and even the security services will try to tap her for information – Sara will need some quid-pro-quo on that front.

There’s a lot to take in with Geiger. It’s a police drama with a lot of espionage and terrorism elements in there too. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a spy thriller, a police drama and everyone that likes a great story – be warned, however, there are some potentially upsetting elements too best described in a non-spoilery way as “exploitation”.

Well worth hunting this one down – powerful drama.

Geiger is published by Zaffre on 29 April 2021 and is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here:

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September 17

37 Hours – JF Kirwan

The only way to hunt down a killer is to become one…

After two long years spent in a secret British prison, Nadia Laksheva is suddenly granted her freedom. Yet there is a dangerous price to pay for her release: she must retrieve the Russian nuclear warhead stolen by her deadliest enemy, a powerful and ruthless terrorist known only as The Client.

But her mysterious nemesis is always one step ahead and the clock is ticking. In 37 hours, the warhead will explode, reducing the city of London to a pile of ash. Only this time, Nadia is prepared to pull the trigger at any cost…

The deadly trail will take her from crowded Moscow to the silent streets of Chernobyl, but will Nadia find what she is looking for before the clock hits zero?

My thanks to Noelle and Kate at Thick as Thieves Publicity for the opportunity to host (and close out) the blog tour

37 Hours is the follow-up to 66 Metres and the second in the series to feature Nadia Laksheva. Housekeeping first, the story of 37 Hours picks up 2 years after events in 66 Metres. There is clear reference to what has already gone before and I am certain that reading the books in order would be advantageous. However, I have not read the first book and I had a blast reading 37 Hours so while it may be advantageous it is by no means essential – 37 Hours can stand alone as a cracking story.

This was an adventure thriller where events zip around the globe and the stakes felt so high that the tension was ever present. Nadia Laksheva is in prison – two long years of captivity and as 37 Hours opens we see her in her cell contemplating her situation. But the story begins just as Nadia is offered a chance to walk free – assuming she will assist with a mission which is considered to be of vital importance.

Straight into the action from here and I was sucked into a story which kept me hooked. Nuclear missiles lost at sea means Nadia has to dive with a team of “experts” to make them safe. The underwater scenes are brilliantly detailed and had me flashing back to the first time I saw Thunderball – the dark (almost claustrophobic) tension as the hero – in this case Nadia – places her life on the line and faces unexpected challenges.

The story shifts location and there are more underwater scenes to enjoy and a new danger to be faced. No spoilers, however, the underwater cave scenes chilled me. Gotta love when a book does that!

JF Kirwan has done a brilliant job of keeping 37 Hours a tense, tight and wickedly entertaining adventure story. Nadia is a feisty and likeable lead and she faces more than her fair share of peril during the course of events.

I really do not want to give away too much of the story but with a nuclear threat, a sinister “bad guy” calling the shots, exotic locations and Russians, Germans and Brits keeping that global feeling running through the book – this feels like the Summer Blockbuster you don’t want to miss.

37 Hours is published by HQ Digital. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hours-Nadia-Laksheva-Thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B01N3KP711/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505680806&sr=1-4&keywords=jf+kirwan

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May 4

Guest Post – Alan Jones: Serial Heroes

Day Three of Serial Heroes and after Steven Dunne and Caroline Mitchell both discussed authors that have had success in print and on the silver screen I find that my latest guest is keeping that trend running.

When I first asked Alan Jones if he would like to contribute to my Serial Heroes feature his first response was that he didn’t really follow any series of books or characters . However, I don’t think 60 seconds had passed before he suggested a name – possibly one of the most famous names from literature – and from that point I don’t think I gave him the option to back out. Thanks Alan, it’s over to you to explain:

The series of books I love most may be a surprise to many. If I tell you that they are action stories based loosely around crime and the cold war, and involve a lot of shooting, car chases and beautiful women with a cool and sophisticated protagonist, you’ve probably narrowed the list down a bit.

But if I told you that at one point in the series, the main character suffers the death of a loved one in violent circumstances and has mental health issues because of it, culminating in a breakdown and a period in his life when he goes completely off the rails and works for the other side of the ‘law’, would that make you think again. Maybe something Scandinavian or old school American Noir?

The books have all been made into films; tremendously successful but each one in the series getting further and further away from the books, which would make those unlikely.

To confuse you further, the author of this series also wrote a very successful children’s book, published after his death, that also led to a major blockbuster when it hit the big screen.

The lead character is an English gentleman and manners play a big part in all the books of the series.

The series?

When Ian Fleming penned ‘Casino Royale.’, the first of the series of sixteen books that introduced James Bond to the world, he could have no idea that he would spawn on of the longest running and most successful screen franchises ever, with each film outdoing the one before in terms of gadgets, stunts and humour.

And yet, the books themselves are a great read, giving an insight into how the establishment in the post war period saw themselves. Bond, an Englishman in the books, is ever so well mannered, even when he is killing his villains. The books are partly a throwback to the days of the British Empire but underneath it all, they are short detective stories set in exotic locations, usually with world peace and prosperity at stake.

They’re deeper than you would think, and Bond even gets married in one of them. And he has that nervous breakdown, starts working for the Russians and even goes back to nature, living as a fisherman for a year on a Japanese Island.

There is an element of gadgetry, fast cars and gorgeous ladies, but the storylines are grounded enough to make you believe they could almost have happened, and read incredibly well. Bond on paper, in contrast to his screen persona, is darker. He still has that cruel, ruthless streak, he’s decadent, with a lack of ethics, he’s sadistic and he’s a snob. But Ian Fleming injects a little bit of glamour and a hint of humanity into him, and the reader ends up rooting for this flawed but fascinating and exciting character.

My personal favourites are On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, where Bond is at his most human, and the next one after that, ‘You Only Live Twice, which tells of Bond’s descent to probably his lowest point in the whole series.

But they’re all good. Short, succinct, exciting and clever. And if you can find copies with covers from the fifties and sixties, they look bloody great in your bookcase!

And that children’s book?

It surprised me to find out, years after I’d read both it and The James Bond series, that Ian Fleming had also written ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’!

Alan Jones’s Amazon page is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alan-Jones/e/B00ONBKHLE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1462315938&sr=1-2-ent where you can order copies of all his books.

Alan’s latest book BLOQ scored a 5/5 when I reviewed it recently, you can order a copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloq-Alan-Jones-ebook/dp/B01CLH5AUE?ie=UTF8&keywords=bloq&qid=1462316048&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

You can find Alan on Twitter @alanjonesbooks or at his own website: http://www.alanjonesbooks.co.uk/

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October 10

Last Days of the Condor – James Grady

Set in the savage streets and Kafkaesque corridors of Washington, DC, shot through with sex and suspense, with secret agent tradecraft and full-speed action, with hunters and the hunted, Last Days of the Condor is the bullet-paced, ticking clock saga of America on the edge of the most startling spy world revolution since 9/11.

My thanks to the team at No Exit Press for my review copy.

The press release for Last Days of the Condor suggests that this is a story for fans of Harlan Coben, David Baldacci and Homeland. Of the three the Homeland comparison was the best fit for Last Days – this felt like a spy story or counter espionage drama with plenty of action and drama to keep me reading.

The story follows Vin (Condor) he is a former agent/operative who has been retired from action. He survives daily routine by ingesting a cocktail of drugs but his skills and training are hard wired into his very being and he is ever alert to the possibility of threat. As we join Vin at the opening of Last Days of the Condor he is travelling home, we share his view of the street and understand how he assesses potential threats. He sees danger everywhere and is waiting to be killed – it is a very effective opening and sets the tone for the rest of the book. Vin believes he is being followed. On returning home he is checking his house for intruders when there is a loud thumping at the door – the reader cannot help buy into Vin’s conviction that he is about to die.

James Grady has penned a thrilling adventure – action sequences come thick and fast and we find that Vin is a dangerous person to be seen with. Despite his paranoia and lack of resources Vin is a worthy opponent and when he finds himself cornered his old survival skills kick in.

Caught up in Vin’s bad day is Faye. She is an active agent who had been sent to monitor Vin and ensure a once lethal force was adapting to civilian life. Faye can call upon her employers to assist when Vin comes under attack, however, can she be sure that she can trust those sent to help?

A slick thriller and a real page turner – after a run of more fantastical reads this was nicely grounded and all too realistic.

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