Liz Carlyle is a high ranking agent with MI5
working to counter the threats to the UK of subversion, espionage and terrorism;
but when a Russian spy based in Geneva demands to speak with her (and no-one else)
she is drawn into a joint operation with the sister service working abroad,
MI6.
As it happens the information received
relates to an internal threat by an unknown nation so she is soon stuck into
the task of uncovering a mole in a top secret project. As the investigation
unfolds liaison is needed with the CIA (the project is joint with the US), with
the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (who have had an agent killed by the
Russians), and with the French DGSE (as the action moves to Marseilles).
The contributions made by the various agents
are related and there is some ongoing personal stuff between Liz and her French
connection, Martin Seurat. These two also get involved in a bit of moonlighting
to assist a family friend threatened by some undesirable Frenchmen, who may or
may not be part of the main case.
It all moves along briskly; the intelligence
business has a ring of authenticity (to be expected from an author who herself
was D-G of MI5); and tension is introduced through a few cliff-hanging moments,
though these feel a bit contrived. Rimington’s writing style retains the echo
of a civil service tone that suits the procedural stuff rather than the
adventurous episodes – Liz is more George Smiley than James Bond.
This is the seventh book in the Liz Carlyle
series but the first I have read. Jumping into the middle of the series is not
a problem although references to past events do crop up from time to time.
This volume was diverting enough but I’m not
tempted to delve into the back catalogue; rather I may look out for the author’s
“Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5” which
may better suit her writing style.
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