Review by Booklist Review
The inadvertent spy an amateur cajoled by professionals, taking advantage of circumstance, into playing a part in a covert operation has long been a popular trope in espionage fiction. Helen MacInnes, John le Carré, and many others have used the gambit to good advantage, and, similarly, there are numerous spy authors who have drawn on their own clandestine service to fuel their fiction: notably, Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, and, of course, le Carré himself. Cumming uses both phenomena effectively in this stand-alone thriller (there are hints of a series to come) about British spy novelist Kit Carradine, drafted by MI6 to make contact with a fugitive terrorist at a writers' conference in Casablanca. It seems simple enough connect with the woman, Lara Bartok, who appears ready to come in from the cold after her years with a terrorist group called Resurrection, which started with humanitarian protests and quickly turned violent. Dreaming of a more active life, Kit is game but quickly discovers he is out of his depth. Keeping track of the players, who's on whose side, for example, is difficult enough, especially when some of the shady characters he encounters turn up dead. And then there's Lara, with whom Kit inevitably falls in love and whose backstory is far more complex than he was led to believe. The best part of inadvertent spy novels is watching the newbies forced to think on their feet, making up tradecraft as they go, and Kit does it very well, indeed. Another winner from the superbly talented Cumming.--Bill Ott Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of this uneven spy novel from bestseller Cumming (The Trinity Six), thriller writer Kit Carradine is accosted on a London street by Robert Mantis, who claims to be a big fan of his books. Mantis, whose card identifies him as a British government "operational control center specialist," persuades Carradine to do some spying for the U.K. in Morocco, where he's to attend a literary event. His tasks: carry some cash to one of Mantis's associates and keep an eye out for a "remarkable young woman, cunning and unpredictable." In Morocco, Carradine succeeds in identifying the girl of the title: Lara Bartok, the former girlfriend of Ivan Simakov, the leader of a revolutionary group that's been kidnapping right-wing journalists. The Russian government wants to stop Simakov; the American government may also be involved. Cumming is a terrific stylist with a great sense of place, but the convoluted plot becomes tiresome. Readers will struggle to care about Carradine, a romantic dreaming of glory, who's more sad sack than hero. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When novelist Kit Carradine is approached by a mysterious man calling himself Robert Mantis, he knows his dearest wish has come truethe British government wants to use him as a spy.Kit's assignment involves traveling to Morocco and slipping a passport to Lara Bartok, formerly involved with a group known as Resurrection. Resurrection started as an international movement against corrupt politicians and mouthpieces, but their actions quickly evolved into terrorism as they began kidnapping and even murdering high-profile right-wing figures. In Morocco, Kit runs into an American agent who could burn him; after Mantis fires him, he continues to look for Bartok, and when he finds her, he has to help her escape from the Russians who are chasing her. The two share several intimate days as they get away to Gibraltar and back to England; once home, Kit must face the fact that no one he has encountered is who they said they were, and the novel ends with a twist and a shootout as old enemies resurface. There is an odd pace to Cumming's (A Divided Spy, 2017, etc.) novel; the early scenes unfold with an almost old-fashioned slowness, full of allusions to Casablanca and Cary Grant, that lends a romantic haze to the very 21st-century spy games. Kit, of course, wants to be a spy in a novel or a movie, and when he's faced with the true nature of such a life, he's rather desperate to cling to his illusionsabout Lara, about the craft of espionage, and about the exotic settings in which he finds himself. But once Kit finds Lara, the pace rachets to a rather dizzying speed, and the climax comes and goes so swiftly there's hardly time to absorb the action.Seduces with its romantic settings and tantalizing touches of modern-day conspiracy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
