A Foreign Country - Charles Cumming

Being an American and reading a British spy novel is so hilarious to me, because mostly it's "Wow, why would France try to compromise a British intelligence officer?" And then vaguely remembering that England and France have been at war far more in their history than they've been "friends". So, apologies in advance British friends for my absolute incredulity at the idea that France would go so far as to kill two of it's own citizens just to further its attempts at international espionage against a friendly nation.

Have I given enough away yet?

The beginning of this fairly formulaic thriller is a bit scattered. In A Foreign Country, a young au pair leaves following an affair with the father of the children she has been hired to care for. An elderly couple is brutally murdered while on vacation in Egypt. And a small strike force yanks a target off the night time streets of Paris. All to find ourselves with Thomas Kell, a man still in his prime, but hungover after a night of drinking. He's bereft of options following his ouster from MI6 (apparently for something I've seen James Bond do it basically every movie so this is an injustice).

But when the head MI6 officer in waiting goes on an extended vacation, he's pulled back in to find out what she's really up to. Kell is anxious to get back into the good graces of MI6, and also to make a little cash. So he agrees to this slightly skeasy role and follows Amelia Levene to Nice France and then to Tunisia. Now if Amelia is the name of the au pair from twenty years before it's not a coincidence. Looks like our girl grew up to be named as the next chief of MI6.

So it makes sense that her soon to be number 2 wants to find out what exactly she's doing taking a vacation right before taking the helm of MI6. Poor Thomas Kell has some affinity for Amelia, having worked with her before and liked her personally. But he seems less squeamish when going through her personal belongings in an unattended hotel room. Something is going on in Tunisia with the very young man Amelia is spotted spending time with.

In the meantime, some other young man is being held captive by some unsavory folks. I spotted the old switcheroo before Kell, but admittedly that was the author's intent. Recapping anything else will give too much away.

All in all this was a decent spy novel from an author I'd never heard of before but will likely read again.

3.5/5 Stars