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

The English Girl - Daniel Silva

For me, reading a Gabriel Allon novel is like putting on a beloved winter coat. While it might not be the most stylish thing in the world, I feel warm and comfy and home. It's been a while since I read a Gabriel Allon thriller and I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy them. But I needed a new audio book from the library and The English Girl was available right away. 

In this story, Madeline Hart, a young English political party worker is on holiday on the island of Corsica when she is kidnapped. The British Prime Minister receives a vague ransom note and Gabriel is called in as a favor to Graham Seymour to find and rescue Madeline. 

Unfortunately, he's unable to find her in time and must then deliver $10M in ransom from the Prime Minister himself. In the meantime, Ari Shamron is demanding Gabriel finally take the job as the chief of the office, a position he has been circling around for some time. Going much further into the plot gives a little too much away. I was quite pleased with myself for figuring out some of the mystery early on. And the fact that no one in the story is quite what they seem should not be a surprise. 

So here I'm sitting at work, having finished up the book on the way into the office this morning and needing a book for the ride home. So I've decided to keep my ride with Gabriel going for just a little while longer before I switch out to something else. Because, well, I'm comfortable in this old coat of mine and it's not quite time to take it off.

3.5/4 Stars. 

A German Requiem - Philip Kerr

It's 1948. The War is over, and at first, we're not really sure what Bernie has been up to that whole time. We do know that he has a wife, but it doesn't seem to make him as happy as he thought he could be during the last book where he felt his own biological clock ticking.

What is clear, is that post-WWII Berlin of A German Requiem is not a good place to be even BEFORE the blockade. Bernie has to navigate the various occupied zones and life again as a private detective and he's not doing that great of a job at any of it. Meanwhile, his wife Kirsten is waiting tables at an American bar and coming home with unexplained gifts.

Bernie is approached by a Russian colonel with a proposition, go to Vienna and clear the name of his former police colleague Emile Becker who stands accused of murdering an American officer. The money and his home life lead Bernie to agree and so we get to see Bernie a little of his normal game, in a new city full of more uncertainty. And as the story progresses we learn that he was drafted from the police squad into an SS regiment, requested a transfer as the mass-murdering of civilians was not his style, and fought on the Russian front until captured and held in a Gulag. On the way to his execution by the Russian government, he escapes and makes his way back to Berlin.

But it seems the war, and the SS just can't leave Bernie be. He's entirely too moral and this makes him an unknown player in post-war espionage. The book is very well done and I always appreciate the final twists and turns that I don't really see coming. I also really liked the book's treatment of collective guilt and the shades of truth that exist in that examination. Women again don't fair very well in this story, even where they do try to have some agency of their own.

The audio version continues to amuse me as Christopher Lee narrates Bernie with such a cynical British accent, but the Russian and American characters got accents all their own. Poor British sounding German Bernie.


3.75/5 Stars.