A Spy By Nature by Charles Cumming

First published in 2001

A young man, turned down for employment with the Secret Intelligence Service, is offered a contract position working for SIS as an industrial double agent. Alex Milius is given a position with a British oil company with the expectation that CIA agents posing as employees of an American oil company will recruit him to reveal secrets that will give the Americans a competitive advantage over the Brits in oil exploration. After his recruitment by the CIA, the SIS plans to provide Milius with disinformation to feed to the American agents.

A Spy By Nature is well crafted, offering insight into a type of espionage that is likely more relevant to today's world than traditional cloak-and-dagger stories about governments spying on each other. Cumming provides an interesting look at how industrial espionage (probably more common than most of us realize) might be carried out. Alex is a credible character, filled with the combination of self-importance, uncertainty, and naivete that often characterizes ambitious young men. The supporting characters, however, tend to be less interesting: stereotypical corporate types, spymaster types, and an unforgiving ex-girlfriend type.

While the story maintains interest throughout the novel (I disagree with the reviewers who condemn the book as dull -- this is a novel about the interactions of people, not a 007 story with shootouts or explosions, but that doesn't make it dull), I kept getting the feeling that Cumming was setting up a major plot twist, an unexpected ending that never came. As the story reaches its climax, it all seems a bit anti-climactic. Still, strong writing and a solid main character make this book worth reading, even if it never achieves greatness.

RECOMMENDED

Traitor's Kiss by Gerald Seymour

First published in 2003

A British fishing trawler, assisting a distress call, puts into a Russian port. A Russian naval officer gives the captain an envelope and asks that it be delivered to British intelligence. The envelope contains classified information and an offer to provide more. The Russian officer, Viktor Archenko, is assigned codename Ferret.

Four years later, Rupert Mowbray learns that Archenko is in trouble. Mowbray, recently retired from the SIS and Ferret's former handler, is one of the few who recalls Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall with fondness. They symbolize "a world of certainties, and a place of brave men"; they are a reminder of a time when Mowbray's work was unquestionably relevant. Now Mowbray is a relic, viewed by young operatives as a cold warrior stuck in the past. Yet Mowbray engineers a return to action when a confidante tells him that Archenko needs to be pulled out of Kaliningrad and that the SIS decision-makers would prefer to let Ferret rot rather than risk an extraction. Because of his former status and his stirring reminder that disloyalty to its assets will cripple the ability of SIS to recruit new ones, Mowbray convinces the powers to allow him to select and direct an extraction team -- a team of expendables whose relationship to the British government can be denied if the operation doesn't succeed.

Traitor's Kiss is not a novel for those who want nonstop action involving larger than life heroes battling cartoonishly evil bad guys (when they aren't busy seducing beautiful women). Seymour writes stories that are more realistic than escapist, featuring dedicated, multidimensional servants of government who (unlike their politically minded, job-protecting superiors) try to make sound decisions in a morally ambiguous world. Seymour's novels are not for those who crave instant action, high tech weaponry, and perfectly happy endings. Nonetheless, they are far from dull. Although Traitor's Kiss gets off to a slower start than some of Seymour's novels, suspense builds steadily after he sets the scene. As the crisis looms, tension becomes palpable. The rescue attempt, when it finally comes, is exciting enough for the most jaded action junkie -- and a reward for those whose attention spans allow them to progress deeply into this carefully constructed novel. The ending is immensely powerful and poignant, really quite brilliant.

Seymour brings life to the characters in Traitor's Kiss, investing even second string players with detailed backgrounds. Some readers find that boring because it slows the pace; I think the emphasis on character makes the novel more interesting than the predictable action stories manufactured by less talented writers of spy fiction. As Mowbray matches wits against a Russian interrogator, the minor characters become pawns in the manipulative games played by their masters. An unexpected love story lurks in the background (the product of Mowbray's manipulation), contributing to the tension by giving the reader even more reason to care about the main characters.

This isn't Seymour's best work -- it lacks the complexity and moral dilemmas that make Home Run so engrossing -- but it is a fine, nuanced piece of writing. The more I think about this novel, the more I like it.

RECOMMENDED 

The Moscow Club by Joseph Finder

Published by Viking on February 1, 1991

The Moscow Club is Joseph Finder's first novel. It is the work of a writer who hasn't yet mastered his craft. Finder's writing style too often depends on clichéd expressions: a house of cards falls, a character knows something like the back of his hand, and secrecy is for the birds. Chase scenes read like descriptions of the chases in bad television shows. Sex scenes are sophomoric. When those flaws aren't cropping up, however, Finder's style is fluid, making the novel easy to read.

The plot resembles a generic Ludlum conspiracy: the good guy learns something he isn't supposed to know, the bad guys try to kill him, and as the good guy works to save himself by learning the whole truth, everyone who helps him dies. The characters are undistinguished, lacking in personality; Finder spends little time trying to make them interesting. For the most part, the story is credible, although the main character pulls off some James Bond style gymnastics that don't fit well with the novel's general identity, as if Finder is trying to be Ludlum and Fleming and Le Carre all at once.

Setting aside those criticisms, I recommend The Moscow Club to fans of espionage thrillers. The intricate plot is logically consistent, the pace (while a bit erratic) gains velocity as the novel progresses, and the interweaving of Russian and Soviet history adds interest to the story. While much of the plot is predictable, the novel is never boring and Finder rewards the diligent reader with a nice surprise at the end. The Moscow Club is an uneven but worthy first effort by a writer who sharpened his skills in later novels.

RECOMMENDED

Kingfisher by Gerald Seymour

First published in 1977

To make a political statement about the plight of Ukrainian Jews, four individuals conspire to murder a police officer in Kiev. Moses Albyov, chosen by lot to pull the trigger, botches the killing, leaving the wounded officer alive to describe him. After his arrest, the remaining cell members, David, Isaac, and Rebecca, fearful that Moses will identify them, decide to hijack a plane and flee to Israel. Charlie Webster, an analyst for the SIS who tracks Soviet dissidents, plays a central role in communicating with the hijackers.

What does the kingfisher have to do with any of this? "She is fast and swift, and she holds the initiative in her world. None can catch her, few even see her, she is devastating in her attack." That description of the kingfisher comes from the old soldier who provides arms to David for use in the hijacking. David, a naive young man who pictures himself as heroic until doubt and his conscience begin to trouble him, announces on the plane's radio that he is a Jewish Resistance Commando and names the flight "the Kingfisher."

Kingfisher is a solid thriller. Through much of the novel, the perspective is that of the hijackers, who justify their actions (at least initially) as a necessary response to oppression. At other times the reader sees the hijacking through different eyes: the passengers, European and Israeli politicians, German veterans who watch the plane overfly the Hanover airport, European Jews who once lived in Russia, and Webster are among those who contribute opinions about the hijackers. Kingfisher makes the point that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter -- an observation that may have been clichéd even when the novel was published in 1977, but that nonetheless remains salient. In any event, the shifting perspectives add complexity and interest to the story.

Readers who prefer novels that feature morally pure heroes defeating cartoonishly evil bad guys will probably dislike Kingfisher. Gerald Seymour's strength is his ability to dramatize moral ambiguity. In Kingfisher, the reader understands and sympathizes with the hijackers despite their repellent actions. Similarly, the reader sympathizes with Webster, who is forced to make a difficult moral choice at the end of the novel. The difference between right and wrong is rarely clear in Seymour's novels. I like that reflection of reality, but readers who prefer the kind of escapist fiction that draws a distinct line between good and evil should probably avoid Seymour.

A minor quibble: the dialog spoken by Americans sounds very British. Other than that, Seymour's writing is strong, his characters are believable, and the pace is perfect. Seymour is an under-appreciated writer whose novels deserve a wider audience. Although Kingfisher is a bit dated (the hijacking described in the novel probably couldn't happen today, even in Kiev), the reader will quickly be drawn into the story, captivated by the mounting tension and the evolving personalities of the hijackers.

RECOMMENDED

Death Throes by Clive Egleton

First published in 1994

True to the form established in the first two Peter Ashton novels (Hostile Intent and A Killing in Moscow), Death Throes begins with a death. A Russian using the name Valentin has contacted SIS and asked to meet with Ashton in Bulgaria. Ashton goes to Sofia to meet Valentin's contact, only to find him dead in his apartment. Ashton is soon taken prisoner by the KGB and interrogated about Valentin. Escaping and returning to London, Ashton finds himself caught between Valentin, who wants to sell secrets in exchange for money, and some members of the SIS who want to use him as a pawn to uncover Valentin's identity. The plot takes Ashton to Estonia for another meeting with Valentin (but is it the same Valentin?) and to Berlin, where a related story unfolds concerning a former KGB hit man who assassinates a neo-Nazi leader.

Intricate plotting is Egleton's strength. The story in Death Throes sometimes seems a bit convoluted -- I often found myself reviewing earlier chapters to refresh my memory concerning the many characters who come and go as the plot develops -- but it all comes together by the novel's end. The downside to this novel is Egleton's writing style, which is sometimes less than graceful. In addition, Egleton has a tendency to bombard the reader with information that isn't particularly useful, like the price SIS paid for a safehouse before the market fell. And while I understand the need to provide background information from past novels so that this one can stand alone (which it does), Egleton sometimes overdoes it. Do we really need to learn (again) that Harriet (Ashton's love interest) obtained "a good upper second in Geography at Birmingham University" before taking the various positions that led to her current employment with SIS?

Perhaps as a result of the digressions about educational backgrounds and job histories and real estate markets, Death Throes does not move with the same pace as the earlier novels (despite a few well written action scenes), and it suffers from the same occasional clunky prose that troubled me in Hostile Intent. There is also less development of Ashton's character in Death Throes than there was in A Killing in Moscow, although more attention is paid to Harriet and to Ashton's relationship with her. All told, I liked Death Throes, but not as much as Hostile Intent and certainly not as much as A Killing in Moscow.

RECOMMENDED