Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, secretary Lois Vale is on a deep-cover MI6 mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.
A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright, young, working-class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable. Authentic details are provided by the 1958 diary kept in Moscow by the author’s own mother, who worked for British intelligence.
Deborah Lawrenson spent her childhood moving around the world with diplomatic service parents, from Kuwait to China, Belgium, Luxembourg and Singapore. She read English at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist in London. She has written ten novels, including two Death in Provence mysteries as Serena Kent, and her writing is praised for its vivid sense of place.
My thoughts:This was utterly gripping and really, really good. I’ve had a bit of a love of Russian history since my A Levels and a very memorable trip to the country (the hotel we stayed in is mentioned in the book!) and it was interesting to read something set during an infamous period of time – when the Cambridge spy ring was being unmasked.
It was also really interesting to have the story from a female perspective, inspired by the author’s mother’s own role as a secretary at the British Embassy and as an MI6 operative. Most spy thrillers are full of gungho action and men who are either very dashing or the extreme opposite (like Jackson Lamb from Mick Herron’s Slough House series), they are very rarely female.
Lois is indeed a secretary, but she’s also under orders from MI6, and her job is a cover. She’s been sent to see if she can work out if anyone on the embassy staff might be passing information to the Russians. She’s been told not to trust anyone but German journalist (and fellow spy) Johann.
At times she feels completely out of her depth, and her very strange flatmate and colleague doesn’t help matters. There are important things to do, possible defectors to locate, Russian tails to shake off, and the very real possibility of romance.
Things do go somewhat awry, and far from anyone she can ask for advice, Lois has to essentially wing it. But can she do the job?
I really liked Lois, I liked her determination, the way she wanted to stay the course, even when things were going wrong all over the place. She’s level headed and practical, willing to improvise to get the job done. A really enjoyable, intelligent thriller.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 