Double Agent: From the bestselling author of Secret Service

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If Spy Thrillers have to be dark mazes of corruption and confusion then Tom Bradby has delivered a classic. A Russian agent has come forward with news that the PM has been the victim of the greatest misinformation play in the history of MI6. It’s run out of a special KGB unit that exists for one purpose alone: to process the intelligence from ‘Agent Dante’, a mole right at the heart of MI6 in London.

While Kate is visiting Venice with her children, she is kidnapped by a senior Russian agent, who wants to defect. In exchange he offers Kate conclusive evidence to prove the identity of a live Russian agent at the very heart of the British Government. Proof of both a sordid sex scandal and a financial paper trail that would be bulletproof evidence. When the PM approaches her with a special assignment outside the powers and influence of the secret service she is conflicted but believes she can redeem the situation. The damaged PM needs his name to be finally exonerated and who better than by his biggest critic who was /(is) Kate. This is another great read from accomplished author Tom Bradby. Well written and well researched, the storyline was complex but gripping, with excellent use of smoke and mirrors, and I have to say, the concluding chapter left me breathless, with its non stop action - as for the mole - I guessed correctly, despite the red herrings, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.The conclusion- and don't get me wrong, there definitely is one, especially from Kate's POV- feels a bit rushed, and many thread are left open. Maybe there will be a third book, I don't at this point in time of this review being written- but there's isn't a full resolution here. Many plot lines are left hanging- important ones too. But as I mentioned before, there's is a resolution regarding Kate's story, but still, it's the THE conclusion I was expecting. So is this how the Secret Service would operate? Have a senior officer whose husband turned out to be a spy for Russia, go off to Venice to meet up with him; or might she have been placed into a dull desk job rather than at the centre of an investigation into whether the Prime Minister is a Russian spy.

There are resonant echoes of le Carré here―in the way the betrayals reach from marriage beds to the seats of governments.”― Booklist (starred review)

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I don’t want to be too critical; Double Agent is perfectly readable, it has good things about it and I’m sure there will be a third novel in the series which I shall probably read. I hope it is a little more tightly focussed, though, and branches out from the slightly samey structure of the first two. The contemporary geopolitical detail is also convincing and the descriptions of the various locales from Venice to London to Moscow and Tbilisi are spot-on and quite evocative and add a further layer of credibility to the story. There is also a good cast of convincing secondary characters. Double Agent is a more pacier spy novel than its predecessor, and there are some well-written and suspenseful set-pieces on the way to the taut climax. Kate’s deterioration adds a good deal of tension to the story and the ending has a nice touch of cynicism to it. As with Secret Service, Bradby excels in his portrayal of the interplay of personal and professional relationships in the secret service, reminding me of Len Deighton’s Bernard Samson novels.