A Peach of a Spy Story.

The Spanish Game by Charles Cumming

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read the first Alec Milius novel, A Spy by Nature. I decided to go for the second novel of Milius because the first was very good. Well, the second is equally as compelling. Alec Milius is living in Madrid and it is five years after his traumatic brush with espionage, working for the British Secret Service. He has gone to ground and has been using his espionage training to stay off of the radar. Especially the American CIA, who he has caused problems for.

He has a well-paid job for a British company based in Madrid and is having an affair with a beautiful Married Spanish lady. He is a little paranoid and is always careful to cover his tracks from the British and American secret service organisations. It is second nature to him.

His company send him North on some important ground laying work for his company to do a business venture in the Basque region of Spain. While here, he meets with an ex-ETA man who Alec rather likes as a person. I can’t say much more without spoiling the story. All this leads to Alec opening up a Pandora’s Box. He can’t get the unwelcome Genie back into the bottle.

There are plans within plans. Diabolical scheming with the Spanish government and Alec finds himself as a free-lance pawn caught up in all of this. The whole saga is mind blowing right up until the end. The surprises come fast and furious. If you love a good spy thriller then I would strongly recommend this second Alec Milius novel. An absolute peach of a read.

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The Looking Glass War by John Le Carre (My Goodreads Review)

The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another Cold War story from John Le Carre. It takes place just after his Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It is now 1965 and there is another British Intelligence department gathering dust and virtually inactive since its heydey during the war. They are resentful of the Circus where George Smiley and Control seem to get all the action against the Communist block countries. This other obscure intelligence gathering office is simply known as The Department. They are eager to get into the tussle of the Cold War and win some results of their own. Since the Second World War, they have been cut back and lack any clear direction. Some of the senior administrators have been there since the last war and long for the good old days.

While scratching about, they uncover some information or rumours of Soviet ballistic missiles being set up in East Germany close to the West German border. They employ a foreign airline pilot to stray off course and try to obtain photographs of the area. These photos are passed on but due to an accident in Finland, the photos do not get back to The Department. Anxious to continue with this fact finding mission they get the support of a senior political minister to grant them the right to send an agent into East Germany.

They need advice from the bigger organisation (The Circus) where the notorious and polite George Smiley works. The Department wants to keep the operation strictly under their control. The Circus readily agree and offer what support is required.

So the Department set up a team under the guise of a training exercise. The head of this is Leclerc and he chooses two men from his group to supervise the mission. One is Haldane the other is called Avery.

Haldane is a well-polished man from the war days about the mid to late forties while Avery is relatively new to the Department. He is thirty-two years of age.

They recruit a Polish man who was with the Department back in the war days. He is on the books but has not been contacted since the end of the war in 1945. Twenty years later he is tracked down and asked to do the mission for the Department. The Pole has no idea that the Department is run on a shoe string budget and is kidded up that is still as big and grand as it used to be.

I particularly enjoyed the character of Haldane in this story. He starts off as a very articulate yet negative man with a dislike for most around him. When he speaks he is precise and clear yet he is negative towards his work colleagues. As though he does not have much faith in them. Despite my dislike of Haldane at first, there is a certain reliability about the man. It is not necessary to like him. However, as the story develops and the mission preparations get under way, I think every reader would come to rather like the gloomy Haldane. There is a dependability about him and an honesty.

George Smiley has appearances like in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, but his coming and going is important to the plot. If you like good old Cold War Spy stories, then I would highly recommend this splendid John Le Carre novel.

The Black and Tan Summer: Ireland's Turbulent Year of 1920


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The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré (My Goodread Reviews)

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Our burnt out operative is called Alec Lemus and an unglamorous alcove of British intelligence wants him for a mission. In order to be convincing, he must sink low down in British society. A violent drunk sacked from employment and sent to the benefits office in search of a new job. This scruff is useless and on the scrap heap. This is just prep work. He drinks and attacks a store owner. It's still prep work. He befriends a librarian who is an idealistic young girl. It's just prep work. He is sent to prison for assault. It's all prep work.

Then from the shadows of the underworld, he hopes to lure communist field agents who come posing as social workers who care. Then the mission can really begin.

Set in 1964 during Britain's struggle with the communist bloc nations. This is not James Bond stuff. It's low down, seedy and dirty. Our hero is a burnt out field agent and his betters seem to operate out of seedy little office apartments in Oxford Circus. He knows the game and he thinks he's seen it all. Or has he?

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!



C.A. Powell
The Black and Tan Summer: Ireland's Turbulent Year of 1920


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The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre. (My little blog Review)

Our burnt out operative is called Alec Lemus and an unglamourous alcove of British intelligence wants him for a mission. In order to be convincing he must sink low down in British society. A violent drunk sacked from employment and sent to the benefits office in search of a new job. This scruff is useless and on the scrap heap. This is just prep work. He drinks and attacks a store owner. Its still prep work. He befriends a librarian who is an idealistic young girl. Its just prep work. He is sent to prison for assault. Its all prep work.

Then from the shadows of the under world he hopes to lure communist field agents who come posing as social carers. Then the mission can really begin. 

Set in 1964 during Britain's struggle with the communist bloc nations. This is no James Bond stuff. Its low down, seedy and dirty. Our hero is a burnt out field agent and his betters seem to operate out of seedy little office apartments in Oxford Circus. He knows the game he thinks he's seen it all. Or has he?

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant! 

More and More, People Become Uneasy with Government Spying

Many leading publications are becoming uneasy with all of this, but there is an enormous grey area. Government and Police are often seen as using security protection of all citizens as an excuse to compile data on everyone. Even people who do not offend. Some publication are voicing concerns against government spying along such lines below:

A government's first job is to protect its citizens. But that should be based on informed consent, not blind trust. Our cover leader in most of our editions looks at this point. 

Even allowing for the need to keep some things clandestine, Americans, we argue, need a clearer idea of what their spies are doing in their name. In Europe, however, we feature our special report on Germany: the continent's "reluctant hegemon" should now take a firmer lead in the euro zone". 

John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief