As the cover of Stella Rimington’s SECRET ASSET makes clear, she was once the head of Britain’s MI5. But what you don’t know is how much of a great spy writer she is. In the long line of British authors who’ve tackled the spy genre, none have her experience. She doesn’t pepper her books like so many others do with the constant political infighting; instead, what you get is a top-notch spy thriller, with very little padding.
SECRET ASSET is her second novel featuring Liz Carlyle, a smart, assertive woman in her field. She is very skilled at her job at MI5 and has nothing but respect from her peers. As the book opens, Liz is meeting one of her contacts – a young Pakistani who works at a Islamic bookshop, where he recently has witnessed some strange goings-on.
But as soon as she is ready to start investigating, the case is turned over to another, because there is another job that Liz has to do which caters to her even more: snuffing out a mole in the agency who was placed there by the IRA. The problem is, the agent was never activated by the IRA, so Liz has to do some serious legwork to find out who the agent is and what they’ve been doing all this time.
For those expecting high adventure with huge set pieces, sorry – Ian Fleming, this is not. It’s a procedural spy story with amazing detail, and Rimington’s writing sucks in the reader from the first page. You wont want to put the book down until the last period. Even as the mole is slowly revealed, you’re so into the plot, you want to see how the bigger picture plays. Rimington hides the mole’s identity so well in the book, only gradually letting out clues. Her background might be responsible for how well she hides the secrets.
I’m more grateful than anyone for this type of British spy to be on the bookshelves, because Rimington’s writing could equal the output of Frederick Forsyth, who she charmingly references in the story itself. So let’s hope for some more adventures of Liz Carlyle – a woman to be on the lookout for, that’s for certain. –Bruce Grossman
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