| Action & Adventure |
Summary
Summary
From British journalist and bestselling author Tom Bradby, a sequel to Secret Service that pushes senior MI6 agent Kate Henderson to her limits as she tries to unmask the Russian spy holding the nation's highest officeKidnapped in Venice by a Russian defector, Kate knows she's in trouble. But when he offers her conclusive evidence that the British Prime Minister is a live agent working for Moscow, Kate's holiday quickly becomes the start of her next mission.The defector has proof of the PM involved in a sordid scandal?a video supposedly used to blackmail him into Russian service decades prior?and a financial paper trail that undeniably links him to the Russians, but his motives are anything but clear. Riddled with doubt that the evidence she is presented with may not in fact be as bulletproof as it seems, Kate reopens the investigation into the PM. As she works through the case, Kate runs up against key people at the heart of the British Establishment who refuse to acknowledge the reality in front of them. And, more worryingly, clear signs that there's still a mole in her department.But Kate had already identified and eradicated the mole, codenamed Viper. Could she have been mistaken? And could this horrifying video be a fake, produced by the Russians to sabotage British democracy?These questions plague Kate as she tries to keep it together for her children and ailing mother, steadily losing sleep and, she fears, her sanity. This mission will push Kate dangerously close to the edge as she continues her relentless fight for the truth.
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
Kate Henderson returns, still on the trail of a high-level traitor in British government. Henderson, head of MI6's Russian desk, has reason to believe James Ryan, the British Prime Minister, is a Russian sleeper agent, but she has been unable to prove it. In her investigation of him, however, she does discover that her husband, Stuart, is a Russian agent who's betrayed her as well. Stuart has escaped to Russia, and Henderson's world has suffered mightily: She can't sleep, and even her subordinates are urging her to get therapy; her children are manifesting behavior disorders, and she's been saddled with a new assistant who may be spying on her for MI5, the British security service. When she arranges a trip to Venice so her kids can briefly visit with their father, she is secretly contacted by Mikhail Borodin, who claims to be seeking to defect. Borodin explains that he and his father, Igor, former chief of Russia's foreign intelligence service, are victims of a GRU power grab and are at risk of death or imprisonment. He offers to exchange a kompromat video of Ryan in the company of underage girls for refuge in England. From that point onward, Kate oscillates between mental and familial crises at home and her need to convince her government to accept Borodin's deal at work. There's a nice set piece in Berlin when a planned defection fails, or perhaps was never meant to succeed, but this installment of Kate's quest is largely lacking in kinetic energy, though there's much discussion and political maneuvering. How a modern intelligence service could permit an employee so clearly in crisis to continue to make momentous decisions is not addressed, and overall there's a sort of shaggy imprecision in Kate's MI6, so it's not a big surprise that the evidence of Ryan's guilt is suppressed or corrupted, and Kate's quest has plenty of scope for a third volume. Bradby's fans will welcome his heroine's return even though this installment is a little flat. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
