After reading the first chapter of this book, I thought I was going to love it. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Set in the early 70s, the book is an espionage drama about a Russian Cold War double agent infiltrating the London spy network. It sounds like it should be exciting, but due to being heavily modelled on real life sleuthing, it was incredibly dull. Not merely dull in that not an awful lot happens, and that it's mostly unlikable, grey-faced Englishmen sitting around for long periods of time monologuing to themselves in lonely hotel rooms, but worse, I didn't even understand the plot.
There aren't many books that leave me so clueless as to what's going on, and this may be the very first where I was utterly in the dark. Characters often go by several monikers and are difficult to keep track of, there is never anything concrete stated as to what the spies are actually doing or looking for, and the abundant industry lingo is never adequately explained. By the time the big reveal of the mole happens at the end of the book, I was unable to enjoy the payoff on account of never knowing who was who and what the spies were doing. Apparently the novel is well regarded, so now I feel incredibly stupid for not getting it.
Rating: 1/5
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