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Peter Cotton #3
Icelight
1947 England is haggard by the scarcities of war and the blight of a harsh winter. In this cold, corrupt, and bankrupt world, Peter Cotton, a Colonial Intelligence officer, continues his adventurous series as Harold Watkins (homosexual previously convicted for "gross indecency") is found dead in his hotel room, suspected of committing suicide by means of a poisoned apple. Cotton's quest for truth envelopes a world of theatrical grandiosity, political hostilities, and a myriad of dark secrets, as he closes off possibilities till he reaches a final conclusion.
437 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Aly Monroe
10 books29 followersAuthor of the Peter Cotton series, which begins in 1944, and takes us to different countries around the world during the aftermath of the second world war and the dismantling of the British colonies
The first three books in the series, 'The Maze of Cadiz', 'Washington Shadow', and 'Icelight' received excellent reviews. (See my website)
Washington Shadow' was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award.
Icelight was the winner of the 2012 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger.
All the books are available to buy on amazon.co.uk. and also amazon.com
and can also be downloaded on Kindle
The fourth book in the series, 'Black Bear', is published on 9 May 2013 and is now available to buy on amazon.
You will find more information and reviews, Q&As and extracts from the books on Aly's website (see above)
The first three books in the series, 'The Maze of Cadiz', 'Washington Shadow', and 'Icelight' received excellent reviews. (See my website)
Washington Shadow' was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award.
Icelight was the winner of the 2012 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger.
All the books are available to buy on amazon.co.uk. and also amazon.com
and can also be downloaded on Kindle
The fourth book in the series, 'Black Bear', is published on 9 May 2013 and is now available to buy on amazon.
You will find more information and reviews, Q&As and extracts from the books on Aly's website (see above)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 4, 2019
It is late 1946 and Peter Cotton has returned to Britain from having served as part of an economic mission to Washington DC. In a very short time, he is put on temporary detachment from his regular government job in London and is seconded to Operation Sea-snake. This is an operation endorsed by both MI-5 (Britain's equivalent of the FBI) and MI-6 (the British equivalent of America's wartime Office of Strategic Services [OSS] which would be superseded in 1947 by the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]), two organizations normally not well-suited for working together. Operation Sea-snake entails a ferreting out of Soviet spies and traitors, as well as coming to grips with some of the seedier elements of British society and the political establishment.
What also makes "ICELIGHT" a compelling and gripping novel is the atmospherics the author skillfully renders of the starkness of everyday life in postwar Britain as it was during 1946 and 1947. Rationing, shortages abound, and the severity of the winter of 1946-47 as it impacted upon the country: these seemingly disparate elements --- along with Cotton's efforts to carry out an assignment not always knowing whom to trust --- kept me gripped from start to finish. Furthermore, there are a rich variety of characters, great and small, all of whom the author fleshes out brilliantly. Truly, this is a novel worthy of being read again, so richly textured and compelling it is. Just what anyone could hope for in an espionage thriller.
What also makes "ICELIGHT" a compelling and gripping novel is the atmospherics the author skillfully renders of the starkness of everyday life in postwar Britain as it was during 1946 and 1947. Rationing, shortages abound, and the severity of the winter of 1946-47 as it impacted upon the country: these seemingly disparate elements --- along with Cotton's efforts to carry out an assignment not always knowing whom to trust --- kept me gripped from start to finish. Furthermore, there are a rich variety of characters, great and small, all of whom the author fleshes out brilliantly. Truly, this is a novel worthy of being read again, so richly textured and compelling it is. Just what anyone could hope for in an espionage thriller.
May 31, 2021
Aly Monroe is a superb espionage writer. This is the third of her series following the British agent Peter Cotton as he navigates his way through the choppy waters of the ending of WW2 and the new emerging order, with Britain becoming a bit player to America, financially and socially ruined by the war, but not yet realizing the full implications of that fact.
"Icelæight" is set in London during the ferocioslæy cold winter of 1947, with shortages everywhere, not enough coal to go around, and a deeply divided set of security services. The extent that they have been penetrated by the Soviets is gradually becoming clear, and paranoia riegns.
No spoilers - just read it, then go back to the first two, where you can feel Aly building up to this tour-de-force. I put it up there with Le Carre and Deighton .- and there isn't higher praise than that.
Now about to read "Black Bear", which, disappointingly, seems to be the last in the series, published in 2+13.
"Icelæight" is set in London during the ferocioslæy cold winter of 1947, with shortages everywhere, not enough coal to go around, and a deeply divided set of security services. The extent that they have been penetrated by the Soviets is gradually becoming clear, and paranoia riegns.
No spoilers - just read it, then go back to the first two, where you can feel Aly building up to this tour-de-force. I put it up there with Le Carre and Deighton .- and there isn't higher praise than that.
Now about to read "Black Bear", which, disappointingly, seems to be the last in the series, published in 2+13.
April 12, 2012
The intelligence services in London in confusion; the Americans concerned about their weakened wartime ally and the Soviets looking for weaknesses to exploit - How secret our the UK's policies and decisions? Into this mix is seconded analyst Peter Cotton tasked with saving the people caught up in the excesses during a purge on sexual deviations.
This is a complex novel, that took me 60 odd pages to get going, thereafter Aly Monroe's craft is clear to see and a delight to read.
Great background setting of the bleakness of London 1947, Post War shortages of food and fuel and a severe Winter.
A clever thriller with a fascinating development of meetings between Cotton and the major players, from rent boys to MPs.
Perhaps too complicated in the early chapters with the introduction of all the characters "involved" but AM is a wonderful storyteller and sets you at ease when you grasp the various role of the characters and make sense of this splendid book
This is a complex novel, that took me 60 odd pages to get going, thereafter Aly Monroe's craft is clear to see and a delight to read.
Great background setting of the bleakness of London 1947, Post War shortages of food and fuel and a severe Winter.
A clever thriller with a fascinating development of meetings between Cotton and the major players, from rent boys to MPs.
Perhaps too complicated in the early chapters with the introduction of all the characters "involved" but AM is a wonderful storyteller and sets you at ease when you grasp the various role of the characters and make sense of this splendid book
February 5, 2019
In the bleak, icy winter of 1947 as the city struggles with strict rationing and coal supplies are running low Peter Cotton receives a new assignment. Authorized by the heads of MI5 and MI6, he is to join Operation Sea-Snake and run interference with a homophobic witch-hunt putting people's lives and careers at risk.
Another excellent entry in this series, with a complex plot and atmospheric setting bringing the deprivations of post-war London expertly to life.
Another excellent entry in this series, with a complex plot and atmospheric setting bringing the deprivations of post-war London expertly to life.
October 13, 2011
1947. Threadbare London endures the bleakest, coldest winter for decades. Food rationing is worse than during the war. Coal supplies run out. The Thames freezes over.
Against a background of black ice, blackouts and the black market, agent Peter Cotton is seconded to Operation Sea-snake. MI5 is in the grip of civil war; MI6 is riddled with traitors. Unsure who to trust - or even who is pulling the strings - Cotton, ever the outsider, must protect an atomic scientist caught up in a vicious homophobic witch-hunt, limit the damage caused by a bully-boy MP, rely on a rent-boy informer and, despite the murderous attentions of a couple of Glasgow razor boys, embark on a ruthless hunt of his own.
If I was to use a single word to describe my experience reading Aly Monroe’s latest spy thriller Icelight (Peter Cotton 3) it would be, quite simply, exhausting! In fact, to be fair, I’d also add magnificent and spellbinding to the mix but then that would class as three words and my opening line a wash! So why exhausting? Imagine going to the cinema and watching an incredibly complex film for three hours – I’m not talking James Cameron’s Titanic here – eating a cornetto in the interval and then doing it all again. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Icelight!
With a wonderfully evocative and intelligent narrative Aly Monroe paints a bleak picture of London in the late 1940’s. Hit by an energy sapping cold snap that finds Britain on her knees, the country is not only at the mercy of a harsh British winter but the lack of fuel and food rations combine to leave thousands out of work and struggling to stay warm. A class divide never more evident, money talks and while the affluent drink champagne, vodka and Poully Fume as if it’s going out of fashion, the impoverished simply make do with limited water, food substitutes and coloured wine!
Full Review on my blog
Against a background of black ice, blackouts and the black market, agent Peter Cotton is seconded to Operation Sea-snake. MI5 is in the grip of civil war; MI6 is riddled with traitors. Unsure who to trust - or even who is pulling the strings - Cotton, ever the outsider, must protect an atomic scientist caught up in a vicious homophobic witch-hunt, limit the damage caused by a bully-boy MP, rely on a rent-boy informer and, despite the murderous attentions of a couple of Glasgow razor boys, embark on a ruthless hunt of his own.
If I was to use a single word to describe my experience reading Aly Monroe’s latest spy thriller Icelight (Peter Cotton 3) it would be, quite simply, exhausting! In fact, to be fair, I’d also add magnificent and spellbinding to the mix but then that would class as three words and my opening line a wash! So why exhausting? Imagine going to the cinema and watching an incredibly complex film for three hours – I’m not talking James Cameron’s Titanic here – eating a cornetto in the interval and then doing it all again. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Icelight!
With a wonderfully evocative and intelligent narrative Aly Monroe paints a bleak picture of London in the late 1940’s. Hit by an energy sapping cold snap that finds Britain on her knees, the country is not only at the mercy of a harsh British winter but the lack of fuel and food rations combine to leave thousands out of work and struggling to stay warm. A class divide never more evident, money talks and while the affluent drink champagne, vodka and Poully Fume as if it’s going out of fashion, the impoverished simply make do with limited water, food substitutes and coloured wine!
Full Review on my blog
January 27, 2013
Icelight plunges the reader into the frosty world of London in the Winter of 1947 and the emerging cold war. Monroe creates a vivid sense of place and of social history, with the shortages of just about everything, the black market, and the feeling that Britain is teetering on the edge of a new age, shorn of its empire and beholden to its ‘special relationship’ with America. And as relations with the Soviet Union sour and a new political war starts, Monroe focuses on the tensions, rivalries and paranoia that flower within and between British intelligence agencies. She does so through a captivating but, at times, complex and convoluted plot that involves a fairly large cast of characters. I don’t mind admitting that occasionally I felt I was wandering in icelight, and at a couple of points I stopped and backtracked to reposition my bearings. What holds the book together is the premise, some lovely passages of writing (I thought the scene with Cherkesov in a restaurant was wonderful), a general sense of social and historical realism, and some nice characterisation. Cotton is an interesting lead character, who is worldly, shrewd and standoffish, and is complemented by the more earthy Dawkins, and the other characters are well penned. Overall and intriguing and entertaining read, that whilst complex is thought provoking and nicely resolved.
August 6, 2025
*3.5 stars.*
In the harsh post war winter of 1947, certain elements of British Intelligence, (persuaded by their American counterparts), started a witch-hunt for homosexuals in vulnerable occupations such as espionage and nuclear physics.
Unintended casualties threaten exposure and ruin for the great and gay in corridors of power so a counter action is set up headed by nonconformist, Peter Cotton, assisted by a sergeant in the Special Branch, which results in strategy and tactics against a vicious enemy, employing members of a Glasgow razor gang as mercenaries.
The storyline compliments the characters and dialogue with a plot that, (whilst good) is also extremely complex. At one time this novel, exposing corruption in high and secret places, would have been regarded as sedition, which gives the storyline added tension, and that, together with a backdrop of a bitterly cold and icy post war London and its shortages of essentials, such as food and fuel, gives this novel an authentic atmosphere.
In the harsh post war winter of 1947, certain elements of British Intelligence, (persuaded by their American counterparts), started a witch-hunt for homosexuals in vulnerable occupations such as espionage and nuclear physics.
Unintended casualties threaten exposure and ruin for the great and gay in corridors of power so a counter action is set up headed by nonconformist, Peter Cotton, assisted by a sergeant in the Special Branch, which results in strategy and tactics against a vicious enemy, employing members of a Glasgow razor gang as mercenaries.
The storyline compliments the characters and dialogue with a plot that, (whilst good) is also extremely complex. At one time this novel, exposing corruption in high and secret places, would have been regarded as sedition, which gives the storyline added tension, and that, together with a backdrop of a bitterly cold and icy post war London and its shortages of essentials, such as food and fuel, gives this novel an authentic atmosphere.
July 11, 2012
I would give this book four stars in regard to the writing, which was very good. However, as the protagonist is an intelligence officer in post-World War II England, I expected more suspense and mystery, but found those elements to be barely present in the novel. The protagonist is a complex character but, as he spends all his time solving other people's problems, including those of family and total strangers, I didn't feel I got a lot of insight into what he himself liked and disliked, or what he wanted out of life.
November 8, 2011
Very good espionage series, more thoughtful perhaps than Alan Furst, evokes a rather different mood. I wish there were more.
Want to read
May 26, 2012nominated http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/2012/...
December 25, 2012
Litt tregt, men interessant bilde av sent engelsk førtitall
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews