An Expendable Spy

by Tom Greer

Jack Tate wants his old life back. Five years earlier he'd been shunted out of MI6 and into a British Intelligence backwater, where instead of running high level East German agents he's reduced to snooping night after night on trade unionists and minor public officials...none of whom he believes are a particular threat to The State. But now he's been offered a way back into the Service. His superiors are willing to sanction his return to MI6 field operations on one condition; that he proves himself worthy by tracking down and eliminating the leadership of a Moscow funded terrorist group and exposing the identity of their KGB handler. Undercover and working alone Tate knows he's vulnerable. He knows he'll have to kill if he doesn't wish to end up dead himself. And he's also beginning to realize that events and rivalries are conspiring against him and that time isn't on his side. . . Gritty yet hauntingly evocative, An Expendable Spy is a classic Cold War tale, set in the late nineteen seventies, that twists and turns from the canals and seedy bars of Amsterdam to the grim backstreets of London to the wilds of the English countryside while always keeping the reader guessing.

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2013

About the author

Tom Greer was born, raised and educated in Glasgow. He's also lived in London, Germany, Belfast and the North West of England and currently lives in the South West of England.
An Expendable Spy is his debut novel.

Follow Tom Greer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tomgreerwriter

Follow Tom Greer on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tomgreerwrit...

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced spy mystery.

Terrorism is rampant in 1978 London.

Jack Tate is working at the Department listening to unionist's and lower level MP's conversation. He desperately wants to return to MI5 from which he was demoted 5 years earlier. He's now been called to work as an operative on a "real" case, and if successful, could result in him returning to MI5. This case is to dissemble the leadership of the Red Action Group and especially it's Kremlin controller. His controllers at the Department, Hamilton and then Danby, are demanding the impossible from him. The leadership of the Red Action Group don't want to be found. He had to kill his contact in Amsterdam because his cover was blown. Then, he was falling in love (and she him) with one of the Group leader's sister - until she figured out that she was manipulating her.

Once he is in contact with the Group's leadership, the plot is fast paced. Who is the Soviet controller? Can he dismantle (kill) the leadership and controller? Will he survive or will the Department treat him as expendable?

I read this on Kindle. Unfortunately, Kindle's editing is terrible. The driver of the car is named Johnson yet a couple of times the name was written as Johnston. Also, there was a sentence that read "ankle didn't hurt so must". Obviously, the last word should have been "much". Sad thing is that I have found this terrible editing often in Kindle books.

Great story, though.

[Conrad Samayoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well paced. The story progresses from apparent incompetency to clever ends. The main character is at times pitiful, other times is very clever. I enjoyed the many situations, though I would have preferred a different ending for the Russell girl and the spy.
Conrad Samayoa

[Jai Baidell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jack Tate is a downgraded spy who is trying to get his job back, and is therefore willing to accept a job that he can see is a disaster even before he starts. And he's right, but the problems are greater than he anticipated. Not only that, but he is rusty, and makes mistakes. A good premise, some interesting parts, and Jack is a likable character, but the pace was uneven and the end wasn't up to scratch really. Jack makes too many errors, and I think the book fails the "would they really?" test. There is a truly great description of a street riot, though, excellent writing there.