A Tangled Web

by Alan Maley

[Cambridge Readers Level 5]

Award-winning original fiction for learners of English. At seven levels, from Starter to Advanced, this impressive selection of carefully graded readers offers exciting reading for every student's capabilities. Dan Combes is a former MI6 agent living peacefully in France. After being attacked by a former colleague, he realizes his relationship with the British Secret Service has not yet finished. He believes the attack is linked to his roles in Berlin and Central America. But that was years ago so why do they want him dead now? Dan returns to England and confronts his difficult past - a web of lies and deceit that he knows must end. Contains a paperback and 3 Audio CDs with complete text recordings from the book.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Alan Maley worked for The British Council from 1962 to 1988, serving as English Language Officer in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, and China, and as Regional Representative in South India (Madras). From 1988 to 1993 he was Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge. From 1993 to 1998 he was Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature of the National University of Singapore, and from 1998 to 2003 he was Director of the graduate programme at Assumption University, Bangkok. He is currently a freelance consultant, and Series Editor for the Oxford University Press Resource Books for Teachers series.

His publications include Resource Book for Teachers: Literature, Beyond Words, Sounds Interesting, Sounds Intriguing, Words, Variations on a Theme, and Drama Techniques in Language Learning (all with Alan Duff), The Mind's Eye (with Françoise Grellet and Alan Duff), Learning to Listen and Poem into Poem (with Sandra Moulding), Short and Sweet, and The English Teacher's Voice.

Reviews

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Text + audio. Learning English on my own. The story was very interesting but the end was quite awful, quick, and difficult to understand.

Synopsis: "Dan Combes is a former MI6 agent living peacefully in France. After being attacked by a former colleague, he realises his relationship with the British Secret Service has not yet finished. He believes the attack is linked to his roles in Berlin and Central America. But that was years ago so why do they want him dead now? Dan returns to England and confronts his difficult past - a web of lies and deceit that he knows must end."

[Margot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this book for my english classes, for my FCE next year. It was too easy, actually. I don't get why people like this stuff. I only liked the ending, where everyone died. that was how I'd have written it. Worst book in its category!

[Flor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me gustó la historia con aires a Jason Bourne y el mundo de los espías y conspiraciones gubernamentales pero el final me pareció muy apresurado, cómo si lo hubieran querido terminar rápido. Me hubiera gustado más desarrollo.
Así y todo es de fácil lectura y no tiene un vocabulario muy complejo, es ideas para mejorar el idioma y aprender nuevas palabras.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pensé que iba a estar mucho más aburrido ya que me lo mandaron a leer para las clases de inglés. La historia es sencilla pero atrapante. Faltaron mejores descripciones de los personajes, lugares y acciones. Por momentos era demasiado rápido, aunque para ser de 100 páginas estuvo bien :)

[Lu luentreletras · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐

[Sira · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Tot i ser una lectura obligatòria, m'ha agradat més del que esperava, i fins i tot he sentit un interès real per saber el final.

[Hazel Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was easy to read, and very catching!

[LEO · Rating 2 out of 5]

刚刚读过这本书，这个应该属于悬念小说吧？故事情节比较吸引人，节奏也比较快，但是有的描写不是很细腻。最后一部分感觉结束的太快了，很多结局没有交代，直接就把整个小说关闭了。感觉最后一部分，作者是匆匆结束了，有点虎头蛇尾的感觉。

[Azedin · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good for english learners, easy to read

[Marcia B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used it with my EFL students.

[Yasuko · Rating 3 out of 5]

2015.1.12 19000words

[Elena Țicău · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh... It was ok...

[طارق البخاري]

My first english story I've read