Friends and Traitors

Inspector Troy #8

by John Lawton

John Lawton's Inspector Troy novels are regularly singled out as a crime series of exceptional quality, by critics and readers alike. Friends and Traitors is the eighth novel in the series—which can be read in any order—a story of betrayal, espionage, and the dangers of love.

London, 1958. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, newly promoted after good service during Nikita Khrushchev's visit to Britain, is not looking forward to a European trip with his older brother, Rod. Rod has decided to take his entire family on "the Grand Tour" for his fifty-first birthday: a whirlwind of restaurants, galleries, and concert halls from Paris to Florence to Vienna to Amsterdam.

But Frederick Troy only gets as far as Vienna. It is there that he crosses paths with an old acquaintance, a man who always seems to be followed by trouble: British spy turned Soviet agent Guy Burgess. Suffice it to say that Troy is more than surprised when Burgess, who has escaped from the bosom of Moscow for a quick visit to Vienna, tells him something extraordinary: "I want to come home." Troy knows this news will cause a ruckus in London—but even Troy doesn't expect an MI5 man to be gunned down as a result, and Troy himself suspected of doing the deed.

As he fights to prove his innocence, Troy is haunted by more than just Burgess's past liaisons—there is a scandal that goes up to the highest ranks of Westminster, affecting spooks and politicians alike. And the stakes become all the higher for Troy when he re-encounters a woman he first met in the Ritz hotel during a blackout—falling in love is a handicap when playing the game of spies.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Historical Mystery

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2017

About the author

John Lawton is a producer/director in television who has spent much of his time interpreting the USA to the English, and occasionally vice versa. He has worked with Gore Vidal, Neil Simon, Scott Turow, Noam Chomsky, Fay Weldon, Harold Pinter and Kathy Acker. He thinks he may well be the only TV director ever to be named in a Parliamentary Bill in the British House of Lords as an offender against taste and balance. He has also been denounced from the pulpit in Mississippi as a `Communist,’ but thinks that less remarkable.

He spent most of the 90s in New York – among other things attending the writers’ sessions at The Actors’ Studio under Norman Mailer – and has visited or worked in more than half the 50 states. Since 2000 he has lived in the high, wet hills ofDerbyshire England, with frequent excursions into the high, dry hills of Arizona and Italy.

He is the author of 1963, a social and political history of the Kennedy-Macmillan years, six thrillers in the Troy series and a stand-alone novel, Sweet Sunday.

In 1995 the first Troy novel, Black Out, won the WH Smith Fresh Talent Award. In 2006 Columbia Pictures bought the fourth Troy novel Riptide. In 2007 A Little White Death was a New York Times notable.

In 2008 he was one of only half a dozen living English writers to be named in the London Daily Telegraph‘s `50 Crime Writers to Read before You Die.’ He has also edited the poetry of DH Lawrence and the stories of Joseph Conrad. He is devoted to the work of Franz Schubert, Cormac McCarthy, Art Tatum and Barbara Gowdy. (source: http://www.johnlawtonbooks.com)

He was born in 1949 in England.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to be making a habit recently of coming in at an advanced stage of a series. As a case in point, Friends and Traitors is book eight in John Lawton’s Inspector Troy series. (However, it’s not quite as bad as a book I’m shortly to read – Prussian Blue by the late lamented Philip Kerr – which is number twelve in his Bernie Gunther series.)

As a sign of how far we are into the series, Inspector Troy is now a Chief Superintendent in charge of the Murder Squad. However, the author is kind to readers like myself who haven’t read previous books in the series, because the first part of Friends and Traitors takes us back to when Troy was a young man and to his first meeting with Guy Burgess at a family dinner party. Over the next few years, Troy has a number of memorable encounters with Burgess, one of which will prove to be crucial to events later in the book.

The Guy Burgess of Friends and Traitors is the louche, sexually promiscuous, heavy drinking risk-taker that I remember from Alan Bennett’s television play, An Englishman Abroad (with the inimitable Alan Bates playing Burgess). However, he’s also terrifically entertaining. ‘It occurred to Troy that Burgess was the kind of bloke who’d never leave a party until physically thrown out.’ The author gives Burgess some great lines: ‘Two things an Englishman should never go abroad without – Jane Austen and a badger-hair shaving brush.’ There is also a brilliant section after Burgess’ defection where he lists at length all the things he misses about England, including ‘the bloke in the pub in Holborn who could fart the national anthem’, Mantovani, his flannelette stripy pyjamas and ‘jellied eels and a bit of rough’. (There’s a lot more.)

Talking of risk takers, Troy is a bit of one himself. Clever, well-read and resourceful, he nevertheless gets himself into some scrapes, many of them involving women. And every so often in Friends and Traitors, the author drops in a nugget of sometimes quite surprising information about Troy’s past. Troy’s family contain some characters as well, especially his sisters who also have a chequered history when it comes to relationships (with men and booze).

The book did feel a little fragmented at times as if a number of different stories had been melded together. For instance, there is section in which Troy joins members of his family on a ‘Grand Tour’ of European capitals whose main purpose seems to be to place Troy in Vienna at a pivotal moment. And the murder of the agent mentioned in the book description and Troy’s subsequent investigation of it doesn’t happen until around half way through the book.

However, I really enjoyed Friends and Traitors and the fragments of information about Troy’s previous exploits have made me keen to read earlier books in the series. Who knows, I might even break with habit and start from the beginning! As a fan of espionage stories, including John le Carré, I found the sections of the book about Guy Burgess really fascinating. I recommend reading the author’s Afterword which includes details of his research and key sources.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers Grove Press in return for an honest and unbiased review.

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mixture is espionage fact and fiction.

Combining fact with fiction Lawton successfully describes the double life of spy Burgess alongside the fictional Troy.

This is my first outing with Troy and as a result will be seeking out the rest of the series.

Lawton writes well with knowledge of the period whilst keeping a good pace and strong characters throughout.

Recommended for anyone interested in the Cambridge Five and good espionage/crime fiction.

Thanks to Edelweiss for the review copy. I was not obliged to write a favourable review.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not going to summarise the story, because the blurb says it all, literally. Or rather what comes after around 33% of the book, before that there’s a lot of info dumping and a lot of what seemed to me superfluous details about Frederick Troy and his family, and it should have been shortened quite a bit. I felt the writing style was reminiscent of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and of Sartre and Camus; I don’t know if it was intentional, as FRIENDS AND TRAITORS was the first book I have read by John Lawton.

I was hoping for a spy novel in the vein of Silva and Le Carré, and it definitely resembles neither; I would advise fans from the above-mentioned not to read this book. The first part is about the infamous British spy Guy Burgess, and his drinking, rants of all sorts, his homosexuality and countless conquests, sex, and it was quite tedious. Not that it was in bad taste or anything of the sort, there was just too much and it was pointless; a little could have gone a very long way: it felt as if the author got somewhat carried away with his research. This book can definitely be read as a standalone, but I wonder how the previous seven books in this series look like. Then there’s the travelogue for the “Grand Tour” that was mostly filler until we finally arrived in Vienna. There was a lot of information about post WWII Austria with which I was wholly unfamiliar, and that was great.

FRIENDS AND TRAITORS reads more like a fictionalised Guy Burgess’ sort-of-friendship with the fictional Fred Troy than a spy caper, and I was sorely disappointed; I expected a spy novel, and there isn’t much spying. My mind was numb from all the superfluous details; I read the book over two days, and on day two I had forgotten a few murders, so lost in the meanderings about whatever. Somewhere around the middle of the book, things picked up a bit but unfortunately not for long; there was a lot of chatting about what had already happened previously, with some added information. I think. As I said, my brain was in a fog from all the unnecessary bits and pieces that at some point, the author could have killed off anyone, even Fred, that I would not have really cared. Then more pages of irrelevant – to me – family matters and such. Oh and the “second chance romance” mentioned in the blurb, well I’m afraid I had a good laugh with that one. Alas. I guess it was supposed to be a shocker, but again, all with the pointless details and a particularly unsavoury gesture posed by Troy spoiled all that.

The writing is very good, the author is particularly adept at giving great notions of time and space, the vernacular is excellent, and the dialogues brilliant.


I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Lawton takes 3/4th of a book to get the plot moving, but once it does, the pulse races.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher, Atlantic Monthly Press, for providing an advance reading copy, via Netgalley.

After a seven-year hiatus, Frederick Troy, head of the Met’s Murder Squad, is finally back in a new tale. In prior series books, John Lawton has given us Troy in action during the Blitz, other times during World War II and during the Cold War. In Friends and Traitors, the present day is the waning days of the 1950s, austerity Britain, but with plenty of flashbacks to earlier days.

If you’re an espionage reader, you’re well aware of the Cambridge Spies. Remember the wildly self-indulgent and indiscreet Guy Burgess, who defected to the USSR with Donald Maclean in 1951? Of course you do. Now imagine that while he was passing on British intelligence secrets to his Soviet masters he was a social acquaintance of Frederick Troy.

One of the delights of a John Lawton thriller is his deft mixture of real people with his fictional characters. In Frederick Troy’s world, the intensely class conscious England, it’s not at all surprising that Troy would know Burgess. After all, even if Troy is a copper, he also comes from wealth and position, and he hobnobs with politicos and high society, including when they’re slumming it. And Guy could turn any gathering into a sordid exhibition of drunkenness and sexual outrageousness.

Troy thought nothing about Burgess could surprise him; he sure wasn’t surprised by Guy turning out to be a Soviet spy. But Guy reaching out to Troy long after defecting, and asking for an unimaginable favor is a most unwelcome surprise. And it’s a surprise that leads to more revelations, danger and heartache.

With atmosphere and intrigue to burn, this book a tough one to put down. While the Frederick Troy books can be read in any order, I would recommend that at the very least you read the first book in the series, Black Out, and the most recent, A Lily of the Field.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot brings a parade of characters from Troy novels past, and for that reason alone, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone new to the series. It also shows Troy at his least likeable.

[***SPOILER ALERT***]
The most frustrating part of this mystery is that the resolution hinges on Troy matching a face in a photograph to a person he had seen only once, for a few seconds, many years previously in a darkened room. Fine, you might say, his memory is just that good. But then why does Troy fail to recognize Venetia at the rehab facility, a person he had met numerous times in his life? Dumb.

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars! But don't read until you read the other 7 Freddie Troy books.

[Karen Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friends and Traitors is the eighth book to feature Frederick Troy but the first I have read. Fortunately the books can be read as standalones although I intend to go back and read the rest of the series now because I suspect that there are recurrent characters whom long term readers enjoy seeing appear again and I perhaps missed out on that. However, this is not meant as a criticism of the book, I only have myself to blame for not discovering Troy earlier.
As the description above explains, in 1958 Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy is approached by an old friend - a fictionalised version of Guy Burgess. Troy, and readers of Friends and Traitors are first introduced to Burgess however, at a dinner party held by Troy's father in 1935. Troy is about to join the police force and is a naive innocent who is both repelled and drawn to Burgess. The book then follows the occasional meetings between the pair over the course of many years as Troy rises through the police ranks and Guy becomes ever more notorious. There are hints here of Troy's investigations in other books as we see him become more worldly. He is a fascinating character, with his own (arguably dubious) moral code which often sees him at odds with his superiors and under suspicion himself - yet for all his flaws there is no doubt that he is a superb detective.
Troy doesn't have any real investigating to do until some way through the book as the convoluted plot meanders through time to explain just how he ends up meeting Guy Burgess in Vienna twenty-three years after their first introduction. In the intervening years their paths have crossed only a few times and on each occasion Troy is left feeling relieved that their interactions are brief - though there can be no denying that he is drawn to Burgess' hedonistic disregard for societal mores. As the son of Russian émigrés, who grew up speaking French but was born and educated in England, Troy always feels an interloper and perhaps it is inevitable that he should feel some affinity to other outsiders.
John Lawton explains at the end of the book that his interpretation of Guy Burgess is a fiction based on a real man and not a representation of the real man but he is entirely believable; a charismatic, louche, almost grotesque figure who delights in shocking people and turns his risk-taking promiscuity into almost an art-form. At a time when homosexuality was still illegal in England he flaunts his proclivity for dangerous liaisons and teases Troy who tries to explain that when a serving policeman turns a blind eye, it's better that it stays blind,
"What is the old adage? In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed trouser snake is king."
By the time he and Troy meet again in Vienna, however, he has become a forlorn, rather pathetic figure who lists everything he misses about England in a tragicomic scene as he begs Troy to help him return home. After the MI5 agent sent to debrief Burgess is shot, the tension in the novel increases as Troy is caught up in the shady world of Cold War espionage; someone was following Frederick Troy becomes a familiar refrain, almost comic at first but more sinister later as it grows ever more clear that Troy's liberty and perhaps even his life is threatened as he becomes a person of interest for various organisations.
This isn't a book for lovers of fast-paced thrillers; its complex, intelligent and fragmented plot means it should be savoured rather than raced through. Though never meant to be read as anything other than fiction, the sense of the period is captured perfectly, from the attitudes of the time to the political and societal impact of the old school network and the long shadow cast by the defection of the Cambridge Five. The sharp lightness of John Lawton's writing about a dark time in the nation's history meant that this sometimes angry, often humorous, literary crime novel reminded me more of Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse than of other crime writers. Friends and Traitors is an exceptional book; it was an absolute treat to read and I'm overjoyed to have finally discovered this series and author. I highly recommend it.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been waiting a long time for the newest installment of the Inspector Troy series, and this one did not disappoint at all.

Troy isn't an easy character to like, and he doesn't go out of his way to make himself likeable either. But he's smart and loyal (in his way) and he always gets his man, even if sometimes the methodology is highly unusual and sometimes even on the fringes of ethical. But he has a strong sense of justice and he's dogged at making sure it's served.

Having said all that I won't spoil the story beyond saying this book traces Troy's 'friendship' with Guy Burgess one of the notorious Cambridge Five. Troy meets the flagrantly gay, highly social journalist, later BBC producer right before WWII and is tipped off by his own Russian expat father that based on Burgess' conversation he's likely a Soviet spy.

Troy runs into Burgess at various points during the next 20 odd years, enough for the two to have been solid acquaintances if not necessarily friends, but the book really begins to move when in 1951 Burgess defects to the Soviet Union.

I won't give anything away, but I will say that one of the joys of reading Lawton's Inspector Troy series is that he forces the reader to figure out how to connect the dots, never spoon-feeding each step to solving the mystery. And as far as I'm concerned the resolution is always terrific and worth the extra cerebral effort.

Keeping my fingers crossed there's a #9

[Ursula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm new to the Sergeant Troy series so beginning with #8 was not the smartest move. I was, understandably, occasionally baffled and occasionally frustrated by our hero's intriguing reflections upon previous plotlines. And nor can I give an opinion for other readers upon whether this volume is on a par with the preceding ones.

I did take a rather long time to read this story; it took hard work for me to really get a feel for the scenes in pre-war and war-time London and then post-war England and Vienna. But once I'd achieved that John Lawton's atmospheric writing drew me in.

This is a convoluted plot, as you would expect for a story about international espionage. The writer examines all the crossing points in the life of Sergeant Troy and the (real life) spy Guy Burgess. And he creates a full story complete with motives, incidents and conversations by interweaving historical events and people into his plot. A fascinating technique!

[Jean Kolinofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for a review.
As a young policeman, Frederick Troy first met Guy Burgess at a dinner given by Troy's father. Warned that Burgess was a suspected spy and that he should keep his distance, he still encounters him in a number of social situations and they become casual friends. It comes as no surprise to Troy when Burgess eventually defects to Russia. Now on a vacation to celebrate his brother's birthday, he is once again approached by Burgess, asking Troy to arrange his return to England.

Fans of Lawton's Troy novels will welcome the return of Meret Voytek, a Russian spy who appeared in A Lily in the Field. There is enough background offered to introduce her to new readers and her appearance is smoothly woven into Burgess' story.

Murders, the hunt for Russian spies and a look at life in 1950s England provide a fascinating read. This will also appeal to readers of John le Carre.

[Miki Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't do 20th century history at school, so have been gradually absorbing bits through the books I read. I hadn't read anything about the cold war era and the Cambridge spies before. This book is fact mixed with fiction dosed with a liberal dose of literary licence. Even so, there is enough in it for me to be able to correlate it with facts I can double check.
The story is set mainly in the post war era, but sets the scene with a good third of the book describing how the main character, Freddie Troy, came to meet and become loose friends with Guy Burgess. The main story starts with Burgess wanting to come home and asks Troy for his help. As with any book, things do not go as planned and someone is murdered. During this era of spies and espionage, everyone is a suspect.
An enjoyable read.

[Luis Gouveia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is either the third or fourth time I've read the entire series, so my review is based on the knowledge from the later books. However, in this case, it's more important to focus on the books written earlier rather than trying to find connections with the later ones

In the postscript of the book, the author mentions that he had considered writing this book much earlier, even pointing to different times when he thought about returning to it. Additionally, when reading the entire series, one notices a reference to Burgess in the second book, Old Flames, something that was never followed up in the later books before this one. This leads to the thought that this book (or, more precisely, a much different version of it) might have even been conceived as a follow-up to Old Flames.

With the introduction of new characters in the series, the book seems like an almost direct follow-up to Lily in the Field. I say "almost" because writing this book a bit later, and only after the start of the Wilderness books, allowed for the inclusion of what is probably one of the most suprising sections in this book.

As for the book itself, I really enjoyed it, and the many unexpected twists, which are typical of Lawton's books, are present and really enhance the overall quality of the story. The author cleverly incorporates elements from other books at just the right moments—within a span of no more than 20 pages, there are direct references to Old Flames, Lily in the Field, and Black Out. Later on, we also see several nods to the first Wilderness book. As I've mentioned in other reviews, reading a book with the knowledge of the entire series offers some advantages, as it lets you appreciate how cleverly the author ties together events from the whole series. However, when I first read this book, it wasn’t clear to me how I would have felt about it without the context of some of the previous books, which are referenced quite a lot, though indirectly.

A few final points to conclude: As I mentioned before, I don’t mind, and actually enjoy, rereading these books. However, even though I read this book several years ago, it’s hard to forget who did it and who was following Troy when he was being investigated. As a result, two of the surprise elements are lost on a reread.

Writing a series of books out of chronological order can sometimes lead to inconsistencies across the entire story. In my opinion, and generally speaking, Lawton handles this quite well—take, for example, the many references to events from Riptide and Second Violin (among other examples) that are mentioned in books written earlier but actually correspond to events happening later in the overall timeline. However, in this book, we see that for the first time, Troy realizes that E. Clarke is not exactly the person he thought he was. Yet, in two earlier written books set later in 1959 and 1963, respectively, there’s no clear indication that Troy is aware of this. Well, you can’t have everything, but as I’ve said before, it’s impressive how John Lawton manages the entire series.

Lawton is also an expert at placing events at crucial points in time. In fact, one wonders how Troy would handle the "2-women affair" if the final crime in the story hadn’t occurred.

Last but not least, many (if not all) of Lawton’s books end with unexpected events (I’m not even referring to the endings of the first and third Wilderness books, where the story ends in the middle of something). I’m talking about conclusions that should have consequences later on, and when reading a series, those consequences often appear in later books (or in books that refer to later events). As I noted in my review of Black Out, some of the consequences of the final event in Black Out are mentioned or explained in later books, particularly in the second Old Flames.

In Friends and Traitors, the final scene is quite unexpected, surprising, and amazing—very typical of Lawton. However, (and I may be mistaken), it seems that the consequences of the event in the last scene are ignored in later events across the entire series (in books written either later or after).

Even so, it’s a fantastic book.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Frederick Troy has never been one to follow advice, and when his family was warned to avoid Guy Burgess, Troy avoided the advice. Not that Troy was exactly fond of Burgess, thinking of him as more the bad penny always turning up than any sort of confidante. Though who would confide in anyone as indiscreet and reckless as Burgess was a puzzle.

Friends and Traitors presents Troy’s tepid friendship throughout the years from their meeting in 1935 to the day Burgess infamously defected to the Soviet Union with MacLean, one of the Eton spies whose betrayal encompassed a third man, a fourth, and possibly several more. You would think having defected and decamped to Russia, Burgess would finally stop impinging on Troy’s life, but no such luck.

Burgess misses England and wants to come home and the person he reaches to for help is Troy, embroiling him in a murder and bringing him under suspicion of being another in the cluster of traitors. Can Troy clear himself and find the real murderer?



Friends and Traitors is John Lawton’s eleventh novel and his eighth featuring Inspector Troy. As the series progresses, each book tosses away more and more of the conventions of genre fiction. If this book were a singleton – not part of a series – it would be classified as literary fiction examining the role of identity, family, patriotism, and honor in Cold War England. The fact of being a spy is central to Burgess’ identity and his role in the story, but the particulars of his espionage are immaterial. The murders come very late and are not the purpose of the story which is really about Troy figuring out more about himself and what he values.

Lawton has incorporated real historical figures in his books in the past, though never quite so completely as he has with Guy Burgess, the spy. He does it very well and Burgess’ charm and pitiable state come through along with his vulgarity, making it easy to understand how Troy could enjoy him and pity him while also slightly disliking him all at the same time.

I have loved this series since its inception. Troy is a complicated character, compromised by his affection for others, by love and loyalty that is personal rather than patriotic. He does not just sail close to the wind, he risks being blown off course. I enjoy this series and would love to see them in a Masterpiece Mystery series though it’s possible Troy with his empathy for friends and traitors like Guy Burgess is too complicated for television.

I received an advance e-galley of Friends and Traitors from Atlantic Grove through NetGalley

Friends and Traitors at Grove Atlantic
John Lawton author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is the 8th in the Inspector Troy series of books it can be read as a stand-alone novel, but only just. There are some assumptions made that the cast of characters (and believe you me, there is an extensive list of those) will be already familiar to you. This means that when certain people from Troy's past crop up it takes a few pages of dialogue and action to get a handle on exactly who they are - Eddie is a particularly troublesome character and I am still not 100% sure who he is and what his relationship to Freddie is. Fortunately there are quite a few who appear to be new to this book and as the action and intrigue is set around those it does not make the book impenetrable to someone joining the series at this juncture.

The world setting is exceptionally good with a mixture of real characters being re-imagined and fictional ones being thrown in to muddy the mix. Spanning from the mid 1930's to the late 1950s there is a lot of ground to cover but fortunately the plot pushes along at a good pace and the years simply slip past. The opening scenes in the 1930s when Troy first meets Guy Burgess at one of his father's eclectic dinner parties are evocative of the era; indeed throughout the book you feel as though you are actually back in the time and the places described. This is not a Europe many "normal" people would recognise but it is certainly one that has a true ring of authenticity to it and if you were lucky enough to be part of the upper echelons of society I am sure it is wholly accurate.

Centering around the defection of the Cambridge Spies there is just enough history in there to make the fictionalised account seem eminently plausible. This is really a book about two people Frederick Troy and his slightly skewed perspective on justice and Guy Burgess with his extravagant living and bumbling persona masking his true intentions. I'm not sure that Troy is a particularly likeable character as he does seem rather prone to murdering people who get in his way and then utilising his position as the head of the Murder Squad for the Met. to help him conceal his misdemeanours. Then again his whole Russian Emigre family is a little dubious in their actions so lets blame them for his proclivities.

The writing is very strong and sucks you in to this world. I am certainly very tempted to take the plunge and read some of the earlier works in this series - the only reservation I have is that the world created within Friends & Traitors is so very strong that I could feel let down by the earlier books.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

[Kate Vane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends and Traitors has more of the feel of a literary novel than thriller but to me, that is not a bad thing. It’s the latest in the series featuring Freddie Troy (and the first I’ve read) and follows his interactions with British diplomat and Soviet agent Guy Burgess through the mid-twentieth century.

Freddie is the son of a Russian émigré, a man who is wealthy and well connected, a newspaper proprietor and baronet. However his father, a widely read and intellectually curious man, is all too aware of his precarious status and that public opinion could turn at any moment against him and his family.

Freddie embraces the outsider identity by electing not to join the normal professions of the upper classes. Instead he has decided to be a police officer. The book begins with a dinner party at his father’s home, where he first meets Burgess, shortly before he is due to start at Hendon police college.

They have a number of chance encounters in the years before Burgess’ defection and the book briefly shifts into Burgess’ point of view to show us his defection to Moscow and the shape his life takes afterwards. But it is only about two-thirds of the way into the book, when Troy’s family holiday in Vienna is thrown into chaos by a meeting Burgess has engineered, that the thriller element of the story begins.

Freddie’s relationship with Burgess is a nuanced one. He is aware of the artifice of Burgess’s public persona, but still somehow intrigued by him, as if watching a great performer at work.

This is a fragmentary story but an atmospheric one. I enjoyed Troy’s wonderfully flamboyant family, his relationships with police colleagues, his opinions on a changing society and the interweaving of real historical figures and events. The depiction of the Blitz was particularly vivid.

Friends and Traitors gives a fascinating perspective on the Establishment of the time, what has changed – and what hasn’t. There are references to Troy’s past cases, to events in his life going on in the background, and to the way Troy, with his Russian language skills and unique connections, has previously been co-opted into espionage cases. I hope these aren’t spoilers for the earlier novels, as I’m now very keen to read more about Freddie Troy.
*
I received a copy of Friends and Traitors from the publisher via Netgalley.
Read more of my reviews at katevane.com

[MisterLiberry Head · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always in this excellent historical crime series by John Lawton, spookery ensues. FRIENDS AND TRAITORS is organized around the many casual and otherwise encounters, ranging over 15 years or so, between Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy and infamous British traitor Guy Burgess. In some ways, the two men have quite a lot in common. Both are “toffs,” refined products of the English Establishment. Yet, both also are outsiders – Troy as the scarcely assimilated son of Russian refugees, Burgess as a flagrantly promiscuous homosexual. However, the differences are what matter most. People who have known Troy a long time often note, as his older sister Masha does: “a thing of darkness in young Fred” (loc4664). He is a very serious person, often mystified by his own complicated romances with women like Méret Voytek – “strongly suspected of being both a murderer and a Russian spy” (loc987) and his runaway wife, Tosca, a former KGB major. Double agent Guy Burgess is depicted as what a friend of Mister Liberryhead’s calls a “man-baby.” He is “an endless blabbermouth” (loc372) – as well as selfish, alcoholic, priapic and utterly unreliable. In FRIENDS AND TRAITORS, Burgess has almost accidentally defected to Russia in 1951; then, by 1958, he reappears in Vienna and begs Troy to explore whether he can “de-defect” and come home to his mother and a better cuisine. He implies that among the moles in British Intelligence, yet to be discovered are not only a Fifth Man, but a Sixth and a Seventh. On the surface, all the bother is about espionage – but, really, “the subject was the queer thing, all along” (loc5319). Ultimately, we love the unpolitical, unregenerate, spook-hating Frederick Troy because he says, simply: “I believe in justice” (loc3791) and he behaves accordingly.

[The Breakneck Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has all the thriller elements with a twist on reality. An intriguing and fun read.
Having never read any of the previous Inspector Troy books I wasn't sure what to expect from this book however from the start we are introduced to Guy Burgess at a dinner of Troy's father. From the little inform I knew of Burgess I was excited to see how the story stood out amongst the other novels containing him. The book takes you from pre world war two through to the cold war with Troys path always crossing Burgess's. You begin with the feeling of Troy being lily white but as the story progresses you see the many personas he holds. Troy doesn't allow others to make up his mind about someone. several warned him off Burgess but for all of Guys flaws his dynamic personality makes Troy endear to him. The books covers several mysteries from Guys defection to the murder of a socialite with many twists and turns along the way.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, the pace and twists kept me interested whilst seeing the character development of Troy was fun to read. There are mentions of previous cases Troy has face (I assume as part of the series) but the description leaves the reader informed without the feeling of having to read previous books. This is a very good stand alone novel and I will be looking into purchasing more of the Troy books to read. If you enjoy spy novels then do give this one a go!

Thanks to netgalley, the publishers and John Lawton for the opportunity to read an ARC for my honest review.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this shortly after reading LeCarre's latest Legacy of Spies. Both books revisit old stories and flesh out plot lines from earlier works. LeCarre's novel however seems like an end, a wrapping up of themes, while Lawton's book seems more of a merging between the Troy series and his other series, Joe Holderness. Troy appeared in both of the Holdeness novels and now Joe shows up here. Lawton, much like LeCarre, is creating his own world, where his characters meet and interact with real-world characters, detailing an historical fictive world that is a shadow of our own. This novel details Troy's life-long friendship with the notorious Guy Burgess (never to my knowledge mentioned in any previous Troy books) as well as filling in past history of other characters Troy has loved or destroyed in the past. It jumps around in time, full of characters from both history and Lawton's world. We are again told of Troy's emigre family and reminded of many of his past cases.
Lawton's style is erudite and rather formal, but I enjoyed the book, more so than the last few Troy books which had an uneasy blend of mystery and espionage. Here the book is clearly about espionage and while there is eventually a murder, there is not really much of an investigation. The historical aspects of the novel are also fascinating and Lawton does a nice job of creating post WWII England and his historical characters, especially Burgess, are thoroughly believable and dovetail nicely with what I already knew about them.

[Elite Group · Rating 2 out of 5]

An Inspector Troy novel about the life of Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess – hip before hipsters, Rolling before the Stones, acid-head before LSD. The decay and dissolution that gathered around him was the end of a class, of a way of life; something that would be written about with wonder but always tinged with sadness. The novel begins in 1935, just before the Second World War when Burgess attends a dinner at the Troy home and is introduced to Freddie. They become unlikely friends and acquaintances. They meet again in 1940 during the war. Burgess believes that war was made for procreation (can’t use the words the author does) and finds the blackouts erotic. He propositions boys two or three times a week and hosts endless orgies at his flat. How does someone like this secure a post in the Foreign Office in Washington after the war? After his defection, his life is still linked to the Inspector by tenuous threads linking the two men together.
I found this book extremely difficult to read as I found it quite disjointed, jumping around from scene to scene, time period to time period without many linkages. I also found it quite vulgar at times and I am no prude! How does a Scotland Yard Inspector get involved with escorting Burgess back to London? I am afraid that this is one book that I really did not enjoy. It is not at all how I perceive the people in the diplomatic service to behave and I found the war to be trivialised.
Saphira
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Mark Feder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first novel by John Lawton that I've read (and yes, this is #8 in a series) and the first spy thriller I've read in a long time. It's not a genre I'm into, but it would be hard not to admire how well constructed and how well-written this book is. It was an enjoyable, suspenseful read with a very clever mixture of fact and fiction, invented and historical characters. I have to admit that I didn't realize that one of the main characters, Guy Burgess, was a historical figure and notorious Russian spy, until after I finished the book.

Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, the central character in this novel and the series, is probably not someone I would care very much for in real life, but enjoy as a fictional hero. The story is nicely paced with as many intrigues, betrayals, and twists and turns as you'd expect in a spy novel. The characters are well-drawn, and there's plenty of humor and even some pathos. All of the right ingredients are present and the dish is served up in classic manner.

It's hard to imagine a fan of the genre not being delighted with this book, but you don't have to be one to enjoy it. Neither is it necessary to to have read previous books in the series, although I'm sure it would be interesting and useful to be familiar with the fictional characters from other adventures. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself reading another Lawton novel sometime soon.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading junk for the last few months on my way to the memorial for my son, so picking up this book was a welcome change. John Lawton is brilliant. Freddy Troy, the master of clothes and received pronunciation, returns in this novel that is set in the world of Fifties London and flashes back to London before the War. The central character to this mystery is the incendiary, Guy Burgess, who betrayed his country with Philby and others, throwing the secret services of England into disrepute from which they didn't recover. The book plunges us into the world of English privilege and the willingness of the men of Cambridge to support their principles after taking their firsts and serve as paid agents of the Soviet Union. The references to literature and music in this wonderfully fast moving book are numerous and led to my listening to several new classical cuts. This book made me think of Trump and his men and women, all willing to betray the US to Russia out of greed. Somehow, Burgess, in his frumpy, fruity way seems so much the superior human being to Trump, also frumpy in a hyper-masculine way.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy from Readers First in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this one from the description but it just took so long to get going, there is a lot of back story before it even gets to the continental trip mentioned in the blurb.

If it wasn't for the fact i had a deadline to try and finish it to get a review written i'd probably have given up on this, and i rarely do that with a book. If a book isn't gripping you in the first 50 pages then give up - there are far too many books waiting to be read to waste time labouring through one. I even found myself at 150 pages in wondering when the plot mentioned in the blurb was ever going to start, instead of the extended back stories that never seemed to end. None of the characters kept me interested or seemed very likable, even the main protaganists, which is disappointing,

So overall i did not enjoy this experience at all and it does not make me want to check out any of the others in the series. Perhaps that may be a bit harsh coming in to a series on the 8th book, but this one did very little for me at all!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost put this down as a DNF in the 70 or so pages, but I’m glad I didn’t as this turned out to be quite an interesting read.

The beginning was not for me, I felt like there was too much jumping around and so many characters to keep track of (little did I know that many of them would be quite important later on!). It took me so long to get through the first section that I stopped and read other books for a bit, which is not something I enjoy doing.

This was an interesting historical novel with a fictitious representation of Guy Burgess, one of the Cambridge Five spy ring. Most of the story revolves around the “relationship” between Guy and Fred Troy (the true main character in the book and the series that’s named after him).

The mystery solving doesn’t come in to play until the last quarter (maybe even less than that) of the book, but there are clues littered throughout the book that help put the puzzle together in the end.

I found it an intriguing read that has made me not only more interested in reading more by the author, but also learning more about the Cambridge Five spy ring.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends and Traitors is the eighth book in the Inspector Troy series. Like the other books the story spans a number of years and makes occasional reference to events in earlier instalments, though knowledge of them is not required - their use just simply adds to the complex layering of the series. This outing charts Troy’s entanglement with Guy Burgess, the infamous British spy for the Soviets, between 1935 and 1958. A good portion of the book provides the context for the final third and an encounter with Burgess in Vienna in 1958, where the defected spy asks to be allowed to return to Britain. When a MI5 agent is shot dead while walking with Troy after meeting Burgess, Troy is left to clear his name of murder and espionage. Lawton spins a nicely plotted, atmospheric, intriguing tale, weaving real life characters, as well others that have appeared in other books and series, into the storyline. It’s a little far-fetched at times, but nonetheless an engaging and entertaining read, with some nice twists and turns.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Talk about a sudden ending. I was listening to the excellent narration, rather than reading the text. As I am used to John Lawton’s long, detailed, often meandering tales of the life of Freddie Troy in various decades, I had not realized how close I was to the denouement. Then, Ends!

I have listened to 7 of this series in order, not that it mattered if I read them in order as the books are not IN chronological order. I would love to have all 7 of them in front of me now so I could create a spreadsheet or Vin diagram to keep up with the over,as of characters. I don’t really know why I want to do this other than because I find it fascinating that his characters are recurring. They show up in small and large scenes. After reading the first two novels, I began to expect to see characters again and to look forward to it. Somehow, I felt that I had inside knowledge.

I will READ them all again. I look forward to finding out what happens next, after someone “stole his thunder” at the end of this one.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends and Traitors by John Lawton- A Frederick Troy espionage novel, about spies during World War Two and later. Troy is just starting out at Scotland Yard at the beginning, and hoping to become a detective on his own merits. He hails from a wealthy Russian family, who escaped to Britain after the first World War, and became English aristocrats. He keeps running into a gadfly named Guy Burgess, who always seems to know the best people and the latest news. Years later, Troy, a Chief Inspector now, runs into Burgess again, a known spy for the Russians, who wants to come home to England. But it's not that simple, and chaos follows.
Lawton's books are very well crafted and I enjoyed this one, especially the Blackout sequences during WWII. I think this is book number eight in the series but I'm not sure it matters that much where you begin as this stood up well as a standalone book. Not quite Le Carre, but then who is. A good intriguing spy novel.

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book, but found it a bit disappointing. It seemed pretty perfunctory, particularly as a follow-up to A Lily of the Field, which I thought was the best of them all.

Overall I've loved this series. I relate to Freddie Troy almost as I would to a relative (and as his relatives in the book relate to him): I think he's great, but get really annoyed by some of his epically bad decisions. Up until now his character had a certain spark, something that's missing in Joe Wilderness, the protagonist of the two books that appeared between this one and the last Freddie Troy. Sadly, it's missing in this latest outing.

I just don't think there's enough plot to fill up even 320-something pages, and what plot there is becomes bogged down with too many references to other books in the series. The character development seen in other books is missing.

I wouldn't say this is a bad book, but the magic is missing.

[Norman Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I miss London. I miss the pubs. I miss the clubs....I miss my flanette stripy pajamas....I miss Penguin Books...I miss the blow jobs in St. James Park..I miss breakfast at the Ritz..I miss spotted dick." Guy Burgess offering a stunning riff on his desperation to somehow return after he and Donald McLean accused as spies in 1951 fled to Moscow. Not to be. The nominal lead in the book is Chief Inspector Troy, who has many issues himself, not least occasionally shooting people to instantly solve problem. But my fascination with the book is becoming acquainted in a fashion with Burgess, one of those paradoxical people one meets occasionally in life that should be thoroughly dislikable, after all he was a traitor and his life style was divergent to say the least, but you also find yourself liking the person, not least for that incredible riff. A good read, my first by John Lawton, but more to come.

[Angela L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came away a little unsure about how I felt about this book.
I enjoyed the style of writing, short snappy chapters with an undercurrent of a very British sense of humour, but just felt that nothing much happened for the vast majority.
Everything is leading up to the slightly more exciting finale but for two thirds of the book we seem to be following a London based elite who booze, screw but yet hold down important government jobs.
Based loosely around the renowned spy, Guy Burgess (who particularly comes across as a bit of a waste of space) it had all the makings of a taut spy thriller but fell short of the mark for me.
Inspector Troy seems to be a policeman who doesn't do very much (apart from murdering people) and he and his fellow characters were just too shallow for me.
I daresay this would be an ideal read for many but it left me pretty much unshaken or stirred.