Gibraltar Road

Commander Shaw Counterspy #1

by Philip McCutchan

A phone rings in a London flat. A little later an Admiralty physicist disappears from Gibraltar, and a body is found washed up against its shores… Deep below Gibraltar’s Rock, a secret, auto-powered nuclear fuel-production unit throbs and hums as its builds up a store of AGL SIX, a dangerous new motivating-agent for the British atomic submarines to be based there. This fuel unit has developed a fault. Allowed to overrun beyond a certain point, it will produce the biggest atomic blast since Hiroshima. Only Ackroyd, the persecution-complexed inventor of the unit, can stop it. And Ackroyd has disappeared... Commander Esmonde Shaw, R.N, of the Naval Intelligence Division wants to get out and settle down with a house in the suburbs. Unfortunately for Naval Intelligence’s finest secret agent, these peaceful plans will have to wait. Shaw establishes that the physicist has fallen into the hands of foreign agents operating from Spanish territory. Shaw's job is to get Ackroyd back to Gibraltar before the Rock blows up — and before Ackroyd is smuggled out of Spain... As Shaw wanders rounds the Spanish streets, he catches the heavy odour of a well-remembered perfume. Karina Czercov, the most dangerous, beautiful woman behind the Iron Curtain, is caught up in this intrigue. Something in the air tells them that this encounter was going to be a fight to the finish... Gibraltar Road is a high-octane thriller filled with espionage and intrigue... Praise for Philip McCutchan "A nautical war buffs feast...[McCutchan] keeps an authoritative hand on the wheel and his descriptions of battles at sea ring with laconic truth." - The New York Times Book Review 'A gripping page-turner.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Trade-Off.' Philip McCutchan(1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.

Genres: Thriller, War, Spy Thriller

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

aka Robert Conington Galway, Duncan MacNeil

Philip McCutchan (1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.

Reviews

[Jim A]

Written in 1960 this involves the Cold War. Written by a British author, the characters and situations reminded me of Ian Fleming's works (Bond, James Bond) as well as Alistair MacLean. Dry British wit and a lot of mental translation of British vernacular from 60 years ago into today's meanings.

Kindle Unlimited.

[Nick Brett]

Oh dear. Dated and ponderous.
I was slightly taken in here, a deal, brand new cover and a new thriller series. Sadly not, this was written in 1960 as the Bond books came out, but while the Bond books have dated too, they had pace, an iconic character and some great plots and bad guys.
This feels dated even for 1960, very stilted dialogue and dull characters. A secret nuclear thing hidden on Gibraltar is going to blow and the scientist who can fix it appears to have gone mad and done a runner. Enter Commander Esmonde Shaw who is sent over to find the scientist and put everything right, in as slow and dull way as possible.
Painful and best avoided.

[Mrs E]

OMG!! What a book. Just couldn't put it down or read fast enough. I was gripped from page 1 and enjoyed every word. Being Gibraltarian, I was able to picture all the places mentioned, which seemed to make the story more riveting. As a result of the enjoyment I've had with Gibraltar Rd, I'm now after book 2 in the series and intend to read them all.

[Keith Withers]

Outstanding and engrossing.

An outstanding and thoroughly engrossing thriller from start to finish. Would recommend this and all other books in the series to all thriller enthusiasts.

[Daniel Deitch]

Thrilling

A real old style lazy afternoon thriller with a strong story and a real plot. I wish more authors would be like this. All stories need a beginning, middle and a proper ending just like this one

[James N Fulton, Jr.]

N interesting story

The premise of the story was very interesting. The language was a bit difficult to understand since there was a lot of slang that I did not.know the meaning of. I will definitely read more from this author.

[Joyce H Morgan]

Entertaining

Entertainment but also tiresome details were a bit much for my taste. Who cares he has an ulcer? Amazon word

[Margy Wright]

Nuclear Alert

An excellent book. The start of the allied nuclear race is very exciting. Set in Gibraltar and Spain: an interesting setting

[J.B. Murray]

A reasonable spy novel

I stuck it out to the end but it was not in the normal run of the genre. A bit far fetched at times.

[Mary]

Too many words

An okay plot but lost in the overly trite descriptions of EVERYTHING! Would have enjoyed more if he would have been more succinct.

[Ivan]

Literally cliffhanger

Well written and easy reading story.
I look forward (including previous) adventures of Shaw & Karina & Debby of course.

[Beth McGee]

Long sentence structure

This book tells an interesting story but is hard to read because of long, run-on sentences. This style does not appeal to me but may to others.

[Daniel Sorrell]

This book was torturous to finish. The book is so overwritten. The 285 pages should have been paired down to about 150.

[John Todd]

Brit Spies

As good as a British spy story can get, right up with Lawson or La Carre. Bravo!
I’ll be looking to read more about Commander Shaw.