A synopsis of Matthew Richardson’s excellent espionage novel might ring bells among the spy fiction cognoscenti. It opens with a retired senior spook being approached by the National Security Adviser, and commissioned to undertake an urgent investigation. She has very robust evidence to suggest the existence of a Russian mole placed high in the echelons of the most senior officials overlooking the security services, and the culprit could be one of four possible candidates.
Yes, this book revisits the premise behind one of the most accomplished and well known spy novel’s, John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in which George Smiley was called back from retirement (in his case imposed from above, rather than sought voluntarily) to investigate four of his senior former colleagues, and establish which was the traitor. However, despite such strong similarities in the basic premise, this is no hollow reworking of le Carré’s work. Solomon Vine is a very different character from George Smiley, although they both emerged from similarly academic circles. In this book, the four potential culprits are even higher than those whom Smiley had to consider: the Head of MI6, the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Cabinet Secretary.
The plot is labyrinthine, so I will say no more about the content, beyond the fact that it is highly complex. I don’t know what Matthew Richardson’s background is, but he captures his setting very accurately. His description of the various offices around Whitehall that Vine has to visit seem very accurate – over the years I have worked in two of the buildings that Vine visits, as well as being lucky enough to attend meetings at No. 10 a few times. Richardson’s descriptions are spot on.
He develops the story very capably, and despite the alarming premise of the novel, it never feels at all implausible. He may not have le Carré’s purple prose, but then who else does? On the basis of this novel, and the couple of other that I have read by him, he is right up there with Charles Cumming in competition to be heralded as le Carré’s successor.