UK Book Club discussion

Better late than never, it's spies and everything espionage for March!

I'm very happy with this genre and have enjoyed many a Graham Greene and a John Le Carré (particularly the Smiley novels). On the non-fiction front I found Ben Macintyre's Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal really engrossing. It is a fascinating true story of a devious double agent. I also have his A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal on my to read list, which is all about the infamous cold war Cambridge spy ring. But this time I think I will go for Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler, which I have been meaning to read for ages.

What can you recommend and what will you be reading?

I will be reading Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T Sullivan

Ug, I seem to be trapped in 1950s–early 1960s England right now, not one of my favorite places to be! Just read Jane and Prudence (1953), starting Village School (1955), and now this! I’ve always heard how wonderful John LeCarré is and my mother adored his novels, which I inherited, so I will add to my stack for March The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. About time I suppose.

Worth considering are the books on Buster Crabbe who went missing in Portsmouth Harbour spying on the hull of a Russian ship.

Was he killed or captured or did he simply defect?

The Final Dive by Don Hale
Frogman Spy by M.G and J.A Welham

I've settled on Devil May Care which is a Sebastian Faulks James Bond novel.
I have read all the Ian Fleming's Bond books so I was a bit apprehensive to take this one on but I'm 100 pages in and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Finished The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. I can see its qualities but didn’t love it; I felt it telegraphed all its moves so few twists surprised me, and some of the psychological underpinnings were not totally credible. Still, it contains a portrait of a character who could easily be Vladimir Putin, which was moderately interesting in this moment.

Just finished Devil May Care which ended up being a pretty good Bond novel. I would say it was a Bond of the Books rather than the films which suited me fine. 3 stars.

I am still waiting for the library copy of Journey Into Fear to arrive and it's the last day of March tomorrow! I may have to download the ebook instead....

Libraries certainly don’t operate on monthly-challenge time!

So I did end up downloading the ebook of 'Journey into Fear' and I'm finally getting around to reading it. Only 3 months late for espionage in the genre challenge ;)