Liked the storytelling and the main character. Unfortunately, I guess the ending; it was the only conclusion that fit with the story, and also with the number of pages remaining. :) ( )

Kate Henderson is a senior officer in MI6, and has even been tipped by C, the current Head of Service, as a possible successor to him. As the book opens, she is engaged in ‘recruiting’ Lena, a young Serbian woman, to act as an agent on a high-level operation being mounted against the family of a Russian oligarch with extensive and powerful contacts. At first everything seems to go well, and the operation garners what seems to be some devastating intelligence, suggesting that a mole has penetrated the higher levels of the British establishment – not merely within the intelligence community but right to the top levels of government.

However, the operation suddenly goes wrong in the most dramatic manner, and Kate and her colleagues are left wondering whether any of the information they have garnered can be relied upon. They are in a fraught dilemma, not knowing whether to proceed on the basis of what they have learned, and risk everything backfiring in the most damaging way, or to leave things as they are, not knowing whether all the country’s gravest secrets are completely compromised.

Tom Bradby focuses on keeping the plot moving, rather than laborious development of his characters. That is not, however, to say that his characters are two-dimensional. Kate is a well drawn figure, constantly striving for some semblance of work-life balance, managing the demands of two teenage children and a fractured relationship with her ageing mother. Her husband is also a high flyer, working in the Private Office of the Secretary of State for Education. I worked briefly in that office myself, and I was impressed by how closely Tom Bradby caught the internal politics that bedevil such a role, and the constantly fluctuating relationship between ministers and officials.

Bradby is not a viable challenger for John le Carré’s throne – he does not attempt the same exploration of the vagaries of the human condition – but he is quite definitely a writer of engaging and gripping spy stories. ( )

This is a brilliant spy thriller set in present day Britain (without any mention of Brexit!). Kate Henderson, head of the Russia Desk at the British Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6) must find a Russian mole within MI6 as well as the identity of a British politician who is a Russian spy. All the while she needs to balance home life as a mother and wife to a political assistant to a senior cabinet minister, plus manage her own mother afflicted with dementia. A tall order! The internecine intrigue within MI6 plays out in the story too: rivalry for the top job is ever present.

The conclusion is a slight let down: the identity of the mole is a surprise but not a total shock. There's plenty of suspense in getting to the big reveal and throughout there's some thrilling action in such exotic locales as Istanbul and Mykonos.

Highly recommended for fans of "classic" spy stories.

I requested and received an advance reader's copy of this book from the Atlantic Monthly Press via Netgalley. The comments about it are my own. ( )

Kate Henderson is an MI6 officer who stumbles upon information showing that the next UK Prime Minister is a Russian plant aided by a spy embedded deep in Government, perhaps even in the Security Service itself. In addition to resolving this problem and maintaining her own reputation, she is beset by office politics and a fraught home life.

The thriller element works well and we are guessing and off-balance regarding the identity of the spy. Kate’s home situation rings true: a truculent teenage daughter, a dementia-stricken mother and a husband who resents her work-life balancing acts.

A satisfying thriller with clear plotting, action an a rewarding climax. The only criticism is that there is, perhaps, not enough jeopardy surrounding the spy catchers. ( )

In Secret Service, Kate Henderson, a MI6 agent enlists a young undocumented immigrant to work as a nanny for a Russian oligarch’s son and has her plant a listening device. From the little they were able to intercept, they learn someone who will be running for Prime Minister is a Russian asset. In spite of their tightly controlled security, somehow the Russians learn they have been intercepted, revealing there is a mole.

The story follows her and her team through their efforts to unmask the candidate and the mole. Unfortunately, it hits very close to home as her husband works for one of the candidates she must investigate. She also faces scrutiny at work where her supervisor questions whether she should trust her source, speculating that she, albeit unknowingly, might be manipulated by Russia to sow distrust of the candidates.

I wish I could say the idea that Russia could cultivate and, through extortion, greed, or ambition, persuade anyone who ran for high office is too implausible and that Bradby should at least try to write a reasonable plot. Unfortunately, truth has surpassed fiction and the implausible has become real. It is unfair, but that has made Secret Service a difficult book to like.

However, my disappointment with the book is not rooted in how it is “torn from the headlines.” but in that it was too predictable. I was less than halfway through when i realized who the mole was, who tipped off the Russians, who was responsible for the deaths of Kate’s associates. It was practically in neon lights, though explaining exactly why would reveal who it was, which I won’t just in case you want to read a fictional variation on our miserable present.

I
received an e-galley of Secret Service from the publisher through Edelweiss.

Secret Service at Grove Atlantic
Tom Bradby at ITV
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/11/11/secret-service-by-tom-bra... ( )