The Silent War by Andreas Norman
Saturday, February 22, 2020 at 9:02PM 
First published in Sweden in 2017; published in translation by Quercus on September 3, 2019
The Silent War differs from most espionage thrillers, in that it pits two allies against each other. Whether spy agencies should treat any nation as an ally, as opposed to a competitor to spy upon, is one of the book’s salient questions.
Betrayal is the constant theme of spy novels. Betrayal in the form of infidelity is central to The Silent War. Jonathan Green works for MI6 and is having an affair with Frances because their sex is so much better than he has with his wife Kate. Kate suspects Jonathan is seeing someone but she isn’t sure. As the station chief in Brussels, Jonathan has plenty of reasons to be secretive. One of his secrets involves Hercules, an operation proposed by Robert Davenport, head of the MI6 Middle East Department and Frances’ husband. There are leaks galore in the Brussels station, so Hercules will not be a secret for long.
The House in Turkey, near the Syrian border, is a part of Operation Hercules that even the Ministry of Defense doesn’t want to know about. Based on stolen documents, a Swedish intelligence operative named Bente Jensen learns that the Brits are using the House to interrogate prisoners in unlawful ways. That this comes as a shock to anyone in an intelligence service is hard to swallow, but MI6 is willing to go to any length to keep the House a secret, particularly from British politicians who might find it embarrassing.
Robert has a Clash of Civilizations mindset. Jonathan is more reasonable and therefore has reservations about the House, but he must retrieve the documents if he is to keep his job. Jonathan is also tasked with contacting an asset in Syria, a dangerous mission that would not have been assigned if Jonathan had kept it in his pants.
Meanwhile, Bente’s husband Fredrik, like Kate’s, is sleeping with another woman. It is no coincidence that the woman has turned her amorous attention to Bente’s husband, nor is it a coincidence that Bente’s mobile phone has been attacked by a virus. That attack adds to the institutional distrust of Bente, who (in the opinion of her superiors) exercised questionable judgment by accepting documents purloined from the British, potentially creating a diplomatic crisis. Bente is keeping the leaked documents in a safe in her home, which seems like an unprofessional place to stash top secret goodies.
British spies are part of the rich literary tradition of espionage novels. Swedes, not so much. The change of pace, coupled with the diplomatic difficulties of one European nation spying on another, is the most interesting aspect of The Silent War. The focus on cheating husbands and clandestine houses reserved for torture is more typical fare. The Silent War holds few surprises as it addresses those themes.
Characterization is not neglected, although the hand-wringing spouses of both genders who fret about their marriages again offer few surprises. The novel does have some stimulating action scenes near the end. Since they involve agents of friendly powers shooting at each other, they stretch the limits of plausibility. While The Silent War isn’t top shelf spy fiction, it does just enough to warrant its placement on a lower middle shelf, worthy of being consumed after better spy novels have been devoured.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS