Hostile Intent by Clive Egleton

First published in 1993

Hostile Intent is an old-fashioned spy story, Clive Egleton's first to feature SIS agent Peter Ashton. The well-paced novel begins with the assassination of Bob Whittle, a member of the British Army's Intelligence Corps, shortly after his meeting in Dresden with Galina Kutuzova, a GRU officer who reports to the KGB. Galina has been selling information to Whittle, while her partner, Yuri Rostovsky, has been peddling it to the Americans. Together they have profited by selling classified information to the French. Ashton is called in to to investigate Whittle's murder -- a task that proves difficult given the unwillingness of the Foreign Office to blame the Russians for anything in light of the Cold War's demise. The KGB kills Rostovsky and Galina flees to avoid attempts on her life while Ashton, trying to spook a GRU officer into contacting Moscow about Galina, pretends to be a double agent, risking his credibility with his own superiors. Egleton ratchets up tension as Ashton tries to find Galina before the KGB can locate and kill her.

Although Hostile Intent is carefully plotted, there are times when the story becomes difficult to believe. It was particularly hard to understand the continuing desire of the Foreign Office to ignore the true cause of Whittle's murder and to treat Galina as unimportant, given fairly obvious evidence that Galina and Rostovsky were selling highly classified material and that Galina still had information that would benefit the British. The nature of the information she finally reveals is also a bit over the top. A separate problem with Hostile Intent is that Egleton's writing style, while competent, needed improvement: Hostile Intent includes too many awkward sentences and Egleton too often resorted to cliche. Apart from those quibbles, Hostile Intent is a novel I would recommend to fans of espionage fiction. Ashton isn't quite in a league with George Smiley or Bernard Samson, but Egleton spins an entertaining story and peppers it with enough action to keep the pages turning.

RECOMMENDED

Spy Sinker by Len Deighton

Published by HarperCollins in September 1990

Spy Sinker retells the Samson saga (as developed in the Game, Set, and Match trilogy and in the first two books of the Hook, Line, and Sinker trilogy) from the points of view of players other than Samson: notably his wife Fiona, the bombastic fellow agent Bret Rensselaer, the Director General Henry Clevemore, and the power behind the scenes, Silas Gaunt. Most of the novel centers on the Game, Set and Match time frame. It fills in gaps and provides additional insight into Fiona, but unlike the other novels, this one is more expository, more telling than showing.

Spy Sinker is essential if you've read the other five for the clarifying background it provides and for tying up loose ends (and maybe even for making sense of the whole thing, because trying to keep information straight that develops over the course of five books is challenging: this novel acts as an outline of prior events). As a stand-alone, however, it's a bit more of a yawner than other books in the series, and certainly a spoiler if you don't save it for last. Its main interest derives from the insight it provides into characters you've grown to know (and to like or dislike, depending on the character) over the course of the first five books.

RECOMMENDED

The Sisters by Robert Littell

First published in 1986

The Sisters is one of the best of Robert Littell's novels, and the best of the four fictional accounts of a certain real world event I've read. The plot is byzantine without being confusing; the complexity is lovely and the pace at which events unfold is perfect. Unlike some of Littell's earlier works, the characters on display in The Sisters are fully realized.  A synopsis would spoil the fun, so my description of the novel's contents will be brief.

The sisters Dark and Night (a line from a Whitman poem) are two odd duck CIA agents whose job is to plot.  They are wonderfully quirky and so Machiavellian by nature the CIA seems a perfect place for them to roost.  They’ve cooked up a conspiracy they believe to be authorized, albeit silently, by the CIA Director, and they keep it to themselves when they set it in motion.  Figuring out who is working for whom (and who is betraying whom) is the novel's challenge, but the novel is worth reading for its characters, not just its intrigue.  The story's portrayal of the political workings of the CIA (which might as well be the CYA) seem perfectly credible; in any event, it's a fun addition. A satisfying display of karma at the novel's end left me grinning.

The Sisters is a masterful work, a treat not just for fans of espionage novels but for any reader who enjoys good writing.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Spy Line by Len Deighton

Published by Alfred A. Knopf on November 25, 1989

Spy Line -- the middle installment in the Hook, Line, and Sinker trilogy -- picks up where Spy Hook left off. Samson's loyalty is questioned, he isn't getting answers to his own questions about his wife's defection, people are dying, and people who seemed to die in the past aren't staying dead. More I cannot say without spoiling the intricate plot.

Spy Line has more action than the previous novel. Samson proves himself an adept field agent even after years behind a desk. But he isn't a James Bond type superhero; he's a dedicated public servant who wants to uncover the truth even if his superiors would prefer that the truth be kept secret. The minor characters in Spy Line really shine: they bumble, they seduce, they act shamefully or unselfishly -- in short, they behave as inconsistently and unpredictably as real people, and real people is what they feel like. Deighton does a masterful job of bringing every character to life in this book. He also does a remarkable job of establishing a sense of place -- the reader feels present in (what was then) East Germany, feels the repression, the fear, the history. And he does a satisfying job of tying together the loose threads, of resolving all the outstanding plot lines.

The story is compelling (even shocking) but this novel stands out for Deighton's portrayal of Samson as a man torn apart by his love for a treasonous wife, for his live-in girlfriend, and for his country (which doesn't treat him well at all). This novel is nearly as good as John Le Carre at his best.

RECOMMENDED

Spy Hook by Len Deighton

 

Published by Alfred A. Knopf on December 3, 1988

This is the first novel of a trilogy that follows the Game, Set and Match trilogy (in which British agent Bernard Samson's wife Fiona defects). Spy Hook begins with the beleaguered Samson asking former agent Jim Pettyman, now working for an American corporation, to return to England to answer questions in the investigation of missing agency funds. After considerable intrigue involving (among other characters), a Hungarian known as Dodo, Samson learns something he isn't supposed to know about Bret Rensselaer, an agent who played an important role (and died) in the Game, Set and Match trilogy. To the consternation of his bosses, Samson keeps nosing into the missing money, following his suspicion that Fiona set up the account. Eventually Samson comes under suspicion (could he be working with his treasonous wife?) and as the noose begins to tighten, we come to a cliffhanger ending.

The sheer number of characters involved in the story can make it a bit confusing, but that complexity is just a reason to pay attention, to look back from time to time, or to take notes, not to dislike the book. The story is fast paced, intriguing, tightly plotted and well written with sharply defined characters. Samson's growing confusion as he defies orders and investigates matters he's supposed to leave alone makes him an appealing, sympathetic character. The supporting characters are often recognizable components of bureaucratic institutions -- the ones who get ahead by knowing the right people and stay there by creatively doing nothing, taking credit for the hard work of their subordinates.  All told, Spy Hook is an excellent beginning to the trilogy, topped only by Spy Line,  the second installment.

RECOMMENDED