A Colder War: A Novel (Thomas Kell Book 2)

Charles Cumming knows his stuff and knows MI6. It seems MI6 was a background for him. He has brought us Tom Kell, a spymaster who is at his best. Tom Kell had a nasty time with an American CIA agent who was into renditions and water boarding, and Kell took the major blame. He was disinherited from MI6 pending a trial. The trial is in limbo, and in the meantime, Kell is asked to return once again to assist Amelia, the 'C' of MI6. Amelia has promised Kell a new post. His salary and benefits were returned a year ago when he helped save Amelia's son. Now, she wants more.Someone is leaking secrets in the Bosporus. There are several targets, and each one is looked at with great rigor. A fellow colleague has been killed in a plane crash, and it is up to Kell to find the reason. Somewhere between, London, Turkey, and Russia, there is a double agent. Along the way, a lot of good sleuthing and spy work. Kell has his choice of the best spies, and he once again meets up with an old antagonist and meets a new one. The environments in each of these countries is explored within the boundaries of work and play, and we are there. We can smell the sea, observe the night clubs and the restaurants. Harrods comes alive in London, the secret offices and houses of MI6, their offices in other countries, the secret phone rooms, the tea, the whiskey, the food, all lead us to an extremely well run organization. We meet the SVR, Russian secret agents, CIA, observe their methods of clandestine work. And, most of all, we get to know Kell, who is almost as secretive as Amelia, the woman he works for.Such a well written novel, and you cannot guess how 'things' will work out because new problems and people pop up right until the end.Recommended. prisrob 02-10-17

One problem faces every would be reviewer.. should one reveal any of the plot.. A quick scan of the reviews..especially the lengthy ones..will reveal not only the story but how the final voting score is arrived at. Many are happy to accept a long and winding road before the final flurry of spy catching does.. or doesnt happen. Those that are not are probably better off with AndyMcNab.Spy books have many virtues..the convoluted tradecraft.the careful observation that reveals guilt and the final apprehension of theEtheopian in the fuel supply.I am less interested in intimate details of the sex life...or the angst that goes with it..of C or Kell or other players..especially if not relevant.Authors should include this in the plot only if it does not delay the story.perhaps.Cumming.s description of chasing the bad American around Harrods. finding the DLB and chasing..and catching..the bad guy in Odessa is exciting stuff. Trying to identify motive is less gripping ...perhaps.And this patchy .mix definitely puts some readers off.All I can say is that generally I was pulled along by the story..as you should be..and enjoyed the trip.Mr. Cumming does it for me.

If you are looking for a comic book superhero spy who jumps out of helicopters holding a damsel in distress, while ringing the Pope's private cell phone number on his way to save the President's daughter with his BFF Prince Charles, this may not be the adrenaline-soaked ride you're looking for.Tom Kell is a damaged man. "He had lost sight of his own status, allowed himself to forget the considerable achievements of his long career". His insights into treachery and deceit are part of his nature, Kell knows how to find traitors in a world of gray. "Search for men who are hurt by fate or nature. The ugly, people craving power or influence, people who have been defeated by circumstances." He understands the allure of treachery. "Let it go” he says. “You’re talking to people who see through you. This was about pleasure. The pleasure of manipulation. The joy of thumbing your nose at the state. The sadism of control over those whom you consider to be lesser mortals". Working in a world that is not always black and white, he maintains a unambiguous moral compass, telling one culprit, "You degrade the suffering and the complexity of the issues about which you profess to care by using them to validate your treachery".Charles Cumming's characters are believable and fully developed. Kell's boss Amelia Levene "embodied the nailed-down principle that a pedigree SIS officer should never come off second best". But she's not an entirely reliable boss and not at all forthcoming with information. Kell is the sort of spy she needs to fight this Colder War. He "knew the emotional territory: the quiet, always conscious desire to go face-to-face with an adversary, to prove one’s superiority, often while wearing a mask of kinship and warmth".Tom Kell is damaged, but not broken; Amelia Levene is confident, but not perfect or invincible. Both come off as human and real in this well-written, entertaining and suspenseful spy thriller.

Revives the cold war and throws in a romance with a younger woman, these are the stereotypical elements in this Thomas Kell novel. It had a lot of potential, like the setting, which Cumming handles adequately but not quite as nicely as Kannon. I was expecting the Kell character development to be better as Cumming started him out in the previous novel but Kell and what he did in this novel was too predictable and stereotypical (more like the Daniel Craig James Bond and not the previous Thomas Kell). Also the romance was too stereotypical and then had the typical James Bond ending for such younger women. Sure there is disdain for his former bosses but not to the same story level as in the previous novel (and the next) that made those books different and drove the Kell character to do things you didn't expect and would question. This one will be considered a fair sequel, but on its own it is not as good.

The return of Thomas Kell, the disgraced British intelligence agent, although one wonders how much official work he can get whilst still officially being disgraced. That said, I am happy to forgive this if it gets us a third installment.When MI6 head of station in Turkey diers in a plane crash, Kell is the perfect man to investigate given the back story that is soon revealled. Kell travels to Instanbul, and it quickly becomes apparent that there is a traitor somewhere in the region, but is it MI6 or an American. Kell also has to deal with the American who caused him to lose his career in the first place. The story takes Kell to Turkey, Greece and Eastern Europe, and as he begins to uncover the truth he becomes more deeply involved with the dead man's daughter.The style reminds me a little of Fleming in terms of the descriptions, the attention to details like the food and atmosphere. Overall, a really good read, and I hope there is more to come.

This book was published in 2014. This is a tale of espionage set in today's world. The backdrop to the action, which is centred in Turkey, is the civil war in Syria and the recent Russian invasion of Crimea and destabilisation of Ukraine. Repercussions of Iran's nuclear programme also crop up. I finished this book on the night of the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey making this tale of espionage feel all the more real.The British, America, and Russian secret services compete with each other by any and all means for influence but above all to score points off each other. They do that by undermining and ultimately killing each other while everyone else is a pawn in this greater game going on around them. After a time out in the cold, Tom Kell is brought back into the British SIS by "C" Amelia Levene. His assignment is to get to the bottom of the sudden, apparently accidental, death of the British head of station in Ankara. She chose him for this job for personal reasons which are quickly made clear.I am not a fan of espionage fiction but I have found myself curiously drawn to the books of Charles Cumming. This is the 3rd I've read and his ability to generate the atmosphere of sinister threat from the tedium of routine surveillance made this a very compelling read. This is a tale of deceit and treachery on many levels and right to the end you never know who to trust. Even when you finish you will be left wondering.

Charles Cumming knows his stuff and knows MI6. It seems MI6 was a background for him. He has brought us Tom Kell, a spymaster who is at his best. Tom Kell had a nasty time with an American CIA agent who was into renditions and water boarding, and Kell took the major blame. He was disinherited from MI6 pending a trial. The trial is in limbo, and in the meantime, Kell is asked to return once again to assist Amelia, the 'C' of MI6. Amelia has promised Kell a new post. His salary and benefits were returned a year ago when he helped save Amelia's son. Now, she wants more.Someone is leaking secrets in the Bosporus. There are several targets, and each one is looked at with great rigor. A fellow colleague has been killed in a plane crash, and it is up to Kell to find the reason. Somewhere between, London, Turkey, and Russia, there is a double agent. Along the way, a lot of good sleuthing and spy work. Kell has his choice of the best spies, and he once again meets up with an old antagonist and meets a new one. The environments in each of these countries is explored within the boundaries of work and play, and we are there. We can smell the sea, observe the night clubs and the restaurants. Harrods comes alive in London, the secret offices and houses of MI6, their offices in other countries, the secret phone rooms, the tea, the whiskey, the food, all lead us to an extremely well run organization. We meet the SVR, Russian secret agents, CIA, observe their methods of clandestine work. And, most of all, we get to know Kell, who is almost as secretive as Amelia, the woman he works for.Such a well written novel, and you cannot guess how 'things' will work out because new problems and people pop up right until the end.Recommended. prisrob 02-10-17

Tremendous thriller - an SIS officer dies in a plane crash. Murder, suicide, accident? Thomas Kell is tasked with unravelling the worms in the can. There are lots of worms.London, Istanbul, Chios, Odessa, somewhere in Croatia whose name I forget. The search for the truth, if there is such a thing, takes Kell all over. Strangely lots of people he needs to talk to get bumped off - maybe the CIA, but more likely the SVR as the KGB calls itself these days.It feels real. It feels like this is exactly what happens at MI6 and MI5. Not that I know anything about it of course. But I believe pretty much every word.

This author has been on my radar for some time. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about his writing but for some reason it's only now that I've joined the party . . . and I'm glad I did. My only regret is that I've started with book 2 of the Thomas Kell series but I'll be putting that right before long. I'm sure there will be comparisons with Le Carré and they're far from invalid - the plotting, pace, character development are all excellent and the build-up to the complex denouement is perfectly judged. Another author on my 'must read more' list. Very impressive.