A Colder War – Charles Cumming

Love Le Carré? A Colder War by Charles Cumming is a gripping international thriller in a similar, modern vein. The Times has described former MI6 operative Cumming as ‘the man who most successfully gets under the skin of Britain’s intelligence agencies’.  Now that’s an endorsement. Fictional espionage is in safe hands.

MI6’s Head of Station in Turkey is killed in a mysterious plane crash. Amelia Levene, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), wants the incident investigated – quickly and quietly. The only man she can trust is Thomas Kell, a disgraced spy searching for redemption.

Arriving in Istanbul, Kell discovers that MI6 operations in the region have been fatally compromised: a traitor inside Western Intelligence threatens not just the Special Relationship, but the security of the entire Middle East.

Cumming got the tap on the shoulder himself in 1995, when he was approached by the SIS (MI6) recruiters. While never a fully-fledged spook, he writes with the authority and intelligence of an old hand. His first novel, A Spy By Nature (2001) is partly based on his experiences. Then followed The Hidden Man (2003), The Spanish Game (2006), Typhoon (2008) and The Trinity Six (2011). His sixth novel, A Foreign Country picked up the coveted CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year in 2012.

Cumming’s global subject matter includes the Basque separatist movement, the Beijing Olympics, oil exploration, the CIA and more. It’s clear that the end of the Cold War did not signal an end to international espionage and intrigue. Perhaps now it’s just that our enemies wear more subtle disguises.

The Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) has recently acquired the rights to A Foreign Country.  Shooting starts in 2015.

A Colder War – Charles Cumming: buy online on Amazon