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This is an excellent read. The final paragraphs of the novel suggest that Charles Cumming has more adventures in store for Lachlan. There will be plenty of us keen to learn of them! I rarely use the phrase ‘unputdownable’ but this book fits the cliche. Well-drawn characters, a pacy plot full of twists, turns and heart accelerating suspense with a very plausible and likeable (both at 18 and when older) narrator. We’re first introduced to Lachlan Kite when he attends the funeral of his one-time close friends. We know little of him other than the fact that he works for a secret group collected from former members of British and American intelligence agencies. The team call themselves Box 88 and their aim is to ensure that the conflicting goals of whatever government happens to be in power do not prevent the ‘right’ sort of operations being undertaken. But soon Kite finds himself in peril and with no means of communicating with his team.
The events of that first operation have finally caught up with him, and he must confront not only his actions for BOX 88, but also what his actions meant for his friends and family. The novel therefore has a blend of espionage and coming-of-age fiction at times that works very well. Cumming keeps us in the dark and guessing for most of the novel, adding a few excellent red herrings here and there. It makes for a gripping read with plenty of revelations that will keep you reading well into the night. (I stayed up very late to finish it.) Box 88 by Charles Cumming is an outstanding espionage novel which is is superbly written has an excellent main underlying storyline and well drawn out main and supporting characters.The characters were well described and the settings evocative, particularly the villa near Mougins where they are all staying. The old fashioned methods of planting bugs in a game boy and the use of a Walkman as a spying listening device reminded me how far technology has moved on in the space of a few years.
MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88’s existence and go after Kite – only for Iranian intelligence to get to him first. Taken captive and subjected to torture, Kite is presented with a simple choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die. Past and present collide in this excellent spy thriller. In 2020 the mysterious Lachlan Kite is kidnapped after attending the funeral of his old school friend and threatened with torture if he des not reveal certain information. Now the director of BOX 88 operations in the UK, Kite discovers he has been placed on the ‘JUDAS’ list – a record of enemies of Russia who have been targeted for assassination. Kite’s fight for survival takes him to Dubai, where he must confront the Russian secret state head on…
Charles Cumming is rapidly becoming my favourite writer of espionage novels and this is surely one of his best. As he finished boarding school Lachlan Kite was persuaded to spy on his friend’s father and his Iranian business associate whilst holidaying with the family during the summer. He was recruited by a “secret” spy organisation. I have never read an espionage book before but if they are as good as this one I will certainly read more of them. Besides the spying, the characters are excellent and small episodes like Lachlan's trip home on the train, typically well described, and well written. Thank you Mr Cumming.
MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88’s existence and go after Kite – but Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die. The fall of the Berlin Wall is imminent and the Cold War will soon be over. But for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency known only to an inner circle of MI6 and CIA operatives, the espionage game is heating up. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Charles Cumming, Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and give my unbiased opinion of this book.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought the transition between then and now was masterfully handled with the action playing out seemingly in real time in both time points. Although the story of then was being told at least in part under interrogation it did not come across that way and made it flow so much better than if interspersed with lots of questioning and/or torture. Other than a brief mention of plant varieties, cicadas, snails and Absinthe (the author should know that Absinthe could not be sold as such in France in 1989) there was little that reminded me of the South of France from my youth there. The most striking thing I recall was the heavenly smell of the place.
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