A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming

Tom Kelly is a washed up spy, with allegations of torture hanging over his head, until he is offered the opportunity to revive a dying career by tracking down the missing head of MI6. Set against the contemporary backdrop of the Arab Spring and strained Anglo-French relations, the story takes us through North Africa, France and rural England in search of Amanda Levene and the unravelling of her intertwined personal and professional lives.

Levene is days away from assuming the role of ‘C’ (chief of MI6) when her sudden disappearance results in desperate measures.

Levene is skilled in the art of duplicity but it is only when when a life-changing personal secret comes back to haunt her that we see her life unfolding with kidnapping and the French Secret Service presenting the greatest challenges to a happy ending and the salvaging of her career and personal reputation.

The common thread throughout though is Kelly, who thrives in the murky world of espionage but struggles to come to terms with civilian life and a wife whom he clearly still loves.

Cumming shows real storytelling skill in gradually pulling together the converging plot lines while developing the complexity of the key characters.

This may not present the reader with the mental challenges offered by Le Carre but there’s still plenty of enjoyment.