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Library Journal Review

Despite an effective, chilling onset and early implications of exciting, well-hidden duplicity, this British Intelligence/KGB intrigue eventually stumbles over its own loose ends. After a professional assassin murders former British spy Caroline Oates in a bucolic rest home, her former lover (and still spy) Alec Hillsden sets out to discover who did it and why. His trail and the narration alternate between a romantic past (two agents having an affair in Austria) and a grimly realistic present (Alec unhappily married and England in terrorist-inspired turmoil); however, things ultimately flounder in the confusion of subplots. Captivatingly told for the most part, though, with the best scenes focusing on one or two characters, this is for Forbes fans ( The Rewrite Man ). Rex E. Klett, Anson Cty. Lib., Wadesboro, N.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In the shockingly sinister opening chapter of this stunning thriller, a cold-blooded killer-for-hire sneaks into a British nursing home and murders an elderly woman. The victim is Caroline Oates, a former member of British Intelligence whose premature senility has been caused by a particularly inhumane interrogation at the hands of the Russians years ago. Her murder raises the eyebrows of MI6 and stirs the long-dormant heartbeat of her former lover, agent Alec Hillsden. Hillsden tries to fathom the reason for Caroline's sudden murder, and the tables of friendship and loyalty turn on him several times before the end of his quest. Forbes is a powerful, smoothly professional writer and he seasons the tension in his novel with a diverting panoply of characters. He is particularly adept in chronicling his protagonist's growing cynicism and despair, and while he does not bring the same level of insight to his political subplots, this novel is a winner that doesn't let you go until the very last page. BOMC alternate. January 1 (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved