A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book for 2011
The most closely-guarded secret of the Cold War is about to be exposed – t... read full description
reviews
Jan 26, 2012
Roger
rated it: 
A quotation from a review in the UK Sunday newspaper The Observer on the inside front cover of the paperback edition of this book compares its author with Len Deighton and John le Carre, and states that he is a natural successor to both those giants of recent espionage fiction. However, on the evidence of The Trinity Six, which is the first novel by Charles Cumming that I have read, I think the author is actually carrying on where Eric Ambler left off. A typical Ambler hero is an ordinary pers
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Aug 07, 2011
David
rated it: 
As mentioned in some Amazon reviews, the plot sees some implausible events and coincidences, and many characters go to extreme lengths to assist our hero. Other than his seemingly magic ability to recruit that help, the protagonist is realistic. I'm usually complaining of books that stake their entire entertainment value on a super-hero, but this one avoids that easy path - in fact the protagonist panics, he gets nervous, and he does some dumb things.
A fair amount of tension, not n More...
A fair amount of tension, not n More...
Jul 30, 2011
Tommy
rated it:
I'm not always that into spy/thriller books. I make a few exceptions - usually for Tom Clancy and that lot -- especially when I know the storyline is compelling, fun and has a lot of character development. Cumming does not disappoint this triad of requirement for me.
I requested the book from the Early Reviewers program at Library Thing solely because I was familiar with the saga of the Cambridge Five and the purported myth of a sixth individual. The story started out somewhat slowly, w More...
I requested the book from the Early Reviewers program at Library Thing solely because I was familiar with the saga of the Cambridge Five and the purported myth of a sixth individual. The story started out somewhat slowly, w More...
May 27, 2011
Joseph
rated it: 
Loved this book. Here's what I told BOOKLIST:
What is it about British spy novelists? From Graham Greene and Geoffrey Household and Eric Ambler to Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, and John le Carre—for some reason, when it comes to writing about espionage and betrayal, nobody does it better than the Brits. Something about the miserable weather in London, maybe? That whole declining Empire thing? Whatever the reason, the good news is that there’s a new heir to the throne: Charles Cumming, who More...
What is it about British spy novelists? From Graham Greene and Geoffrey Household and Eric Ambler to Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, and John le Carre—for some reason, when it comes to writing about espionage and betrayal, nobody does it better than the Brits. Something about the miserable weather in London, maybe? That whole declining Empire thing? Whatever the reason, the good news is that there’s a new heir to the throne: Charles Cumming, who More...
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May 21, 2011
Marleen
rated it:
Dr. Sam Gaddis is an academic, specialising in Russia. He lectures at a London College and writes unpopular books. He is also facing some grave financial demands he can’t meet. What he needs is an idea for a book that will be a bestseller, a proposal for which he will get a huge advance.
When a friend comes to him with an idea for a book which will unveil a well kept and still very potent cold war secret, it seems like the answer to his prayers. When his friend suddenly and unexpectedly die More...
When a friend comes to him with an idea for a book which will unveil a well kept and still very potent cold war secret, it seems like the answer to his prayers. When his friend suddenly and unexpectedly die More...
May 11, 2011
The Cambridge Five, as you probably know, was a ring of spies all recruited by the Soviets after having become communists during their years at university in the thirties. Four of the five--Kim Philby, Donald Duart Maclean, Guy Burgess, and Anthony Blunt--have been definitively known since the fifties and early sixties. The presence of a fifth member of the group was long suspected, and many consider John Cairncross to be the likeliest candidate.
Charles Cumming, in his spy thriller T More...
Charles Cumming, in his spy thriller T More...
Apr 17, 2011
Mal
rated it:
Much of the latter-day literature of espionage is based, directly or indirectly, on the notorious “Cambridge Five” — young, bright Cambridge men seduced by the lure of Communism as undergraduates during the tumultuous 1930s who spied for the Soviet Union during World War II. Their defection to the USSR following the war created what was arguably the greatest spy scandal in modern history. For many years thereafter, rumors of a “sixth man” continued to roil the waters of the British Secret Intell
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Feb 22, 2011
Miles
rated it:
The film “The Third Man”, the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (or KGB as it’s widely known in the West) and Katarina Witt all have something in common – although the latter is a tenuous link at best, they are all mentioned in Charles Cumming’s “Trinity Six” – a tale of spies, political skullduggery, cold war secrets and a Russian expert hell-bent on discovering an intriguing truth that has remained a secret for decades.
Full Review on my blog:- http://www.milorambles.com/2011/02/22/tr... More...
Full Review on my blog:- http://www.milorambles.com/2011/02/22/tr... More...
Jul 09, 2011
F.R.
rated it: 
It wasn’t just MaClean, Burgess, Philby, Cairncross and Blunt in the Cambridge Spy Ring – there was a sixth man. In Charles Cumming’s novel his history emerges and promptly entangles itself with the past of a Putin-like Russian President; whist in the middle a battered, but oh-so-sexy, historian tries to figure out the truth in an ever more dangerous world where murder is stalking him.
There are good ideas in this book, and it would have been interesting to see what a Le Carre, Deighto More...
There are good ideas in this book, and it would have been interesting to see what a Le Carre, Deighto More...
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Feb 07, 2011
Nicola
rated it:
Cumming's fifth book, The Trinity Six, an historical Russian spy novel set in modern day Britain, has already earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly stating, "Cumming's knowledge of the spy business, his well-crafted prose, and his intensely engaging plot make this a breakthrough novel."
The story line is somewhat subdued, so those expecting a Jason Bourne-like hero may be rather disappointed. And there is little in the way of Dan Brown-like action (thankfully) More...
The story line is somewhat subdued, so those expecting a Jason Bourne-like hero may be rather disappointed. And there is little in the way of Dan Brown-like action (thankfully) More...
Mar 18, 2011
Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com
rated it:
“The Trinity Six” by Charles Cumming is a fictional spy thriller focusing on the theory that the Cambridge Five (a ring of English Trinity College students who were spies for Russia – Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, John Cairncross, Anthony Blunt, and Kim Philby) had a sixth member. As always, what gets the politicians is usually never the act, but the cover up.
Dr. Sam Gaddis, a British historian of Russian history, has a problem, he owes a ton of money after his divorce and his ex-wife, More...
Dr. Sam Gaddis, a British historian of Russian history, has a problem, he owes a ton of money after his divorce and his ex-wife, More...
Jul 25, 2011
Dara
rated it:
This was decent, but I was very excited to see the Richard North Patterson blurb on the cover, and it's nowhere near his standard. I felt the plot was very predictable (I realized one BIG TWIST 80 pages before it was revealed in text, and I'm not someone who typically figures out the butler did it in advance), and Cumming tries to ramp up the suspense by giving the reader more information than the characters (in the vein of "Little did he know that SOMEONE WAS FOLLOWING HIM"), which I
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Jan 31, 2011
William
rated it:
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming
This was a story of insidious collusion of conflicting ideologies at the highest levels. MI6 meets KGB in a surprisingly convoluted mystery.
Sam Gaddis, a bit of a gadfly academic, finds himself immersed in something far different than the backstabbing of academic circles. Sam’s naiveté is a bit difficult to swallow but its eventual erosion is more believable. I enjoyed his tenacity and his loyalty to his friends. I dismayed over More...
This was a story of insidious collusion of conflicting ideologies at the highest levels. MI6 meets KGB in a surprisingly convoluted mystery.
Sam Gaddis, a bit of a gadfly academic, finds himself immersed in something far different than the backstabbing of academic circles. Sam’s naiveté is a bit difficult to swallow but its eventual erosion is more believable. I enjoyed his tenacity and his loyalty to his friends. I dismayed over More...
Jan 26, 2011
Mark
rated it:
Comparisons and marketing can often hurt a book more that help it. The Trinity Six is a case in point. When you start comparing a book to LeCarre's Karla Trilogy, you start raising the bar pretty high - and it's a bar set too high for Charles Cumming's somewhat perfunctory thriller. If anything, this feels more Dan Brown than Len Deighton, with a professor protagonist, huge swaths of poorly-disguised exposition and backgrounding, and a series of twists and turns always laid out in the last sente
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Mar 16, 2011
iubookgirl
rated it:
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming is a novel of espionage and intrigue. After the death of his friend Charlotte, Professor Sam Gaddis becomes embroiled in the search for the sixth Cambridge spy. The novel is based on the real-life Ring of Five, a group of British men who went to Cambridge University and were recruited as Soviet spies. They became known as the Magnificent Five. Suspicions regarding a sixth man are long-standing, and many have searched for him.
Gaddis’ search for the six More...
Gaddis’ search for the six More...
Apr 01, 2011
Beth
rated it:
There is nothing like a spy story and no one does spies better than the British. THE TRINITY SIX is to some degree a descendant of John Lecarre but, as fiction, it is history far more thinly veiled than the exploits of George Smiley.
There are few countries that have suffered as much damage from their spies as Great Britain. From the 1930′s into the 1960′s Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Kim Philby, and John Cairncross sold some of Britain’s most important securi More...
Nov 03, 2011
Zeke
rated it:
I could not put this book down. I neglected pretty much everything else, just finish it. It DOES require some serious leaps of faith but I went with it because the story was fascinating!
This book has everything I look for in a good international spy novel: flawed but decent operatives working in a corrupt system, multiple layers of secrets and intrigue and unexpected plot twists. And of course, I want fully realized characters and a good story.
This is the first book I've read by Cumming. I will More...
This book has everything I look for in a good international spy novel: flawed but decent operatives working in a corrupt system, multiple layers of secrets and intrigue and unexpected plot twists. And of course, I want fully realized characters and a good story.
This is the first book I've read by Cumming. I will More...
Feb 11, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
A brilliant re-imagining of events surrounding the notorious Cambridge spy-ring. Known as the Cambridge Five, these men betrayed their country to the Soviet Union during and after WWII. Fifteen years later, 76-year-old Edward Crane is pronounced dead at a London hospital in 1992. An academic and historian, Sam Gaddis learns that Crane was the rumored sixth man in the Cambring—and that he's alive and ready to tell his story. Gaddis, a well-regarded scholar of modern Russia who needs money to su
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May 26, 2011
Artfulori
rated it:
I'm about half way through this and I give up. I enjoy really good spy stories, but this one is boring, does little to keep the reader hooked on what they mystery might be and is, frankly, just boring. Add to that the fact that I listen to my books on tape and this one in particular is narrated by a gentleman named John Lee who is flat and has little to no characterization of voices for the various cast members. The combination of boring story and boring narrator makes me wish I hadn't already
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May 17, 2011
Lindisfarne53
rated it:
I liked that this was an actual espionage story. There was none of the Dan Brown sensationalism or spectacle of a racing story line towards a huge crescendo. The story of Sam Gaddis, academic and unlikely spy begins slowly and realistically. As Sam follows a lead for a sixth turncoat from Cambridge, his entry to subterfuge and suspicion only grows. But the story never gets out of hand.
I thought it lagged a bit in the middle, but stuck with it and was properly rewarded with a good More...
I thought it lagged a bit in the middle, but stuck with it and was properly rewarded with a good More...
Aug 26, 2011
Laura
rated it:
A university lecturer, hard up for cash, gets a tip that there may have been a SIXTH Cambridge spy whom the British government has kept under wraps for years. As he tries to piece together the story, his sources start turning up dead, which he eventually decides must mean that the leftover bigwigs of the KGB also want to keep the sixth spy under wraps. Unfortunately, the hero is not particularly likeable and comes across as naïve – especially considering his specialty is Cold War Russian history
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May 07, 2011
Evelyn
rated it:
A neat variation on the clueless-academic-who-unknowingly-gets-in-over-his-head theme. This time the academic, Sam Gaddis, inadvertently stumbles onto a closely held, jointly hushed up MI5 and Russian secret that could get him killed: the existence of a sixth British national recruited at Cambridge University by the Russians during the 1930s to become a mole and spy on the UK for the Communists.
Set primarily in contemporary England (with some mayhem filled side trips to Berlin and V More...
Set primarily in contemporary England (with some mayhem filled side trips to Berlin and V More...
Sep 19, 2011
Lynne-marie
rated it:
I famously adore spy novels, but face it, even Smiley's having difficulty now that the Cold War is dead, so I approached The Trinity Six with high hopes. Look at the back ground it's based on. Was there ever a more infamous group of spies than the Cambridge Five? But the whole clanks and shudders like an old heating system gone to pot, telegraphing the tiny plot explosions with enormous noise beforehand. Characters wear on one, as well, because they're rather paste-board. I thought of givin
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Dec 09, 2011
Allison
rated it:
Charles Cumming is the heir apparent to John LeCarre.
Mr. Cumming is a gracious Facebooker. I was so impressed by "The Trinity Six" that I joined his FB fan page. I wrote to Mr. Cumming that: 1) this book has to be made into a movie; and 2) Colin Firth is the best choice for the lead character.
Mr. Cumming personally wrote back to me that he agreed on both counts! How wonderful!
And time will tell. "The Trinity Six" is being prepared for the big s More...
Mr. Cumming is a gracious Facebooker. I was so impressed by "The Trinity Six" that I joined his FB fan page. I wrote to Mr. Cumming that: 1) this book has to be made into a movie; and 2) Colin Firth is the best choice for the lead character.
Mr. Cumming personally wrote back to me that he agreed on both counts! How wonderful!
And time will tell. "The Trinity Six" is being prepared for the big s More...
Apr 28, 2011
Alecia
rated it:
Spy Novels are usually not my thing. But The Trinity Six was a very good read, and I would try another book by Charles Cumming. Sam Gaddis is a very smart "everyman" protagonist, who just happens to be an academic at UCL, a British University. He has written a book, a comparative study of Peter the Great and the current (fictional) Russian president. Sam is fluent in Russian, and turns into a very crafty, brave hero. The plotting and tension held my interest, and the characters had som
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Mar 28, 2011
Marsha
rated it:
Okay, it was a bit slow and rough going at the beginning of the book, mostly because of all of the names, titles, and abbreviations, but if you can hang on through that part the remaining story is quite interesting. I don't think I've ever read a Russian Spy novel before and I have to admit that I just might have to look for a few more (I received this book through first reads). As the synopsis is quite detailed above already, I'm not going to spend time rewriting that part. I think that the aut
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Mar 05, 2011
Mark
rated it:
** GoodReads First Reads Review ** (perhaps a bit late)
My review of this is late because I hesitated to pick it up. The premise sounded good when I got it, but the first chapter left me kind of flat.
However, I feel this strange obligation to read (actually) the books I get for free all the way through and then post reviews (unless they're just so wretched it's not worth it). In this case, I'm glad I did.
The first half of the book is slow. We follow Sam Gaddis, More...
My review of this is late because I hesitated to pick it up. The premise sounded good when I got it, but the first chapter left me kind of flat.
However, I feel this strange obligation to read (actually) the books I get for free all the way through and then post reviews (unless they're just so wretched it's not worth it). In this case, I'm glad I did.
The first half of the book is slow. We follow Sam Gaddis, More...
Feb 20, 2011
Caitlin
rated it:
I think my expectations were too high for this book. It sounded great from the blurb and I was excited when I got it via LibraryThing Early Reviewers so I read it right away, finished it, and thought, "meh."
I've never really been into espionage thrillers. When I was growing up it was mostly James Bond and I've always thought he was kind of a wanker. He's a misogynist psychopath paid to kill with a bunch of silly gadgets and fancy cars and the requisite bimbo. Even thoug More...
I've never really been into espionage thrillers. When I was growing up it was mostly James Bond and I've always thought he was kind of a wanker. He's a misogynist psychopath paid to kill with a bunch of silly gadgets and fancy cars and the requisite bimbo. Even thoug More...
Dec 10, 2011
Steve
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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