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The Cloud Collector
"If Brian Freemantle isn't the best writer of spy novels around, he's certainly, along John le Carre, in the top two . . . It doesn't get much better than this." ― The Philadelphia Inquirer
In The Cloud Collector , acclaimed spy novelist Brian Freemantle turns his expert's eye to the frontlines of today's war on the cryptic world of cyber warfare. When Western intelligence services recognize that a global jihadist attack has been initiated, the United States and the United Kingdom―its primary targets―lead a desperate counteroffensive. Sally Hanning, a brilliant British MI5 agent, is assigned to assist the CIA task force. She must help them hunt down the enemy mastermind along an intricately disguised online trail. To do so, she entails the services of Jack Irvine, a guilt-burdened NSA code cracker, using enticements both personal and professional. Though they foil the terrorists' plans, the mastermind seems to elude the MI5 and the CIA every time. And as Sally and Jack prepare to head off a major, potentially devastating attack, they realize that the plot is far more sinister than they had ever thought possible.
In The Cloud Collector , acclaimed spy novelist Brian Freemantle turns his expert's eye to the frontlines of today's war on the cryptic world of cyber warfare. When Western intelligence services recognize that a global jihadist attack has been initiated, the United States and the United Kingdom―its primary targets―lead a desperate counteroffensive. Sally Hanning, a brilliant British MI5 agent, is assigned to assist the CIA task force. She must help them hunt down the enemy mastermind along an intricately disguised online trail. To do so, she entails the services of Jack Irvine, a guilt-burdened NSA code cracker, using enticements both personal and professional. Though they foil the terrorists' plans, the mastermind seems to elude the MI5 and the CIA every time. And as Sally and Jack prepare to head off a major, potentially devastating attack, they realize that the plot is far more sinister than they had ever thought possible.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published June 9, 2015
14 people are currently reading
274 people want to read
About the author
Brian Freemantle
106 books69 followersAka John Maxwell, Jonathan Evans, Jack Winchester, Harry Asher and Richard Gant.
Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.
Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.
Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.
Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 20, 2016
They should have named this the Complex Convoluted Caper that almost was. There are like 15+ main characters and they are all basically the same except one who is a woman, so at least you can kind of follow along and distinguish her from the others. The entire book is about agency infighting and occasionally they talk about tracking down terrorists. I kept thinking it would get better but none of the clues these characters unravel are available to the reader. All the events that happen are outside of the characters-so everything is written in a passive tense-versus having our characters feel involved and on the front lines. And at the end, it was like well, we half foiled one attempt but what about all the others. You don't even care anymore by then. I had so many questions as I was reading along but finally I stopped writing them down because I realized the book wasn't going to answer any of them. Many of these major characters had no reason for inclusion, one guy was supposedly corrupt because of finances-but they never said why or what he did so WHAT WAS THE POINT? You've got me. I would like to slap the people that recommended this book.
November 4, 2015
Very slow post 9/11 thriller!
February 11, 2023
fast-moving techno- thriller
The action is fast-moving; mostly confined to computers, decription and cypher themes which a more than rudimentary knowledge of the jargon helps a reader stay in the hunt. Terrorists and spy angles keep one’s interest. All in all a good read but required more than average concentration and flipping back and forth to make sure you didn’t miss something.
The action is fast-moving; mostly confined to computers, decription and cypher themes which a more than rudimentary knowledge of the jargon helps a reader stay in the hunt. Terrorists and spy angles keep one’s interest. All in all a good read but required more than average concentration and flipping back and forth to make sure you didn’t miss something.
February 18, 2025
Me and my wife occasionally surprise each other with a secondhand book to read that seem intriguing. “The Cloud Collector” has an interesting title and had a thought provoking blurb on the back that seemed to pull you right in. Much like a rabbit snare or venus flytrap if you will.
However, I now realize I must have forgotten our anniversary or a birthday or something to be gifted this book as it very swiftly became harder to read than a preschooler’s hieroglyphics.
There are SO MANY MAIN CHARACTERS and none of them are described in a way that makes them memorable. So you find yourself trying to conjure what a person may look like, then they suddenly disappear from the book entirely like a fart in the wind making you question “why did I commit trying to understand where that person came from?”
The plot seemed to not decide which way it wanted to go and very hard to follow. I struggled to read each chapter to the point I had to mark on my day planner “do one more page” to motivate myself to keep going. Yet I find people rating this book 4 and 5 stars?? WHAAAAAAAT
After waiting for something exciting to happen I gave up and just kept reading out of spite that this book would not defeat me. Retrospectively, I can see now it’s a situation where no-one wins.
Looking for some credit to the author, I would say the potential was definitely there. However so many aspects needed work and I did not care if the main characters succeeded because they were incredibly dull I was just not interested.
I just hope my wife reads this and knows Im sorry for whatever I did to deserve this book.
However, I now realize I must have forgotten our anniversary or a birthday or something to be gifted this book as it very swiftly became harder to read than a preschooler’s hieroglyphics.
There are SO MANY MAIN CHARACTERS and none of them are described in a way that makes them memorable. So you find yourself trying to conjure what a person may look like, then they suddenly disappear from the book entirely like a fart in the wind making you question “why did I commit trying to understand where that person came from?”
The plot seemed to not decide which way it wanted to go and very hard to follow. I struggled to read each chapter to the point I had to mark on my day planner “do one more page” to motivate myself to keep going. Yet I find people rating this book 4 and 5 stars?? WHAAAAAAAT
After waiting for something exciting to happen I gave up and just kept reading out of spite that this book would not defeat me. Retrospectively, I can see now it’s a situation where no-one wins.
Looking for some credit to the author, I would say the potential was definitely there. However so many aspects needed work and I did not care if the main characters succeeded because they were incredibly dull I was just not interested.
I just hope my wife reads this and knows Im sorry for whatever I did to deserve this book.
June 10, 2016
At the beginning of the book Freemantle thanks Simon Taplin and Jeff Kightly for their technical guidance. Unfortunately they did not read the final product.
The book is nowhere near the quality of a Charlie Muffin book. It has some similarity with the later books, particularly the Red Star series with respect to the relationships and discussions between the characters. However it doesn't come close and hopefully Sally has ridden off into the sunset with Jack at the end and the next book will bring us up to speed on Charlie's family life.
The big problem I had with the book was the number of what are really daft errors:
"What's ASCII". GCHQ answer, "it is the numeric code for Roman script. The original was IPv4..". Not sure how two basic computer concepts got so muddled here.
Many instances of referring to email address as domain names. These, being so key to the story, should really have been more accurately stated.
.org.mil is not a valid domain name.
And, when Sally arrives at 7:15am into Washington DC from London (first class, presumably BA), what flight was she on? There are no transatlantic flights arriving at that hour.
The book is nowhere near the quality of a Charlie Muffin book. It has some similarity with the later books, particularly the Red Star series with respect to the relationships and discussions between the characters. However it doesn't come close and hopefully Sally has ridden off into the sunset with Jack at the end and the next book will bring us up to speed on Charlie's family life.
The big problem I had with the book was the number of what are really daft errors:
"What's ASCII". GCHQ answer, "it is the numeric code for Roman script. The original was IPv4..". Not sure how two basic computer concepts got so muddled here.
Many instances of referring to email address as domain names. These, being so key to the story, should really have been more accurately stated.
.org.mil is not a valid domain name.
And, when Sally arrives at 7:15am into Washington DC from London (first class, presumably BA), what flight was she on? There are no transatlantic flights arriving at that hour.
July 11, 2016
When Western intelligence services recognize a global jihadist attack has been mounted, the United States and the UK--its primary targets--lead the counter-offensive. Sally Hanning, a brilliant British MI5 agent whose parents were massacred in a terrorist ambush, is seconded to the CIA task force to hunt the Iranian mastermind through Al Qaeda's intricately coded use of social media and the Internet. Jack Irvine is NSA's guilt-burdened code-cracker--it was his diplomat-father's mistake that instigated the ambush in which Sally's parents died--who hacks his way into Iran's intelligence service. Attack after attack is foiled but the Al Qaeda mastermind eludes MI5 and the CIA every time. As they prepare to head off the final, ultimate attack, they realize, almost too late, that the plot is far more sinister than they had ever thought possible.
November 3, 2015
The CIA and MI5 are both working to stop a cyber attack by jihadists. They have just enough information to know that an attack is coming but they don't know when or where. The jihadists are using the Internet, specifically Facebook to communicate. The CIA has found some of their accounts and has changed meeting places and sabotaged them in other ways. Some of the people involved are under close surveillance by the CIA hoping they will lead them to more information about the coming attack or the mastermind behind it. The CIA has also managed to insert Trojan horses into foreign governments that support terrorists. This book could be taken right out of today's headlines. If you like espionage thrillers this is the book for you.
May 29, 2018
Confusing, perturbing and disappointing. The focus is how to avoid blame, cover your ass and don't share information with other agencies. An internecine conundrum that fails to keep one interested in either in the fate of the characters or the success of the mission.
Brian Freemantle's Charlie Muffin is one of the all time best espionage series. High adventure, irony, humor and superb dialog. Unfortunately, this book falls far short of that mark.
Brian Freemantle's Charlie Muffin is one of the all time best espionage series. High adventure, irony, humor and superb dialog. Unfortunately, this book falls far short of that mark.
December 11, 2015
I received a free and advanced copy of this book. Unfortunately, I could not get into this book even though the story sounds so good. The plot was great but it was way so slow and found the names of the characters very difficult to relate to.
March 3, 2023
Nice title, didn't think much of the book. It might be better than 1 star, but I just couldn't be bothered to plough on with a book I wasn't really enjoying.
3 March 2023 - ergh, forgot I'd read it and took it out of the library again - my opinion hasn't changed...
3 March 2023 - ergh, forgot I'd read it and took it out of the library again - my opinion hasn't changed...
January 5, 2016
I liked the story and the way it depicted the bureaucratic infighting but some of the characters seemed cartoonish and it was frequently hard to follow.
February 15, 2016
Some parts very slow going. Enjoyed the twists & importance of the smallest, seemingly insignificant details.
March 18, 2016
Enjoyed the look into the intelligence community. Thought the author over did it on the "cover you ass stuff" that most everyone in the book was doing. Especially like the clever use of drones.
Read
March 31, 2016Didn't finish it! I thought this book was confusing, too technical, devoid of character development, in fact there was little enticing about it. It was so unlike Brian Freemantle.
July 8, 2016
I just couldn't get into this book. Too many characters too quickly and not enough development for these characters.
wish-list-possibles
November 4, 2015Looks interesting. Only one rating.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews