To Snare a Spy

by Jon Stock, J.S. Monroe

Noah, an avid reader of spy thrillers, is looking forward to his annual holiday in Cornwall. Then his Russian roommate, Alexei, says something that will change his summer - and his life - forever. "Are you a patriot, Noah?"

According to Alexei, whose father works for President Putin's government, there is a Russian mole high up within the British establishment. And he likes to visit the same hotel on the Cornish coast where Noah has stayed with his parents and grandfather ever since he can remember.

When the British Home Secretary checks in as a guest, accompanied by his beautiful daughter, Clemmie, Noah's fictional world of espionage is about to becomes very real. Can he unmask the traitor? Who are the mysterious Russian guests that follow him everywhere? And why has an oligarch's yacht appeared off Falmouth?

In a deadly race against time across land and sea, he is forced to confront some disturbing home truths - and choose between love and loyalty.

179 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2017

About the author

Jon Stock is a novelist who writes spy and psychological thrillers. The Sleep Room, his first non-fiction book, was published in the UK on 3 April 2025 (Little, Brown). It was published in the US on 22 July 2025 (Abrams).
After reading English at Cambridge, Jon became a freelance journalist, writing investigative and arts features for the Observer, Private Eye, the Telegraph and the Times. For two years, he was a foreign correspondent in New Delhi before returning to become Weekend editor of the Telegraph in 2005 and to write espionage novels. Dead Spy Running, part of the Daniel Marchant Spy Trilogy, was optioned by Warner Bros. with a screenplay written by Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan.
In 2015, he became a full-time author, writing psychological thrillers as J.S. Monroe. Find Me has been translated into fourteen languages. Jon is currently a Royal Literary Fund Bridge Fellow and is a vice chair of the Marlborough Literature Festival in Wiltshire, where he lives with his wife, the photographer Hilary Stock. They have three adult children.

Reviews

[Eleanor · Rating 2 out of 5]

just a short review to go with this short book. I don’t really know what I was expecting from this, but I was surprised by how boring such a short book could be. Perhaps understandable in a longer book, as it would only be the buildup, but in only 195 pages I expect more action. I haven’t read any other books by this author, but I think they are adult novels. This one is aimed at teens and it was just trying to hard. It felt quite condescending and just used the kind of basic cliches that people associate with young people. I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters, and honestly, the amount of times that the phrase “man up” was used was unnecessary. However, I do know the area where it is set quite well, so it was fun to point out places I’ve been.

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got a lot better near the end because it was a quick read, however I am not a fan of his writing style. The plot was good, however obvious, and the ending was confusing. Somebody needs to explain it to me with diagrams and a huge blackboard.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA book. Fun to read because Marilyn and I just stayed at the Nare Hotel in April.