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Atticus Wolfe #2

It Takes a Spy

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Time is not on Atticus Wolfe’s side.

May 1964

Thrown from present day into the swinging sixties, Atticus Wolfe is on the trail of a Soviet spy set on a path to divert the course of history. He knows how history will play out and will do anything to ensure the USSR is victorious.

That’s not all Atticus is battling. He must confront the terrorist who sent him back sixty years, and he’s not quite the man Atticus remembers.

As the fight to keep history on track intensifies, Atticus must call on the last group of people he thought he’d ask for help – his crime lord family.

Cut off from his beloved MI6, Atticus must unite with younger versions of his gangster father and grandfather to defeat KGB spies and prevent the Soviets from winning the Cold War.

A page turner of a novel full of wit and endless twists, It Takes A Spy is definitely not your regular espionage thriller.

264 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2022

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About the author

Dave Sinclair

20 books58 followers
Dave Sinclair is a USA Today bestselling author, screenwriter and a really excellent parallel parker. Author of the Scream Queen Detective Agency, Mason Nash, Atticus Wolfe, Charles Bishop, Eva Destruction novels and snarky Post-It notes.
The three series have different main characters, but do manage to slip into each other’s series now and then.
Dave spends a lot of time in his imaginary world and ignoring the washing.
He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two crazy daughters.
He’s also an award winning filmmaker. A title that sounds much more impressive than it really is. He won a best comedy screenplay and cinematography award for one of the short films he wrote and directed, though at the time he didn’t really know what cinematography was. A completed screenplay is currently doing the rounds.
Dave’s overflowing bookshelves include many works by Douglas Adams, P.G. Wodehouse, Dashiel Hammet, Raymond Chandler, Janet Evanovich, Ian Flemming, Zadie Smith and John le Carré.
To find out more, you can stalk him at all these semi-reputable places:

https://facebook.com/DaveSinclairAuthor/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/dave-...

https://www.instagram.com/davesinclai...

https://books2read.com/DaveSinclair/

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5 stars
80 (55%)
4 stars
49 (33%)
3 stars
13 (8%)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Doubledf99.99.
205 reviews95 followers
September 8, 2022
It's a fun fast paced read that picks up from where the first book left off. There's lot of action, some shoot-outs, and I enjoyed the culture references from the Beatles to Doctor Who. For some reason that I can't put my finger on it this just didn't crab me as much as Out of Time.
Profile Image for Kimmy C.
664 reviews9 followers
June 25, 2023
3.5 because I couldn’t quite identify why, but it didn’t grab me as much as the first novel did. Maybe I should’ve read them closer together so I didn’t lose momentum, or whatever, still, it was an enjoyable read.
We rejoin Atticus (and the others) after the shock spy/mole ending from the first novel, and our out of time hero needs to recover his mobile device before the enemy discovers how to work it and ruin all history. On a smaller note, Atticus, unadvisedly, looks up the rellies, to good, and bad effect. Just when all seems lost, help comes from an unexpected quarter.
Profile Image for Julie Howard.
Author 2 books34 followers
June 25, 2022
Oh wow!! This is another thrilling adventure into the past with Atticus Wolfe and I loved it. This is book two and picks up from where book one left off, so I would recommend that you sit back and enjoy both books, you won't be disappointed. Atticus is a great main character, he has the skill and cheek to pull it off and to keep you returning. Time travel as a story line sometimes gets confusing but that is not the case with this book and in fact in some places it felt like you were back in London with him. The plot was mainly focused on settling old scores between ex friends (the reason is explained in this book but to get the full meaning of betrayal you need to read book one) and trying not to screw up the time !line to much, so this involved a lot of action and some new friends. Warning the book isn't left on a cliff hanger as such but it is definitely set up nicely for the next book, of which you will have to get.
With his old friend having betrayed him Atticus is on the hunt to find him and retrieve his mobile phone before he can unlock it. There are things on the phone that no one from 1964 should know and plenty that someone would kill for. The problem is people are beginning to question who Atticus is or where did he come from and he quickly finds out the hunter can easily become the hunted. Cut off from his friends and contacts at M16 the spy turns to family for help but by asking his father and grandfather for help is he changing his own future. What will happen to Atticus if one of them gets hurt? But can be really afford to let modern technology fall into the Soviets hands?
I was given this free review copy book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
297 reviews
December 1, 2022
an amazing book. Time traveling spy, changes the time line and desperately attempts to fix it. The more he tries to fix things, the worse things become.

This book is filled with lots of left winged ideologies, which normally would be a major turn off for me, however this author is extremely fair and does it very well. No way anyone can bring me personally over to the left, but this author does bring up many topics the left holds dear in a very well thought out way so as to make them seem good. In the end, I enjoyed the book, not despite the left winged leanings but because of them !!!!

Examples of what i mean by Left winged agenda: A Black man Dating a White Woman. In the 1060s this would have been shocking and not accepted very well at all. However in this book it is happening. There is no reason why People of different races shouldn't date or marry ... and this book points that our clearly. In the book it is dealt with in a reasonable way which is what makes me enjoy the book so much. Homosexuality is a part of this book, but not over whelminglly so ... nor is it forced upon the reader, it just is , is all. Left winged ideologies with right winged solutions is how i see it and it delights me that this book confronts these matters from both angles.
Profile Image for Nina.
1,914 reviews10 followers
August 12, 2023
MI6 agent Atticus Wolfe was sent back in time 60 years when he confronted a terrorist in the year 2024. Now in the 1960’s, he’s landed a job back at MI6 without computers, google, internet, cell phones, or GPS at his disposal. He is very mindful of trying not to disrupt the historical timeline, but fails miserably at that. I quickly re-read the first book in the series to reacquaint myself with the characters and events, since these books build on each other rather than stand alone. In this second book, the has to unite with younger versions of his gangster father and grandfather to combat KBG spies and keep Soviet Russia from winning the cold war. (That’s not a spoiler; the author announces that upfront). When his father (a teenager at this point) joins in a gunfight with him, he has to worry about what might happen if his father gets killed. There are always interesting conundrums in time travel stories.
Profile Image for Viva.
1,416 reviews5 followers
July 30, 2023
Spoilers ahead.

I was drawn into this as a time traveler spy series but there isn't much about time travels in the books except for the occasional faux pas when Wolfe mentions something from the future and draws blank looks from the others. Apart from that and the overstory, it's mostly just a Cold War spy story. Not that I have a problem with that since I think Cold War spy stories are great.

I liked the first book enough to try this one but this one is pretty much ho-hum once I got introduced to the new characters. There's too much of the underdog story over and over again. If you plan to write a spy story, get with the spy story. If you plan to write a time travel book, write a time travel book. The other stuff is a little trite and overdone. And when the story verged from the improbable to the unlikely and pretty much impossible, I decided to dnf it. I do like the author's writing style. The writing is easy to read and get into, so I'm now reading another from his series.
29 reviews
May 14, 2023
Another fabulous tour de force, a worthy sequel.

Dave Sinclair is the best and most imaginative new author I've discovered in ages .. and I read a LOT of books. Great concept, brilliant execution and you have to love a man who, unlike the average contemporary author who doesn't know his Ars from his Elba, writes lightly while drawing from a reply erudite background. In short, this guy really knows his stuff!

Sign me up as an ARC reader anytime, Dave. It would be a labour of love.
Profile Image for Steve Thomas.
728 reviews5 followers
April 6, 2023
This is a very engaging story. The author very skillfully handled the presence of two versions of Atticus Wolfe. I am glad that there is another book in this series since I haven't gotten enough of Atticus and Maggie.
Profile Image for Andrew Heath.
190 reviews4 followers
July 8, 2023
Great book, looking forward to next one

Atticus Wolfe is an M16 agent who took a trip 50 years into the past. Every attempt he makes to not change the past seems to backfire. A great spy novel with lots of twists and turns.
427 reviews2 followers
January 28, 2025
I had to see what happened to Atticus Wolfe, time traveler British agent stuck in the 1960s, after his first adventure. It is action packed, often violent but a page turner again. One more adventure to go in his third and last adventure.
Profile Image for Janet E. Duberry.
4 reviews
July 28, 2023
I loved this series. I wish they would make a movie with Idris Elba. I was sorry to see this series end.
Profile Image for Lori Lee.
137 reviews
August 7, 2023
Awesome sequel!

I cannot wait to read book number 3!

Unique concept, excellent character development, and not stop action. Brilliant!

Highly recommended!
Profile Image for J Bagan.
Author 4 books31 followers
August 17, 2025
Wow, what a ride!

Book two was even more thought-provoking than book one. A roller coaster time travel adventure that is also just plain fun to read.
Profile Image for potato.
86 reviews6 followers
September 8, 2024
finally I've returned to the Atticus Wolfe series

I wasn't the biggest fan of the first book, but honestly, as the series progresses it might be growing on me. this time around, I was definitely more interested in the characters (they got a bit more development, and their personalities - while still a bit one-dimensional - are starting to shine through more than they did in the first book), and I was able to appreciate the humor a bit more. there's a lot of one-liners that I enjoyed, especially when discussing the book with the person who gifted them to me (shoutout 2 my dad). this series is still not exactly my cup of tea, but I'll definitely enjoy finishing it
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews