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A Covenant Of Spies
In 2007, intelligence operative Nikita Kudashov attempts to escape his native Russia after a series of top-secret spying operations. Years later, Patrick West of MI6 is assigned to investigate the operations Kudashov took part in, and discovers a shocking connection between the former Soviet Union and the Foreign And Commonwealth Office. Can West unravel the ambiguous connection - and the final clue that disguises the information Blythe-Smith never passed on to the Secret Intelligence Service?
340 pages, Paperback
Published June 22, 2021
About the author
Daniel Kemp
10 books122 followersDaniel Kemp is now a member of The Society of Authors. His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself!
On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic accident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden. Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for five years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company.
All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter with the tenth novel being a two-part ending to the Heirs and Descendants Series. A Covenant of Spies completed the four-book series alongside What Happened In Vienna, Jack? Once I Was A Soldier and A Widow's Son.
The Desolate Garden went on to become a bestselling novel in World and Russian Literature in 2017. The following year, in May 2018, his book What Happened In Vienna, Jack? was a number-one bestseller on four separate Amazon sites: America, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Although he primarily focuses on mystery murders involving spies, his varied life experiences showcase his depth of knowledge. He has written two novellas, "Why? A Complicated Love" and the intriguing "The Story That Had No Beginning."
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed employee of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel.
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daniel-Kemp/...
On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic accident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden. Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for five years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company.
All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter with the tenth novel being a two-part ending to the Heirs and Descendants Series. A Covenant of Spies completed the four-book series alongside What Happened In Vienna, Jack? Once I Was A Soldier and A Widow's Son.
The Desolate Garden went on to become a bestselling novel in World and Russian Literature in 2017. The following year, in May 2018, his book What Happened In Vienna, Jack? was a number-one bestseller on four separate Amazon sites: America, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Although he primarily focuses on mystery murders involving spies, his varied life experiences showcase his depth of knowledge. He has written two novellas, "Why? A Complicated Love" and the intriguing "The Story That Had No Beginning."
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed employee of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel.
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daniel-Kemp/...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2019
I’m copying an idea from another writer who is far more adept at this sort of thing than I. He uses the space available not only to review books written by other authors but to introduce his own books and to explain how they came about, where they can be found, and in my case, the pre-order price of one. The book I would like to expand on is my latest—A Covenant Of Spies, book number four in a series called Lies and Consequences.
It’s my father’s fault that I write spy novels, as my interest was aroused when he held a position as deputy head of a counter intelligence desk inside the War Department at the end of WWII. As one would expect he never spoke about what he was engaged in, but the past was another matter provided the case was closed. When I left all my schooling behind I wanted to use my talents in a productive way rather than confining them to industry or academia. I joined a government organisation close to what my father did, signing the same Official Secrets Act as he had done. As a consequence not one of my eight novels is based purely on what I heard, my imagination fills most of the pages, nevertheless, young ears store information that can be utilised in fiction.
A Covenant Of Spies is being released later this year on December 17th and until then it is available to pre-order from Amazon.
The story starts when the recently married chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee meets a Russian asset he vaguely remembers from an operation he was dangerously involved in some twenty-five years previously in Prague, Czechoslovakia. However, he is unclear as to whether the Russian remembers him. The Russian’s purpose of the meeting is to offer British intelligence a prize that only his granddaughter is able to fulfill provided she is extracted from Moscow without arousing suspicion.
As he looks further into this Russian’s past he discovers that a previous chairman of the JIC had unearthed a web of deceit in which he was able to conceal not only one double agent but two; one stealing secrets from the Soviet Union and the other from the Americans. The names of both agents are secreted away inside cryptic messages hidden in the vaults of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. How much does this Russian asset know of those messages and can the ambiguous intelligence communiqués be unravelled before it’s too late?
It’s my father’s fault that I write spy novels, as my interest was aroused when he held a position as deputy head of a counter intelligence desk inside the War Department at the end of WWII. As one would expect he never spoke about what he was engaged in, but the past was another matter provided the case was closed. When I left all my schooling behind I wanted to use my talents in a productive way rather than confining them to industry or academia. I joined a government organisation close to what my father did, signing the same Official Secrets Act as he had done. As a consequence not one of my eight novels is based purely on what I heard, my imagination fills most of the pages, nevertheless, young ears store information that can be utilised in fiction.
A Covenant Of Spies is being released later this year on December 17th and until then it is available to pre-order from Amazon.
The story starts when the recently married chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee meets a Russian asset he vaguely remembers from an operation he was dangerously involved in some twenty-five years previously in Prague, Czechoslovakia. However, he is unclear as to whether the Russian remembers him. The Russian’s purpose of the meeting is to offer British intelligence a prize that only his granddaughter is able to fulfill provided she is extracted from Moscow without arousing suspicion.
As he looks further into this Russian’s past he discovers that a previous chairman of the JIC had unearthed a web of deceit in which he was able to conceal not only one double agent but two; one stealing secrets from the Soviet Union and the other from the Americans. The names of both agents are secreted away inside cryptic messages hidden in the vaults of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. How much does this Russian asset know of those messages and can the ambiguous intelligence communiqués be unravelled before it’s too late?
April 17, 2020
Daniel Kemp’s latest book ‘A Covenant of Spies’ is everything that I have come to expect from him; an erudite, complex tale, that is so well developed, that he quite seriously, makes me wonder if he really does know something that the rest of us can only imagine.
Just in case you’re not familiar with Daniel Kemp’s work...He writes political thrillers and A Covenant of Spies is the fourth book in his ‘Lies and Consequences’ series. His books are beautifully researched and crafted into stories navigating the world of his protagonist Patrick West. It’s a device that not only introduces the reader to the murky world of lies and spies, it also delineates the passing of time in, what to the reader, becomes a strange unfamiliar and alien place in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
The narrative is driven by dialogue between Fraser Ughert and Patrick West. Despite having known each other for many years, and on occasions worked together, there are vast areas of the Secret Services about which West knows little. Ughert is advanced in his years and he tells tales of the Cold War, spies busy with subterfuge, spies who were up to their necks in events that could shift the balance, the potential disaster of a war on humanity. We are dazzled by the sheer amount of spies of all nationalities; this book really demonstrates that there really is A Covenant of Spies.
But come on, this is fiction, isn’t it? Really? Well think again...
Cast your mind back to the first of November 2006. Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and KGB. After speaking critically about what he saw as corruption within the Russian government, he fled retribution to the UK, where he remained a vocal critic of the Russian state.
On the first of November 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised in what was established as a case of poisoning by radioactive polonium-210; he died from the poisoning on 23 November. He became the first known victim of lethal polonium 210-induced acute radiation syndrome.
The former Russian spy was poisoned with a cup of tea in a London hotel. Working with Scotland Yard detectives, as he lay dying, he traced the lethal substance to a former comrade in the Russian secret service.
Litvinenko knew that he was dying; we watched him die on television.
Reports found that Litvinenko was killed by two Russian agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun and that there was a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service.
Marina, Litvinenko’s widow, says that she, and the coroner examining his case, are disappointed that the British government has blocked a public inquiry into his death.
The coroner had argued that an inquiry was necessary because vital evidence couldn't be considered by a normal inquest.
Speaking to Jeremy Vine on The Andrew Marr Show, Mrs Litvinenko said that she's worried that it will not be possible to achieve justice until an inquest is completed.
Is that enough to convince you? If not try googling 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK's intelligence services, and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury, England, with a Novichok nerve agent, according to official UK sources and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Spies are facts; they are there and British history is littered with them. You couldn’t make it up,”people say, when crazy things happen, when we are face to face with “breaking news” on the news channels. The cases above are straight from that genre...reality bites and the sagacious, adroit mind of Daniel Kemp weaves a tantalising, beguiling tale.
A Russian spy, Nikita Sergevovitch Kudashov, wants the British government to give safe passage to his Granddaughter in Russia and it falls to Patrick West to investigate why Kudashov wants this. The Granddaughter has information that would be useful to our country...why shouldn’t the government grant Shudashov’s request? As a spy himself West is suspicious...and he, and Fraser Ughert deliberate into many long nights as to Shudashov’s agenda.
If you’re a fast reader, slow down, there’s an abomination here that could just happen; a hideous Orwellian manipulation...I’m saying no more, other than it’s only spoken of in little snippets, little morsels here and there, maybe just a sentence or two. Daniel Kemp gives you the clues, don’t miss them; a shudder ran up my spine as I read.
It’s no secret that I love Daniel Kemp’s work. He tussles with my mind with conundrums that I could never dream up. Seasoned readers of the ‘lies and consequences’ series will love ‘A Covenant of Spies’. New readers, I envy you. You are in the hands of a master storyteller...enjoy.
Just in case you’re not familiar with Daniel Kemp’s work...He writes political thrillers and A Covenant of Spies is the fourth book in his ‘Lies and Consequences’ series. His books are beautifully researched and crafted into stories navigating the world of his protagonist Patrick West. It’s a device that not only introduces the reader to the murky world of lies and spies, it also delineates the passing of time in, what to the reader, becomes a strange unfamiliar and alien place in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
The narrative is driven by dialogue between Fraser Ughert and Patrick West. Despite having known each other for many years, and on occasions worked together, there are vast areas of the Secret Services about which West knows little. Ughert is advanced in his years and he tells tales of the Cold War, spies busy with subterfuge, spies who were up to their necks in events that could shift the balance, the potential disaster of a war on humanity. We are dazzled by the sheer amount of spies of all nationalities; this book really demonstrates that there really is A Covenant of Spies.
But come on, this is fiction, isn’t it? Really? Well think again...
Cast your mind back to the first of November 2006. Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and KGB. After speaking critically about what he saw as corruption within the Russian government, he fled retribution to the UK, where he remained a vocal critic of the Russian state.
On the first of November 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised in what was established as a case of poisoning by radioactive polonium-210; he died from the poisoning on 23 November. He became the first known victim of lethal polonium 210-induced acute radiation syndrome.
The former Russian spy was poisoned with a cup of tea in a London hotel. Working with Scotland Yard detectives, as he lay dying, he traced the lethal substance to a former comrade in the Russian secret service.
Litvinenko knew that he was dying; we watched him die on television.
Reports found that Litvinenko was killed by two Russian agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun and that there was a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service.
Marina, Litvinenko’s widow, says that she, and the coroner examining his case, are disappointed that the British government has blocked a public inquiry into his death.
The coroner had argued that an inquiry was necessary because vital evidence couldn't be considered by a normal inquest.
Speaking to Jeremy Vine on The Andrew Marr Show, Mrs Litvinenko said that she's worried that it will not be possible to achieve justice until an inquest is completed.
Is that enough to convince you? If not try googling 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK's intelligence services, and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury, England, with a Novichok nerve agent, according to official UK sources and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Spies are facts; they are there and British history is littered with them. You couldn’t make it up,”people say, when crazy things happen, when we are face to face with “breaking news” on the news channels. The cases above are straight from that genre...reality bites and the sagacious, adroit mind of Daniel Kemp weaves a tantalising, beguiling tale.
A Russian spy, Nikita Sergevovitch Kudashov, wants the British government to give safe passage to his Granddaughter in Russia and it falls to Patrick West to investigate why Kudashov wants this. The Granddaughter has information that would be useful to our country...why shouldn’t the government grant Shudashov’s request? As a spy himself West is suspicious...and he, and Fraser Ughert deliberate into many long nights as to Shudashov’s agenda.
If you’re a fast reader, slow down, there’s an abomination here that could just happen; a hideous Orwellian manipulation...I’m saying no more, other than it’s only spoken of in little snippets, little morsels here and there, maybe just a sentence or two. Daniel Kemp gives you the clues, don’t miss them; a shudder ran up my spine as I read.
It’s no secret that I love Daniel Kemp’s work. He tussles with my mind with conundrums that I could never dream up. Seasoned readers of the ‘lies and consequences’ series will love ‘A Covenant of Spies’. New readers, I envy you. You are in the hands of a master storyteller...enjoy.
June 1, 2020
Daniel Kemp’s A Covenant Of Spies deals with British Intelligence investigating Russian operative.
I enjoyed the clever, complex tale featuring a net of lies and political cover-ups that made me think twice about the daily news headlines.
An entertaining story of 21st century spies and tales of the Cold War sprinkled with clues till the end, it reminded me of "Bridge of Spies".
January 5, 2020
Daniel Kemp has written another excellent spy novel about Patrick West, the chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee. In this novel Patrick is attempting to unravel a web of deceit centred around Nikita Kudashov, an intelligence operative, who wants West to extract his grand-daughter from Moscow.
As West delves deeper into Kudashov's history, he finds links to operations he took part in himself back in the 1980s and a trail that leads to an old enemy and also involves the Machiavellian machinations of his old boss Dickie Blythe-Smith.
I won’t spoil the plot for readers, but I was engrossed by the story and really enjoyed it. I enjoy reading the novels of John le Carré, Len Deighton and Graham Green and think this novel would appeal to readers who also like those writers.
As West delves deeper into Kudashov's history, he finds links to operations he took part in himself back in the 1980s and a trail that leads to an old enemy and also involves the Machiavellian machinations of his old boss Dickie Blythe-Smith.
I won’t spoil the plot for readers, but I was engrossed by the story and really enjoyed it. I enjoy reading the novels of John le Carré, Len Deighton and Graham Green and think this novel would appeal to readers who also like those writers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews