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What Members Thought
This book is a big improvement over The Foreign Country (T. Kell, #1).
While I liked the study into the character of Tom Kell and some others, there were a number of things that I found hard to believe: his blind trust of Amelia Levine, who continued manipulating him through out; hardly any development before Kell engaged in a steamy romance with a much younger woman, who's 'love at first sight' with him was rather unconvincing, too. Similarly unconvincing was the psychological portrait of the t ...more
While I liked the study into the character of Tom Kell and some others, there were a number of things that I found hard to believe: his blind trust of Amelia Levine, who continued manipulating him through out; hardly any development before Kell engaged in a steamy romance with a much younger woman, who's 'love at first sight' with him was rather unconvincing, too. Similarly unconvincing was the psychological portrait of the t ...more
I loved this book.... great writing, a decent plot, and most importantly, intricate tradecraft. Not having a background personally in spying, I have no idea whether what Cumming describes in the cat and mouse activities involved in surveillance is actually realistic or not, but it certainly seems to be and it's dynamite.
The plot itself is, as always in this genre, straightforward at the high level but infinitely complicated beneath. Cumming writes beautifully and guides us through, in great deta ...more
The plot itself is, as always in this genre, straightforward at the high level but infinitely complicated beneath. Cumming writes beautifully and guides us through, in great deta ...more
Charles Cumming certainly impresses when it comes to writing about a spy's trade craft and situational awareness, but he fails when it comes to developing the characters and their emotional personna. The characters of Kell, Rachel, and Amelia shift moods and emotions in this book with little to no consistency, and motivational background for their actions was equally inconsistent, making the characters lacking in depth. At points the story seems to lunge about aimlessly. One minute Rachel is a m
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Four and one-half stars! The spycraft was well articulated and inserted precisely where it was most effective. The story moved along with terrific pace and the characters really LIVE! I'll have to read the previous Charles Cumming books very soon.
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Jul 16, 2014
Jason Brangers
marked it as to-read
Nov 27, 2014
Kartic Ramesh
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May 22, 2015
poorguy
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May 18, 2016
Lukas
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Nov 30, 2016
Wesley
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Jun 21, 2018
Jon Gertler
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Sep 29, 2020
Ian Walton
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Nov 30, 2020
Anthony Nuthall
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Jun 18, 2021
Marcella Wigg
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