Several of our spy thriller aficionados were disappointed with this offering from Charles Cumming. Some were still keen enough to try other books written by him though so they certainly have not written him off as an author. There was much chat about the language being appropriate to the genre and for some who were not accustomed to this genre, it was an opportunity for them to extend their vocabulary. Unfortunately this novel was not sufficiently addictive to persuade them to read more of this genre. One reader new to this genre found the novel quite slow and difficult to get into and this is not a criticism usually associated with this style of novel.
The main disappointment, seemed to be the early disclosure of the 'mole' which rudely halted the gradual build-up of the frisson of tension, usually associated with this genre. There was much discussion about the fact that usually an early disclosure usually meant a huge red herring but this did not eventuate in this case which was bit of a let-down.There were many comments about the uneffective pinkish herrings tossed in to supposedly muddy the waters. Some readers spoke of easily being able to ignore the side stories and thus making the main plot just too obvious for sustaining enjoyment.
Other readers had experience of living in overseas embassies and were quite accepting of the concept of spies being within the embassy staff. On the other hand they found it very doubtful that a 'non-spy-trained' person would have been brought in on such an important operation, so this destroyed to a degree the authenticity of the book for them. One reader is planning to visit Turkey soon and as a result of the events within this book was a little less enthusiastic about the upcoming trip. Another of our readers utilises Google a lot to extend her understanding of places and events mentioned in the novel she is reading and is thus far better informed about Turkey now. In a quirky coincidence a member of her family is now travelling to Turkey so she already has the background to better visualise the places they might visit.
On average our readers rated this read between a five and a six and a half out of ten. All but one of our group had finished it so overall people though not wildly excited about the read were quite happy with the experience.
Our next read is Rebecca Mascull's debut novel The Visitors which certainly looks like an excursion into different territory. It has the potential for yet another interesting discussion.
Keep those pages turning.......
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