A Colder War

A enjoyable and well constructed spy thriller from Charles Cumming with the story and action nicely paced but never too fast or loose to make it unbelievable.The main character is Thomas Kell, who has appeared before in the author sA Foreign Country and is an experienced and well regarded but tainted SIS senior operative, who is languishing outside the service on unpaid leave and trying to find a return route to his profession after some adventures in the aforementioned book.His relationship wit [...]

A Colder War is another fun installment in Cumming s Tom Kell series The first, A Foreign Country was a rip roaring page turner of a book and A Colder War is good as well though the former grabbed readers from the first page the later takes longer to become involved with because the pacing is slower About a third of the way through it takes off Cumming s characters, especially Kell, are engaging and well characterized and he brings back some former favorites like Amelia, Kell s boss, who s also [...]

A top ranking Iranian military official is blown up while trying to defect to the West An investigative journalist is arrested and imprisoned for writing an article critical of the Turkish government An Iranian nuclear scientist is assassinated on the streets of Tehran These three incidents, seemingly unrelated, have one crucial link Each of the three had been recently recruited by Western intelligence, before being removed or killed.Again I feel the need to remind you that spy thrillers are not [...]

Russia is flexing its muscles It has annexed Crimea and is now putting the screws to the Ukraine At the same time, Putin has again charged another billionaire industrialist with crimes, in a power play to probably get his company The world may be on the brink of a new cold war It is fertile ground for a top notch spy novelist.Charles Cummings latest Thomas Kell spy novel his second Kell spy book since A Foreign Country in 2012 is centered on Kell s investigation of the death of Paul Wallinger, A [...]

A proper old fashioned spy story which is not only well written but captures a realistic view of the intelligence services.My first book by the author and I was impressed A spy novel not beset by gun toting types but by an intelligent and thoughtful approach Here spying is about investigation and data gathering as a disgraced SIS agent is pulled back into the fold to look into the death of another agent It might be innocent or it might be that he was a mole in the organisation Set mainly in Tu [...]

I ve read this before about fifty times Three of the jacket blurbs compared Cumming to le Carr Not by a long shot.

A cold, calculated mission without any graphic violence It read very much as I d imagine real spies work Kind of boring from an action standpoint, but the characters their feelings, calculations, strengths weaknesses took up the slack It s an ugly job, but someone has to do it Well done, but I won t want to read another for some time I didn t care much for the people They were too real with no hyperbole, just normal feelings like wanting to keep their jobs even though the system dirtied them all [...]

Okay, confession time Espionage novels really aren t my thing, but I was prepared to give this one a shot, firstly because I ve never read any of the authors work before and secondly because it was chosen for the Richard and Judy Spring Book Club this year I follow their recommendations religiously and 9 out of 10 times they get it right for my personal reading interests Unfortunately this time, I was sorely disappointed As the story begins, the chief of MI6, Amelia Levene, also known as C, is h [...]

A spy thriller with a slow paced plot.I was excited to receive this book as part of giveaway I had heard a lot about its prequel A foreign country and was eager to get started on this one The slow placed plot was a major disappointment, aren t spy stories supposed to be racy from the word go Thomas Kell as a character who is a disgraced spy is good and intriguing Although slow to begin with the last 150 pages is where the action lies and is a reader s delight from that point Gist Thomas Kell, an [...]

Much better than the first installment in the series It has everything that a good espionage novel should have romance, intrigue, double crossings and great characters The novel deals with the discovery of a mole in the spy community of Ankara, Turkey, and the process that MI6 follows to flush the traitor out Agent Kell of MI6 is brought back from a hiatus imposed on him by Emilia Levine, head of MI6, to discover why the head of MI6 Ankara died in an airplane accident The story takes off from th [...]

Another excellent outing for SIS spy Thomas Kell, which this time finds him sent to Istanbul after the death of the local head of station As before Tom is helped along by his team of operatives, but this time he finds himself having to work alongside the American CIA man who had previously caused his fall from grace Not an ideal situation, but then things start to get out of hand, and the story tears along at breakneck speed towards its denouement Romance for Tom, a mole in the service and a se [...]

Agonizingly slow, tedious, boring, redundant Did I say boring Yes, yes I did 0 of 10 stars

This is the second book with Thomas Kell, a British spy who was out of service for awhile, and is taking assignments trying to prove that he can take full appointment In the first book he helps his boss, Amelia, with whom he has a good friendship This book stands alone without have read the first, but the relationship between Kell and Amelia has meaning when you know that background Kell is sent to Istanbul to investigate the suspicious death of an operative in Ankara Prior to that death there [...]

I couldn t have enjoyed this book any if I d tried Believe me If you ve ever been a fan of, or even ever heard someone say they ve been a fan of the classic Spy Fiction writers, then this is for you and them.I ll admit I wasn t totally taken by A Spy By Nature, though I thought A Foreign Country was much like it, if not entirely there However, with A Colder War, in my Charles Cumming experiences so far, the cover blurb does actually seem to have been written about the book contained within the [...]

Flawed hero in the middle book of three Lots of action and suspense along with what the author calls trade craft how spies go about their business Personally had a problem with Kell s sudden and obsessive romance with a younger woman, but perhaps that s just part of his flawed character That and his relationship with Amelia, his manipulative boss.Oh, and Jot Davies is high on my list of narrators I enjoy.

A new novel by Charles Cumming is always a matter for celebration among fans of thrillers and spy fiction Cumming s thrillers are traditional, fast moving and marked by a depth of characterisation and by humour that move them beyond the mass of standard page turners that crowd the shelves in airport book stores He is a worthy follower of the tradition of John Le Carre His latest book, A COLDER WAR, is a sequel to his previous novel, A FOREIGN COUNTRY 2012 and follows the career of disgraced spy [...]

A Colder War follows Thomas Kell as he is recruited by the top dog in MI6, Amelia, in order to investigate her lovers death He was stationed in Turkey at the time and all is not what it seems There are cracks showing in the typically tight knit spy community, and Kell has to traverse dangerous terrain to get to the bottom of the mystery There are warnings about the Americans, and suspicions about everyone he comes into contact with in order to solve the mystery Whilst attempting to determine the [...]

Heard good things about this author s spy novels, so I picked this one up Wish I d done a little research first, as it builds upon an earlier book A Foreign Country , set about two years previously That book introduces the protagonist and a number of the relationships that prove pivotal in this one It s not that you have to have read the other book first, but this one would have been much richer had I had the earlier experience with the characters.The story involves the death of an MI6 agent bas [...]

I was delighted to be offered a copy of A Colder War to review by Charles Cummings is fast becoming one of my favourite spy novel writers The story is set in London, Istanbul and on the Greek Islands Tom Kell returns as the thoroughly believable and well rounded character that we met in a previous book The Foreign Country I like the fact that he is portrayed as very human, middle aged and not always sure what he wants from the future As spy novels go this is excellent as it s fast moving, the de [...]

I initially enjoyed this a lot than I did the first book in the series, because the plot seemed intense and spy novel worthy than in the last one, the characters weren t as frustratingly dimwitted as I remembered them But then about halfway through I realised that I d been mistaken in thinking that Thomas Kell was finally going to be portrayed as the experienced spy he s made out to be He still appears downright gullible, and his victories seem like sheer dumb luck than results of actual trad [...]

Absolutely a beautifully written book.This book has a slightly dark context when dealing with spies, but has comic relief when need be It gives extremely detailed references to cities and how they appear, but doesn t appeal to the reader when the author has dramatic scenes, which seem to go too far with detail Although these may seem like bad examples to have, this book truly is a classic It shows spies in a completely new and relevant way, which has a fantastic sense of immersion This definitel [...]

A modern day spy novel based largely in Turkey It s fast paced full of interesting characters, has an intriguing plot and some love interest too So, it got all the right ingredients and knits them together to form an excellent package.I like Cummings very much and I m already looking forward to the inevitable follow up to this enjoyable tale.

I received this as a First Reads Giveaway.I wanted to like this than I did, the writing was fabulous and everything was believable but I didn t feel any connection to the characters.Full review on my website

What a satisfying read Yes, there are a few bits left dangling and something about a Blackberry that was very confusing but I ve never even seen one so it may be due to ignorance on my part , but this is a well constructed and executed story I should add that I won this book in a Criminal Elements giveaway lucky me.

A classic spy thriller with lots of travel, sex and sudden death The plot is excellent and there is an air of authenticity about it that I found gripping and convincing.

Why, oh why do I let myself get suckered into reading spy novels With the exception of Tom Clancy and some SpecOps books, I m not sure I ve ever read a good one The only reason I give A Colder War two stars is because Charles Cumming put a lot of effort into making the spycraft portions as realistic as possible That took a lot of effort The problem that the novel is boring Because of the emphasis on realism as opposed to a James Bond novel , the plot ends up being rather underwhelming and very s [...]

This is the second of three novels about erstwhile spy, Thomas Kell There will be spoilers in this, although not so much about the plot but the characters.What I enjoy the most about these novels is the old school, almost early Ian Fleminglike smallness of the stories The author also does a terrific Cold War kind of narrative with descriptions of cold drops and avoiding surveillance.And much of the Spy banter is fun to hear as they continue to outsmart one another in being insightful and deviou [...]

I think that if i had been reading this book over a longer time period I might have struggled with it the combination of code names, nick names, first names, surnames and lots of characters locations was confusing for me even reading it over a short time In spite of this, I really enjoyed the book Cumming s writing convinced me that he understands something about the world of espionage and the book works particularly well for me as it has a lesser focus on violence than some other spy stories I [...]

The spy thrillers that seem to get readers to glom on to them are the ones where the hero or heroes race against the clock to prevent a catastrophic event from occurring The odds are daunting, yet the hero or heroes prevail Yet low key spy thrillers, like A Colder War, can be just as entertaining The hero or heroes second guesses himself themselves The hero or heroes may not be in the best physical shape too many cigarettes, not enough exercise Yet the low key spy thrillers can be just as entert [...]

The blurb says the author is the new Le Carre.He s not, By a country mile.His style is readable, some of his characterizations are almost believable, the story is weak, some of the premises are flimsy and often forced and overall, the novel is extremely bleak.The characters, our main protagonist Tom Kell being the best example of this, would be better placed in a cheap romantic novel though even these elements of writing were scarcely believable It just felt like too much of a mish mash, neither [...]