My fear now is that Cumming will stick to this structure in subsequent books, doing a back-and-forwards at least until we get to the bit in Lockie's life story where we learn how/why/when he broke up with Martha. Is their inside man into Russia trustworthy enough to help them accomplish such a tall task in a foreign country without being exposed? Chemical weapons, espionage and the ghosts of the Cold War loom large in the second instalment of Charles Cumming’s enthralling series that revolves around the top-secret intelligence agency of Box 88. After a lifetime working with BOX 88, the transatlantic counterintelligence agency so covert that not even the CIA knows of its existence, master spy Lachlan Kite has made plenty of enemies. In March 2008, Charles Cumming published an interactive online story, The 21 Steps, as part of a Penguin We Tell Stories project.

The second book in Charles Cumming’s gripping new thriller series surrounding BOX 88 – a covert intelligence organization that operates below the radar. Bit of a Curates Egg as the first half is excellent as the story of a young Lachlan trying to spirit a disaffected scientist out of Russia is gripping. But it’s not as straight forward as that: the name that appears on the list is actually an alias he used nearly thirty years ago when he was a rookie recruit sent into Russia to exfiltrate a chemical weapons scientist. S., assassinated by Putin's FSB (ex-KGB) agents as a traitor, one of many targets on their Judas List.

It’s well written with such a large sense of realism and it’s very obvious the author has done his homework. If talk of temperature-taking, mask-wearing, social-distancing, limited-capacity restaurants, etc is a trigger for you— you might not want to read this one.

For example, in a highly monitored city with CCTV cameras everywhere, face masks provided an inconspicuous/normal way for the agents to blend in undetected. Kite's fight for survival takes him to Dubai, a city crawling with international intelligence officers, where he enters into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the Russian secret state. The first half of the book is set within that mission, with Kite almost alone in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Russia. We all know about how, in real life, Putin has sent agents to attack his perceived enemies with nerve agents and radioactive materials.

They succeed, but the escape is a harrowing one and on their tail the entire time is a brutal and very suspicious member of the KGB/FSK by the name of Gromik. However, in some ways, I can see how including the Covid aspect was essential or relative to the story.