At Risk: A Novel (original 2004; edition 2006)

Liz Carlyle is an intelligence officer in MI5. She's working on a case of an "invisible", a potential terrorist who is a British citizen and much harder to find because he or she has the right look, mannerisms, documents, everything that might otherwise be a clue. Hampering her focus are a colleague from MI6 who thinks he's Mr. Cool and a married man with whom she has been having an affair, but who now wants to get a divorce and ruin her life. Fortunately Liz is the best and makes the connections no one else can see.

I was interested in reading this first novel in the Liz Carlyle series mainly because of the author. Stella Rimington has been the director of counter-subversion, counter-espionage, and counter-terrorism in succession, as well as the first woman director general of MI5 from 1992-1996. She first came to my attention, however, as the controversial chair of the 2011 Booker Prize committee. I'm glad I satisfied my curiosity, but I found the writing dull, and I didn't understand why the protagonist's personal life was brought into the story, but then dropped half way through the book. I'm not in a hurry to seek out the next book in the series. ( )

Cracking debut novel by a former head of MI5. First in the Liz Carlyle series. Terrorists Faraj Mansoor of Pakistan and UK citizen and Muslim convert Jean d'Aubigny target an RAF base CO and his family. A real page-turner. ( )

A competently plotted and smoothly written page-turner that keeps the tension until the final twist. But don't imagine that the identity of the author (former head of MI5) will add any particular insight. ( )

A good page turning thriller. The author's background meant that whenever I thought the plot was getting slightly far fetched, I recalled that it could be based on a real incident in her experience at MI5. Some of agent Liz Carlyle's thoughts and reactions clearly mirror the author's own, as recounted in her autobiography Open Secret. Even so, the reasons for the radicalisation of Jean/Lucy seemed a bit thin and her involvement in the revenge plans of Faraj Mansoor based on what seemed a pretty remote coincidence. Having said that, reality is indeed often stranger than fiction. Would it have seemed credible in 2000 that terrorists would crash hijacked planes into buildings and kill 3000 people? The novel is strong on the depiction of the mindset of the terrorist who convinces him or herself that their actions are justified, whatever the consequences in innocent lives lost. Jean/Lucy's change of heart at the end in not planting the bomb she helped make seems slightly unconvincing given that she has already committed the face to face murder of a young man whose car she hijacked by shooting him in the head. But these issues add a thought-provoking dimension to what might otherwise be a more run of the mill thriller. ( )

I enjoyed this one - it's not flashy, it's pretty scornful of M16's idea of tradecraft, it doesn't have lots of action scenes, and it's not really about pursuing affairs on the side; in fact it's about the intelligence gathering, analysis and co-operation at the desk and in the field, to track down an "invisible" agent, to find out what they are going to do, and to stop them. It seemed to be pretty convincing about the co-operation (or not in some cases) between services; the problems and opportunities a secret life presents to an agent (in this case, a female MI5 agent); the hard slog through material to sift for possibilities, risks, and to try to identify the target and the terrorist agent; the threads of reasoning; the informers; and the questioning. There was quite a good twist part way through the novel. I enjoyed the landscape.

Some of the surprises for me as I read were the smaller details - mostly things I hadn't really thought about before, or much noticed from reading (or seeing) the news. For example, there is a bit where someone gets blast concussion from an explosion - I'm used to the idea of, or seeing pictures of, say, the effects of shrapnel, but not physical damage just from the force and sound of the explosion itself. I also realise now that I had read and heard about "shell-shock" in the First World War; I assumed it was different from blast concussion, and that "shell-shock" was more about the psychological impact, more akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. Looking online, it seems that "shell-shock" (not its proper name - can't remember that one) and blast concussion may be part and parcel of one medical condition/the same thing. Strange how a century old kind of injury may be coming round again as a result of high-powered explosives used in civil war and terrorist-type incidents.

There were also little bits indicating the law, and legal process, that actually surrounds the various law enforcement organisations - MI5, Special Branch, the police and so on - in this sense there was an element of a police procedural novel here, where there are clearly protocols to follow, and court orders to obtain to get access to particular records or items or people. This was quite helpful as it gave a different kind of context to the story. I think this also goes back to the novel not being like a flashy spy novel - there's no sense of an unfettered organisation, or agent, that can do pretty much whatever it wants (or give the impression of doing so), apparently without reference to legal frameworks (or such frameworks give enormous lattitude). The book isn't plodding, but it is methodical.

There was some engaging and interesting stuff on the conflicts, opportunities and problems between personal and professional life for this agent. Sometimes Liz is plainly ignored for being female (whether that's in the office unintentionally, or on the street undercover, intentionally); other times it's not so clear whether this is going on. It's also evident that other characters in the book have managed to do the job and have a long-term relationship in their private life; it's a lot less clear how they have managed or been able to do that. Liz is quite clear that her latest is strictly affair material only, and needing to be ended pretty quickly for two main reasons (married and Liz can't afford to be cited in a divorce action, and too damn inquisitive about absences and a work phone number). This book is focused on the work, which is great and seems right. Occasionally though there are little snippets about the working agents as people that grabbed me, and had me wondering what was going on, or how they managed. I'm very glad it wasn't a romance disguised an espionage novel either.

A good read and a good yarn, but maybe best not approached with expectation of an action-based novel. I was pleasantly surprised. I look forward to reading more of this series - it seems like there is still a lot of material to explore, or at least key characters to expand on. ( )