John Trenhaile (1)

There is a mole high up in the KGB in the late 1970s and it seems that they've been passing information to the British for quite some time. KGB Chairman Stanov decides on a plan to uncover the traitor and to do so in a way that doesn't spook him before he can be brought to a suitably sticky end. Apparently disgraced KGB agent Ivan Bucharensky – codename Kyril - is asked to stage a defection to the West. Kyril's mission is to parade himself openly in front of suspect KGB sections in Athens show more and Brussels before heading to London for the main stage of his operation. However, there's a complication Kyril doesn't know about. The KGB have their own mole in MI6.
Rather a run of the mill spy novel, which is best summed up as Meh. The plot has the kind of twists and turns that you'd expect from a spy novel. Mercurial characters; episodes of danger and derring do; plots within plots within plots. However, it didn't grip me and I found myself only reading half a chapter at a time rather than wanting to race on. I think that the fact this is the first of a trilogy was a problem- I knew that the mole in the KGB would get away with it and live to feature in the sequels. I don't think I will bother with those. I'm sure I said no more spies a little while ago, anyway. show less

The plot line is interesting, but the execution is lacking for me.

An exciting book, also an interesting book. Occasionally I lost some names in the many storylines or connections between people. In general however it was they very legible.