Ebook ( )

This is the second in the author's series of intelligence-themed thrillers featuring MI5 officer Liz Carlyle, obviously based on the author's own experiences in the organisation before she rose to become the first female and the first publicly acknowledged Director General of MI5 in 1992. The plot involves radicalised Muslim youths, a disaffected MI5 officer and, more peripherally, Irish republican terrorists, combined in a way which I found rather unconvincing though, again as with the first novel, the fact of the author's background makes one wonder whether this is a fair judgement. Liz Carlyle is a sympathetic and well-rounded character though, and I will continue reading this series. ( )

Secret Asset" is a credible, competent but unexceptional spy thriller. It eschews melodrama but doesn't have much to put in its place other than counter-espionage procedures that are interesting but not exciting.

The audiobook is four hours long, with each chapter being a one hour chapter. The structure disciplined the exposition in a way that made me feel as if I were attending a briefing: Context, Problem, Problem-solving, Denouement.

I enjoyed the clever way the ghosts of the Troubles in Northern Ireland where linked to modern-day home-grown Islamic terrorism. I thought the characterisation of the main players was more deftly done than in the first Liz Carlyle book, "At Risk" I didn't figure out the plot. I did believe the politics, or at least the Irish side of it that I am familiar with. "Secret Asset held my interest for four hours but it won't stay in my memory long. ( )

Following the stressful operation detailed in At Risk, MI5 intelligence officer Liz Caryle had been on extended leave. Almost the first message she receives on her return is an urgent communication from one of her agents, who has garnered what seems to be very valuable information about a potential terrorist threat. Meanwhile, she has also been assigned, at the specific request of the Director General, to conduct a covert investigation following evidence suggesting the possibility that a ‘mole’ may have infiltrated the service a few years previously.

Stella Rimington manages the two plot threads very capably, Liz Carlyle is a very plausible character: driven by a fierce integrity, yet sufficiently far from any pinnacle of unassailable rectitude to alienate the readers. Both plotlines are well constructed, and lead to an exciting denouement, but one that never slips beyond reality. Of course, with her own long background in the Intelligence services, no one is better suited to judge how far to push the boundaries of espionage fiction.

This is another sound addition to the spy fiction canon, and establishes Liz Carlyle as one of the leading spyfinders. ( )

Secret Asset, the 2nd in Stella Rimington's series starring Liz Carlyle, is a fast-paced cat & mouse thriller that doesn't let up. Carlyle, a MI5 operator in London, returns to work after an injury and is thrust into the search for a supposedly inactive Northern Irish mole in the British intelligence service. Concurrently, a Pakistani terrorist cell is planning something big in London and, due to her previous relationship with an informer, she's drawn into that investigation as well.

To avoid the risk of spoiling the plot, that's as far as I'll go. Suffice to say that Ms. Carlyle is kept busy and her acumen in reading people comes in handy.

I've really enjoyed this series so far. Rimington has a background in British intelligence, so the spy stuff has a ring of authenticity to it. Carlyle is a really good character that I'm sure will be developed further in subsequent novels, and the supporting cast is well done. The writing is very good, and the dialogue is as well. The plot in Secret Asset is believable and concludes nicely. I liked the description of the post-mortem activities after the action wrapped up- it seems a lot of thrillers seem to end abruptly, but the reality is probably more like what's described in this situation. ( )