The Unlikely Spy

Great spy story encumbered by clumsy, almost laughable, erotic scenes. ("She arched her back to meet his pulsating .... ") But the plot is really good and kept me plowing through seemingly unending erotica. If you can stand the junk you'll enjoy the story.

Start with a John le Carré spy thriller, with perfect atmosphere. Now fill in all the elisions, with the plot, with the character sketches, with the dialog. Now elaborate every paragraph, and explain everything again. Repeat, elaborate it all a little bit more. Again.

I think Silva did get the atmosphere right, at least at the start. The plot is good, too. But this book is so overwritten and over-explained, it feels ridiculous.

i actually really enjoyed this book. i don't feel like i'm usually all that into spy stories, but this one, besides being really interesting, is quite well written. i generally think it's kind of impressive when an author takes a well known historical event (world war ii and who wins it) and still manages to create tension and suspense. the few details i looked up along the way (my world war ii knowledge is mostly holocaust centered; i had no idea about the story behind the d-day invasion at normandy) were all accurate, with his cast of fictitious characters (churchill, eisenhower, hitler, and himmler all play a small role as well). i'm not sure how this book ended up on my list, and i wasn't going in with high expectations, but this show more was a good read. i would definitely read him again, and maybe even change my mind about spy books in general if they're written as well as his. show less

The Unlikely Spy, the first of Daniel Silva's string of spy thrillers, should pique enough interest to lead one into a sampling of his other works. The novel is true to the history of MI5 and its desperate attempt to keep the location of the planned invasion of Europe from the Nazis. Professor Alfred Vicary is given the task by his friend Churchill who tells him to report ..."to Brigadier Sir Basil Boothby. He is the head of the division to which you will be assigned. He is also the complete English ass. He'd thwart me if he could, but he's too stupid for that. Man could fuck up a steel ball."
There is much in the way of deception and betrayal throughout the novel which moves swiftly into an exciting search for a highly skilled and show more murderous female spy, who, despicable as she is, has some appeal to the reader's sympathy. We are also brought into the Nazi's perspective and follow Kurt Vogel, master spy trainer and runner as he struggles to find the truth and deals with his loathing of Hitler.
The plot takes a surprising twist the last few pages which is worth the wait. show less

Disclaimer: I’m a sucker for WWII and / or spy books

Before I start – this is not a “Gabriel Allon” book as mentioned on the page title.

“The Unlikely Spy” is a fast paced page turner, set mostly in days preceding the Normandy invasion in WWII. The story’s unlikely hero is a university professor named Alfred Vicray who was recruited by none other then Winston Churchill himself to work for the British MI5.

Vicary is a spy catcher – he does his job well until realizing that a small group of German sleeper agents trained by Abwehr officer Kurt Vogel are still in Britain. The threat is that the German agents could discover the secrets to the invasion and allow the Germans to setup a proper defense line (or call the invasion show more off) and the invasion would fail.

Chief among the German spies is Anna Katerina von Steiner, known in Britain as Dutch tourist Catherine Blake. Catherine is an attractive woman and a top notch spy who has been a sleeper agent in London for six years - now she has been activated by Vogel.
Let the mind games and puzzles begin….

The plot twists and turns very cleverly and the ending caught me by surprise. Even though this is a big book, the narrative is told masterfully, the twists keep coming and it’s hard to stop reading.

The characters in the book are well drawn, they each are painted in shades of gray –the German spies have some redeeming qualities and the English MI5 agents are not depicted as saints doing G-d’s work. show less

Quite a plot centered around the secret deception of D-day, 1944, the invasion of France. It was a plot that was believable and used actual characters and places so that the truth could hide in a novel. I found myself referring to internet sources to determine if the people in it were real or imaginary, so the book was well researched. By the end, the plot is so twisted that one wonders who, really, is the titled "unlikely spy."

Daniel Siva's debut novel, The Unlikely Spy, was first published in 1996.Because I so enjoyed two of his newer books, I thought I'd give this one a try. And I'm glad I did!

This is the utterly compelling story of Britain's MI-5 and Germany's Abwehr, the military intelligence services, during World War II. Many German spies in Britain were arrested and either hanged or "turned" by MI-5. However, a number of agents were in the country in deep cover. The British suspected that those sleeper agents existed, but had no idea who they were. As the British and the Americans began planning for the Normandy invasion, they became concerned that knowledge of the date and location of the landing would end up in German hands. So began a massive, show more complex and, we know, successful plan to mislead the Germans.

The Unlikely Spy is meticulously researched. Many of the characters are, of course, fiction. But there are realistic and compelling portraits of historical figures we know much about (Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, to name just two) and those most of us have never heard of. Chief among these is the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Admiral Canaris was involved in a plot to depose Hitler and was actually executed by the Nazis for treason.

This book can be very confusing with its tales of spies, military intelligence, and counter-intelligence. There are many characters, and it's not always easy to figure out who is really working for who, and which of the characters is who they purport to be. The main character is Alfred Vicary, history professor at University College, London. Vicary is recruited for work at MI-5 by none other than Winston Churchill. He soon finds that he enjoys intelligence work, and is contributing to the war effort. In 1943 his boss, Brigadier Sir Basil Boothby, sets him to work on Operation Mulberry, Britain's plan to deceive the Nazis. Vicary soon realizes there is much he is not being told about Mulberry, and also that he is being misled. Is Boothby a traitor? Or is he manipulating Vicary for other reasons?

At the same time, there is much turmoil at the Abwehr. Germany is losing the war effort. They know that the Allies are planning an invasion of Europe, but they cannot figure out when and where the invasion will take place. The Abwehr activates one of its sleeper agents in Britain to ascertain this information. It is this person that Vicary is responsible for apprehending before it is too late. Kurt Vogel is the Abwehr administrator in charge of the sleeper agents, and he is no fan of Admiral Canaris. Vogel is ambitious, and willing to do anything to unseat Canaris and control the Abwehr himself.

There is so much more to this book but it would be a disservice to write any more about it. It is thrilling, interesting, and will keep you guessing until the very end. show less