This fourth novel in the author's series of intelligence-themed thrillers featuring MI5 officer Liz Carlyle features a threat to a Middle East peace conference in Gleneagles in Scotland, from a source with their own particular motives. The number of agents running other agents in double or triple bluffs confused me a bit, but as ever Liz is a sympathetic figure and her colleagues are becoming clearer and more well-rounded ongoing characters, some of them rather likeable like her boss Charles Wetherby and her her assistant Peggy Kinsolving. I am enjoying this series more now and, as always any scepticism about the apparent implausibility of some of the plot twists, is offset by the fact of the author's former position as MI5 Director General. ( )

I would be interested to know to what extent Liz Carlyle, the appealing protagonist of Stella Rimington’s espionage novels, is based upon the author herself. Liz is pragmatic, resourceful and quick thinking, relying upon her own abilities rather than the high tech accessories that so often clutter spy novels.

On a related point, having been rereading the sequence, I also wonder how far the character of Zoe Reynolds, who featured so notably in the first three seasons of the television series Spooks is based upon Liz Carlyle. They share the same practical approach to the numerous challenges and operations thrown their way, and both display an occasional healthy cynicism, or even despair, about the value or rectitude of their role.

Dead Line represents the fourth outing for Liz Carlyle, and once again she finds herself feeling as wary of her MI6 and CIA counterparts as of the ‘official’ enemy. A major Middle East peace summit has been scheduled to be held at the luxury Scottish hotel complex of Gleneagles, but intelligence filters down to MI6 about a Syrian plot to disrupt it. Liz is assigned to investigate potential links to the plot in the UK, and to ensure that the peace talks can proceed safely.

One of the great qualities of Liz Carlyle as a character is her humanity. She isn’t perfect, and occasionally makes mistakes. She is also as susceptible to mistaken first impressions as anyone else, and finds herself having to reconsider various assumptions she has made about her family and personal life. Where Rimington shows her deftness as a writer is in balancing Liz’s personal hinterland with the requirements of the plot, and never allowing the former to overshadow or dwarf the latter.

This is not an edge of the seat thriller – that is not the sort of book that Stella Rimington is aiming for. It is, however, a well-crafted, well written and entertaining story, that captures (and then retains) the reader’s attention right from the start. ( )

Ms Rimington shows her deep understanding of human motives and how people carry emotional baggage with them into their professional lives.

This was a very enjoyable and easy to read. A good insight into the world of espionage from a very credible source.

The reading was adequate but I couldn't really engage. Perhaps the fact that I had read this before influenced me. ( )

'Dead Line', the 4th in Stella Rimington's Liz Carlyle series, is a tricky one. The British secret service is made aware of the potential for the disruption of an international conference in Scotland, and from there it becomes a sometimes tedious search for the who, what, when, where, and why.

As with her prior novels, Ms. Rimington provides great descriptions of tradecraft and the inner workings of both the security services and the political atmosphere surrounding them. What I most enjoy about the series, though, is the lead character. Liz isn't a killing machine or a bloodless analytical robot, but is rather a hyper-competent agent with a conscience and other very human qualities and needs. The author has done fine work in developing this character and, with the announcement at the very end of the book, we can look forward to what I can assume to be new entanglements on her social side.

The writing is crisp but the book doesn't move as quickly as I expected. That's probably on me- security investigations mixed with diplomacy and international competition between services don't move fast, and Ms. Rimington obviously knows what's involved there. Two problems I had with 'Dead Line': the dialogue of one of the American CIA officers didn't ring very true. He was an ex-Ivy league Anglophile who spoke as if he were British. The other issue was with the conclusion- at the risk of being a spoiler, I didn't think the level of cunning and precision of the perpetrator would have resulted in the dependence on the final group of involved characters and the complicated type of attack that was carried out.

So, this was definitely a worthwhile read by an author who has spun a fine series out of her experience as the head of Britain's MI5. ( )

#4 in the series and this time Liz is trying to prevent a Middle East peace conference to be held at Gleneagles from being derailed. Lots of double dealing involving Mossad, Syria, the CIA etc and it all got a bit convoluted. The conversation at the end between Liz and her CIA counterpart, where they methodically explain the loose ends to each other was a bit clunky, but perhaps necessary. The Gleneagles setting was well described.

The "love triangle" between Charles, Joanne and Liz seems finally to be reaching some sort of resolution, which pleases me as only Joanne comes out of it with any credit as far as I am concerned. It puzzles me why Liz is so irresistible to the men who have authority over her at work and why she seems to be seeking a father figure. It's distracting and makes me like her less. ( )