No matter how deeply buried, some secrets have a way of coming uncomfortably to light.
A brooding, evocative prologue set in 1968 introduces young Cordelia Hemlock, restlessly staring at a joyless gray sea as she stands on the verge of a consequential career with MI6. The story then jumps to 2016, which finds Cordelia comfortably retired, living in the north of England, and meeting journalist Paolo Fergus, who’s recently posted a blistering exposé about death squads in Belize, the threat of revolution in Guatemala in the 1980s, and the involvement of MI6 therein. The puzzle pieces that explain the crimes he’s reported fall progressively into place through alternating narratives from shrewd, quick-thinking Cordelia, writing in Guatemala in 1983, and hapless, middle-aged Felicity Goose, offering a different perspective via transcript in 2016. After Felicity and her husband, John, have been inexplicably taken prisoner not far from Cordelia’s current home, John has the unenviable task of explaining his covert past as a spy working with Cordelia to his wife. On one level, the subtly layered novel is a study in contrasts. Mark gets maximum mileage from the disparity between his two female leads. Cordelia responds to threats with cool calculation; Felicity is understandably distraught—until she comes to display a firm resolve reminiscent of the veteran spy. Simmering beneath the twisty plot are questions about ethics, colonialism, and misogyny that add relevance and raise the novel above many of its familiar spy-story tropes.
A brisk, astute espionage thriller with a compelling moral core.