A Spy Alone
For fans of Damascus Station and Slow Horses
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3.9 • 83 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
'Five stars. One of the best books I've read in a very, very long time' James O'Brien, LBC
'This is first class' The Times | 'Excellent' Spectator
'Exceptional' David McCloskey, author of The Seventh Floor
'A highly accomplished novel from a new writer of great promise' Financial Times
'Everything a John le Carré fan could ever wish for' Private Eye #1615
'A cracker of a debut novel which really does make clear what's been going on' Bill Nighy via The Rake
‘A marvellously confident debut, sharply observed and exceptionally well written’ Charles Cumming, author of Box 88
Everyone knows about the Cambridge Spies from the Fifties, identified and broken up after passing national secrets to the Soviets for years. But no spy ring was ever unearthed at Oxford. Because one never existed? Or because it was never found…?
2022: Former spy Simon Sharman is eking out a living in the private sector. When a commission to delve into the financial dealings of a mysterious Russian oligarch comes across his desk, he jumps at the chance.
But as Simon investigates, worrying patterns begin to emerge. His subject made regular trips to Oxford, but for no apparent reason. There are payments from offshore accounts that suddenly just… stop.
Has he found what none of his former colleagues believed possible, a Russian spy ring now nestled at the heart of the British Establishment? Or is he just another paranoid ex-spook left out in the cold, obsessed with redemption?
From Oxford’s hallowed quadrangles to brush contacts on Hampstead Heath, agent-running in Vienna and mysterious meetings in Prague, A Spy Alone is a gripping international thriller and a searing portrait of modern Britain in the age of cynical populism. Perfect for readers of Charles Cumming, Mick Herron and John le Carré.
Praise for A Spy Alone
'Beaumont is at the forefront of the espionage genre, capturing the changing nature of intelligence: soft influence and business deals are overtaking stolen secrets; long-term insinuation is replacing Cold-War tradecraft. Brilliant' I. S. Berry, author of The Peacock and the Sparrow
'The best spy novel I’ve read for years... An astonishing debut... and a brilliant portrait of how Britain allowed Russia to game our recent politics, including with Brexit' Luke Harding, author of Invasion: Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival
'A post-Brexit take on the classic British spy novel, combining a cynical ex-spy protagonist and a major role for Bellingcat-OSINT types' Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor, The Economist
'Beaumont ... catches the zeitgeist of (le Carré) .... He conveys all the world of espionage with relish, in its murky motives and surveillance techniques and the book races along and makes for a stunning debut' Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time
'A clever, thrilling spy story that brings the feel of Eric Ambler's shadowy political intrigues right into today's world' Jeremy Duns, author of Free Agent
‘Tense, compelling and remarkably timely... Shades of some of the greats of spy fiction – it might even be better than Charles Cumming’ Dominick Donald, author of Breathe
‘Beaumont takes the intrigue, atmosphere and subterfuge of the Cambridge Spies and brings it bang up to date’ Chris Lloyd, author of The Unwanted Dead
Customer Reviews
Post-modern spy story
The author is British and a former MI6 operative. This is his debut novel. Whether it’s his real name is less clear. Charles Beaumont was the nom de plume of US horror and sci-fi writer Charles Leroy Nutt (1929-1967).
Remember the Cambridge Spy ring from the 1950s (Philby, Burgess, McLean, Blunt, Cairncross)? If Cambridge, then why not Oxford? Link to the Oxford mafia that’s been running the UK Conservative Party for the last however many years (Cameron, Boris, Theresa May etc) and sundry Russian oligarchs who own or control much of the City of London nowadays and voila! You’ve got yourself a post-Soviet spy thriller.
Our hero is an Oxford grad turned spook in Her Majesty’s Service whose lower middle class roots always made him an outsider but a boy can dream, can’t he? Maybe not. It’s 20 years on (post-Brexit). Our hero’s trying to eke out a living in the private sector doing corporate espionage. A more successful contemporary throws him a bone in the form of a contact to look into a Russian wanting to make big donation to an Oxford college. The powers that be try to discourage our boy after he starts finding worms under stones, but he’s got the bit (a bit of the worm at least) between his teeth now and won’t let go till he gets answers. Personal safety and that of close acquaintances be damned. There follows a travelogue around Europe and the north of England before a timely escape which sets up a sequel.
Convoluted plotting worthy of Le Carre or Herron. Slow to start due to all the flashbacks plugged in to fill in backstory, which was heavy-handed IMO, but good pace and plenty of action after that. Solid first effort from someone who knows “the game” in a post-Cold-War, post-Le Carre world.