The Hidden Man
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3.5 • 23 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of John le Carré, a gripping and suspenseful spy thriller from ‘the master of the modern spy thriller’ (Mail on Sunday)
Mark and Benjamin Keen have not seen their father, Christopher, for more than twenty years.
Hoping for a reconciliation, Christopher reappears, but he has only just begun to shed light on his life in the secret service when he is murdered in cold blood by an unidentified assassin.
Was his death connected to his MI6 past? Did Christopher uncover a dangerous conspiracy involving his elder son? And what were his links to Moscow, Afghanistan and the Russian mafia in London?
To discover the truth – and avenge their father’s death – the brothers are drawn into the legacy of his life as a spy.
And inheritance can be deadly…
Reviews
Praise for The Hidden Man:
‘confirms that Cumming is a man put on earth to perpetuate the spy thriller’ Daily Telegraph
‘Cumming's depiction of contemporary intelligence work rings painfully true. Disquieting, brutal, riveting. I hardly dared put the book down’ Literary Review
‘The dialogue is bitingly sharp, the characterisation first-class’ Sunday Telegraph
‘A must read’ Tatler
About the author
Charles Cumming was born in Scotland in 1971. He was educated at Eton and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1994 with First Class Honours in English Literature. In the summer of 1995, Charles was approached for recruitment by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A year later he moved to Montreal where he began working on a novel based on his experiences with MI6. A Spy By Nature was published in the UK in 2001.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in the U.K. in 2003, bestseller Cumming's enjoyable second novel falls short of the high standard of his later spy thrillers such as 2012's A Foreign Country. MI5 agent Stephen Taploe is investigating Russian mobster Viktor Kukushkin, who he suspects is laundering crime syndicate money through Libra, a popular London nightclub. Mark Keen, a manager at Libra, seems unaware of the money laundering. Mark is the oldest son of Christopher Keen, who worked for more than 20 years as an MI6 agent and is now employed by the security company Divisar Corporate Intelligence. Because Christopher abandoned his wife and family years before, another son, Ben, hates his father. But after Christopher is killed, Ben and Mark get pulled into the world of international espionage while searching for their father's murderer. Cummings fans should be prepared for a rushed ending and a cast of characters who are almost uniformly unlikable.
