Loving a new (to me!) espionage author

 

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑  I am embarrassed to admit this is the first book I have ever read by Charles Cumming. How this has come to pass, I could not say, but I have rectified the situation and now there is no going back. My love of espionage has a new author to indulge in - hooray!

Box 88 jumps back and forth from current day to the summer of 1989 when Lachlan Kite was a fledgling spy on his first mission collecting information. I reveled in the referenced from the time as it took me back to my youth with the music and fashion of that era. Also joyous was the summer holiday in France with the freedom, fun and heat we couldn't enjoy to the fullest in this year of pandemic. Vacationing vicariously through the characters in this novel isn't necessarily a bad way to go.

Lachlan is a delightful character. Whip smart, quick acting and able to roll with the punches. I enjoyed his learning curve with Box 88 and the way the historical case created the current day events. Well thought through and thoroughly absorbing, I couldn't put it down and was so keen to find out what happened in 1989 and what would occur today with Lachlan's telling of that past story. Indulgent espionage that is possibly too smooth at times but the final blow made it all worthwhile. Enjoy! I know you will.