Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. She continues: ‘They go behind us and around us and beyond us to the people and the country at large, whipping up hostility and division and dissent, their tentacles reaching down a thousand different alleyways.’ Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. With a unique and thrilling narrative, readers have a front-row seat to the inner workings of the protagonist’s mind. Deighton’s debut novel was so successful that it became a defining novel of 1960s London and was adapted into a film in 1965.

Unhappily, validation of the Russians’ information comes in a very short time, when the PM does reveal his illness and promptly resigns. Two candidates emerge as the front-runners to replace him: the current foreign secretary, a notorious womaniser whom no one in MI6 trusts, and Kate’s long-time friend and Stuart’s employer, the education secretary. Kate and her team set out to vet the two contenders who are in the running for British PM with information that one of them could be the mole, Codename: Viper. Kate must put all at risk, including her life and the lives of her team to get to the truth. To those who don't really know her, Kate Henderson's life must seem perfectly ordinary. But she is in fact a senior MI6 officer, who right now is nursing the political equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Attempting to rebuild her shattered life in the South of France, former MI6 operative Kate Henderson receives an unexpected and most unwelcome visit from an old adversary: the UK Prime Minister. He has an extraordinary story to tell – and he needs her help. The Ipcress File is a riveting spy novel that was published in 1962, with themes of war, adversity and betrayal. When a high-ranking scientist is kidnapped, a secret British intelligence agency is tasked with discovering why. The protagonist, Harry Palmer, becomes entangled in the dangerous mission where he uncovers bizarre brain-washing techniques and Cold War secrets that create sharp twists and turns in this complex plot.Kate Henderson, a senior officer at MI6, has a borscht bowl of troubles. When her team bugs an oligarch's yacht, they learn that the Russians have co-opted a British politician and that the prime minister is ailing and will soon leave office. Is this disinformation, intentionally leaked to gum up internal British politics? The detail about the prime minister's health is key: No one in Britain has been aware of any issue, and when he unexpectedly resigns for health reasons, the report seems to be confirmed. But as Kate drills down on which politician may be the Kremlin's person, it also becomes clear that there's a mole on her team, and in fact there are potential betrayals swirling all around Kate. Is her boss, Ian Granger, head of the Europe and Russia desk, genuinely doubtful, or is he dismissing her suspicions because he's the mole? Is her husband cheating on her? Is her 15-year-old daughter really having sex with the pierced and tattooed Jed, who is a few years older? And will the MI6 director, known as C, force her to reveal her secret source in the Russian diplomatic corps? Dauntless, Kate slowly unravels the twisted skeins of deceit and betrayal, and though she loses much in the process, she perseveres. If all this seems reminiscent of some of the trials and tribulations of George Smiley, well, it's a new generation. Secret Service is a rather timely spy thriller/political intrigue story that puts Russia’s desire for influence in other country’s political elections front and center. Set in the U.K., Kate Henderson and her team are listening to a conversation when they learn that not only is the current minister resigning soon, but that Russia has a very good foothold into who the next prime minister will be. If that wasn’t enough, the team also learns there is a mole amongst the British ranks, code-named Viper, that can assist Russia and help ensure their candidate’s success. Okay, so maybe I've been spoiled on Le Carre and Slough House, but when did British Intelligence get so domestic and ...gooey? Author Tom Bradby is a highly respected British journalist, screenwriter, and anchorman on ITV news here in the UK. It’s a long time since his last novel, but boy was ‘Secret Service’ worth waiting for!

Best Spy Novels Ranked 1. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews Red Sparrow is a bestselling spy novel and was adapted into a major motion picture Besides this huge responsibility in MI6 and the evident dangers that it carries, Kate also has to juggle her family life and that helps give the novel extra depth - there’s her Civil Servant husband Stuart, her estranged mother Lucy, now in a care home with dementia, and fractious teenagers Fiona and Gus.

Books Like Tom Bradby’s Kate Henderson:

The book is rooted in relationships; secrets and lies and that shady area of spies and departmental ambition. People’s motives and associations are placed under the microscope as the spies investigate themselves while trying to protect the country at large. Many of these novels are also a little risqué, as their protagonists find themselves amid a bit of romance on top of the politics and historical events they are unraveling. Spy books are loved by millions worldwide, with James Bond generating over 100 million sales since publishing. The result is a novel that fits the spy book genre but is also an allegorical look at the unnecessary involvement of the British and American troops in what was not their fight. The book explores themes of innocence, morality, and ignorance, and author Graham Green beautifully weaves these into an intriguing story. am GMT 23. At Risk by Stella Rimington At Risk is a heart-pounding story about terrorism and counterintelligence Bradby does a good job controlling his narrative and, without ever becoming tedious or heavy-handed, he subtly helps you remember who knows what, who trusts whom and with what information, and how much each person knows. None of the characters, including the PM candidates, is totally candid, nor can MI6 tip its hand by revealing its investigation of them. Not to mention the bureaucratic difficulty that they’ve concealed this investigation from MI5, which by rights should be conducting it. The title, Secret Service, turns out to have multiple meanings.

Written by Tom Bradby — With a plot that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago, Tom Bradby’s latest political thriller feels like it could have been ripped from the headlines. Deception, betrayal and the ethical vulnerability that compromise Western political leaders are here turned into a gripping, all-too-believable tale. I recognised the authors name but wasn’t till looked him up realised who he was and saw he has had published quite a few books My only small niggle is the authors very vocal anti Russia sentiment in the book, it didnt spoil it at all but was obvious his thoughts throughout! Maybe … But on most of her other favorite subjects – human rights in China, Tibet, Saudi Arabia – she has continued to be quite frequently and widely quoted.”

It's a fast-paced, easy read which plays perfectly on the fears of both the political establishment and the general population. Moving between rich, vivid locations we follow protagonist Kate who begins a covert investigation into corruption in the top-levels of the UK government but her conflicting loyalties creep into her head rather a lot. It's certainly a high-octane, high-stakes story full of palpable tension which builds and builds beautifully. There are some parallels that can be drawn between some of the cast here and those currently in the real-world political spotlight. I suspect that was intentional on Bradby's part. Kate’s boss, Ian Granger is sceptical about what she’s discovered, he’s not a fan of hers, and he prefers to see it as ‘her paranoia’, but Head of MI6, Sir Alan Brabazon also known as (C) decides to allow Kate to follow up on her suspicions and gather evidence, and that doesn’t go down well with Granger. The problem though, is whether the intel she’s receiving is actually genuine, or is it just another game of cat and mouse and interference in the democratic process that the Russians appear to enjoy so much. Nothing good ever comes from a midnight phone call, especially from Downing Street. For washed-up spy Harry Tower, it is the worst news at the worst possible time. His son, Sean, has gone missing in troubled Iran after writing an exposé about government corruption. Secret Service is one hell of a spy thriller which makes other espionage fiction look rather lame. Bradby crafts a race-against-time novel with a plot exploring the long-term tensions between Russia and the UK, Russian interference in British elections and the fact that Russian moles and spies will likely have infiltrated many of our important British institutions just as we will have spies in Russia and elsewhere. The plot is scarily realistic and is not beyond the realms of possibility making it all the more terrifying. The fact that Bradby is a former political editor lends authenticity to the narrative and roots it deep in the reality of our current political situation.

Before long, he is on the run - not only from a faceless enemy, but from his own past. Which will catch up with him first? Ein Politthriller mit vielen Irrungen und Wirrungen, der mit ordentlich Spannung auffährt. Ich persönlich fand es wirklich ein grandioses Buch – wenn auch das Ende nicht befriedigend war. Für mich ein bisschen zu viel Raum für Spekulationen, falls kein zweiter Teil kommen sollte (worauf ich persönlich sehr hoffe). Ich würde die Laufbahn der Agentin sehr gerne weiterverfolgen. Ebenfalls interessiert mich, wie es nach diesem Ende mit ihr weitergeht. But largely—and this is maybe the book’s biggest weakness—she is wrestling with the struggle of ‘being a woman’ and ‘having it all.’ Along with her job, Kate also juggles taking care of her two kids, her aging mother, and, for good measure, an ailing dog. There are various family problems, as well as Kate’s contentious relationship with her mother, who cheated Kate’s father with a family friend and upended their family. None of the family drama is particularly urgent or, really, dramatic, and even though Kate should have enough going on with unmasking Russian spies and saving democracy, she still comes down on herself: Der Klappentext verrät zwar nicht allzu viel, aber doch genug, dass man mehr wissen möchte. Nach der kurzen Leseprobe war ich dann total von dem Buch angefixt und ich wollte am liebsten sofort weiterlesen…Secret Service is an espionage novel featuring Kate, an MI6 agent working the Russia Desk while also trying to manage her marriage and raise her two kids. While her team is working surveilance on the son of an Oligarch, Kate and the team discover that the PM is going to step down, which is something no one at MI6 knew. How did the Russians know this and who told them? Could there be a mole in the British government? The book opens in Istanbul, where Kate and her team of MI6 operatives are ready to bug a Russian oligarch’s yacht. Kate has inside intelligence that a big meeting is slated to take place on the yacht, and sure enough, the heads of Russia’s secret services show up for sit down with the oligarch. The meeting yields a bombshell: the British prime minister is going to step down in a few days and one of the leading candidates to replace him is a secret Russian asset. And even worse, there’s a Russian mole at the heart of the British government who’s helping move the plot along. It’s weak character work for a protagonist who could, and should, be better. All these details may seem like complications, but they’re really just rote stabs at shading in a character, so familiar that they’re mostly a parody at this point.