The Spy Across the Water

None of us in Oundle Crime had read any of the books in this series, so we read The Spy Across the Water as a standalone novel. It’s an old-fashioned spy story which, to a reader of modern espionage novels, makes it feel glacially slow at times. But there’s just something about it that makes you carry on reading.

Will Flemyng trained as a spy and then worked for MI6 before becoming a foreign office minister. Now it’s the 1980s, the world is an uneasy place, and he’s British Ambassador in Washington DC, focused on the possibility of an agreement between the British and Irish governments to stop the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the big political changes underway in Russia. The novel begins with the funeral (in America) of Flemyng’s younger brother, Abel, who had been shot dead on the streets of Chicago, apparently just an unlucky, innocent bystander who got mixed up in a gang meet.

At the funeral Flemyng sees two quite unexpected faces from his own past and wonders if Abel’s death wasn’t the random accident it seemed. So he starts to try and work out why Abel was in Chicago and how he knew (if, indeed, he did know) the two men who had appeared out of the blue. He works closely with two young colleagues from his embassy – his personal secretary, Lucy Padstowe, and his newly-appointed acting head of station, Patrick Keane. In essence this novel is a story of treachery, friendship and bravery.

Our verdict
On the surface, nothing much happens in the first half of the book. Tiny pieces of background – characters, events and locations – are inserted into the narrative, so you have to really concentrate to work out what’s happening. Think of doing a jigsaw puzzle with 1,000 small pieces and only a pencil sketch of the finished picture.

We didn’t all love The Spy Across the Water and one of our group said she’d only continued reading because she refused to be defeated by it. The book is described as a thriller but all of us agreed it was hardly that, and maybe ‘political intrigue’ was a better description. The plot has enough story-strands to keep things interesting, and although there are no red herrings you do feel you’re getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of some fairly momentous happenings.

When we discussed the book at our meeting we decided the story is character-led, with Flemyng and Keane being particularly believable. As the pace picks up in the final third of the book and the different pieces start to mesh together, it’s tense without being knuckle-whitening. But still you read on, because by this time you’ve grown to like the characters and the story pulls you forward. In fact, many of us found the book surprisingly hard to put down. And while we might not seek out the preceding two novels, all of us will probably follow the series as it moves forward.

In summary, our book group was fairly evenly split between those who loved The Spy Across the Water and those who didn’t. But we all agreed the book has something and that’s reflected in our score of 4 Stars.
Review by: Oundle Crime

Oundle Crime thanks Aries Fiction/Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read The Spy Across the Water. We are voluntarily giving an honest review.

James Naughtie's The Spy Across the Water offers a riveting story of espionage and deception. The novel’s plot is intricately woven, featuring a cast of characters whose loyalties and motives are constantly in question. Naughtie’s writing is sharp and immersive, capturing the atmosphere of Cold War espionage with precision. The book is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end, making it an excellent addition to the spy fiction genre.