A Colder War - Charles Cumming

Written by Charles Cumming
Read by Jot Davies
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Thomas Kell Series, Book 2
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release date: August 5, 2014
Duration: 12:02:53

A top-ranking Iranian military official is blown up while trying to defect to the West.

An investigative journalist is arrested and imprisoned for writing an article critical of the Turkish government.

An Iranian nuclear scientist is assassinated on the streets of Tehran.

These three incidents, seemingly unrelated, have one crucial link. Each of the three had been recently recruited by Western intelligence, before being removed or killed.

Then Paul Wallinger, MI6’s most senior agent in Turkey, dies in a puzzling plane crash. Fearing the worst, MI6 bypasses the usual protocol and brings disgraced agent Tom Kell in from the cold to investigate. Kell soon discovers what Wallinger had already begun to suspect—that there’s a mole somewhere in the Western intelligence, a traitor who has been systematically sabotaging scores of joint intelligence operations in the Middle East.

“Set in the contemporary world of international espionage, this audiobook follows the investigations of disgraced MI6 spy Thomas Kell as he attempts to identify a mole who is leaking intelligence to the Russians. Jot Davies’s measured narration conveys perfectly Kell’s world-weariness and the often-repetitive boredom of life in the modern intelligence community. Davies portrays both Kell and the female lead characters with professional ease. With the story moving through Turkey, Eastern Europe, and London, a variety of accents come into play, and these are handled convincingly to accentuate the authentic atmosphere that the narration creates. Despite some common, perhaps clichéd, spy novel themes, this audio production ensures that Cumming’s story always feels fresh and compelling.” — AudioFile