Starred review from December 24, 2012
In this standout thriller, Magson’s fourth featuring Harry Tate (after 2012’s Deception), the former MI5 agent pursues a deadly terrorist, Kassim, who comes out of the remote hills of Afghanistan in 2012 and starts killing members of the KFOR team that Harry led in Mitrovica, Kosovo, in 1999. One night back then, Harry and his men took refuge in a container depot, where that same night a local 14-year-old girl was raped and killed. Circumstantial evidence suggests the culprit was a U.N. soldier. A high-ranking U.N. security official Harry knows hires him to warn the surviving members of the team and to hunt down the assassin who’s seeking revenge for the girl’s death. Harry and computer whiz pal Rik Ferris jet around the world, always arriving just a little too late to prevent another murder. There’s plenty of action, but the thrill is following Harry’s agile mind as he figures out the who, what, where, and why of these revenge killings. Think le Carré and Deighton rather than Thor and Flynn. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary (U.K.).
February 1, 2020
The always-reliable Magson delivers another taut espionage thriller featuring former MI5 agent Harry Tate. Forced out of the agency after being implicated in the deaths of two bystanders in the disastrous Red Station drug bust, Tate now works private-security gigs. But when he's informed by a friend in MI5 that his former colleague, computer-geek Rik Ferris, has gone missing and is feared abducted, possibly by Russian operatives, Tate knows he has to help his old friend. To do so, he travels to Belarus, where he finds another former colleague, Clare Jardine. When the pair discover that Ferris is being held and tortured for secret information he is supposed to have stumbled on during a snoop in the MI6 archives, and then learn that the group holding Ferris plans a series of cyber-attacks on the UK, they realize that, in addition to spiriting Rik out of Belarus before the Russians kill him, they must also thwart the cyber-baddies' plan. The combination of pulse-pounding suspense, delicious twists, and daring heroes makes for a highly satisfying read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
December 16, 2019
In Magson’s fast-paced sixth contemporary spy thriller featuring former MI5 officer Harry Tate (after 2013’s Execution), Rik Ferris, another former MI5 officer, lands in Belarus and promptly disappears, along with confidential information he obtained from secret British government files. One of Rik’s last contacts was with a hacker with ties to Russia. Has he gone over to the other side? Harry, who’s now working in “the security industry doing odd jobs for whoever needs a former spook,” is approached by his old bosses to locate Rik and, if possible, bring him back alive. Amid vast platoons of computer hackers working feverishly to bring down world order, there’s plenty of two-fisted action, shoot-outs, daring escapes, and slick disguises. Memorable characters include creepily evil villains and strong women who can go toe to toe with their male counterparts. This is the prose equivalent of one of those Hollywood action movies in which the audience can have fun because they know the good guys won’t suffer any serious harm. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary (U.K.).
December 1, 2019
A retired MI5 officer risks everything to rescue an old friend. In central London, Irina, a no-nonsense Russian agent, is heading up a "stop and snatch" operation. At the last minute, she decides to kill the woman she was targeting, angering her colleagues. Irina uses the dead target's laptop to send a message to the woman's contact, former MI5 officer Rik Ferris. Meanwhile, at the Minsk International Airport, MI5 agent Clare Jardine worries about the dicey situation of her Russian partner, Katya Balenkova, who's embarked upon an unwise affair with Ferris, whom Clare fortuitously spots across the airport. Sir Iain Colmyer, the British government's Chief Whip, is very concerned that a "low level mouse of an IT worker in MI5" (that would be Ferris) has looked at his file, and he announces he wants that mouse found. Enter former MI5 agent Harry Tate (Execution, 2013, etc.), enjoying a piece of chocolate cake when he's buttonholed by "minder" Ben Cramer, who wants him to find Ferris, unaware that Ferris is being held prisoner by Irina and company. It's strongly implied that Cramer has enough incriminating information on Harry to leverage him back into service. From this point on, the plot goes round and round from one front to the next. Clare, who has a sketchy history with Harry, also seeks Ferris while Colmyer monitors the situation from the Home Office and Harry reluctantly embarks on his mission. Harry's progress is uncertain; his time away from the service makes him slow to appreciate how completely methodical technology has replaced gritty fieldwork. But soon enough he finds himself in the middle of the crossfire, not sure whom he can trust. Magson adroitly shuffles a double handful of desperate characters in his sixth Harry Tate thriller. Brisk and bracing.
COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.