Fast paced action, full of cross and double-cross, red herrings as Kate Henderson, senior MI6 officer tries to work out if a potential Russian defector is offering genuine gold intelligence or if it is all an elaborate bluff. She also has to deal with her husband's infidelity and defection to Moscow, which has badly affected their teenage children. Throw in political intrigue and the historical rivalries between MI6 and MI5 and the author used all his journalism experience to good effect. ( )

Better than book one. Kate is a compelling character, and the plot is excellent. ( )

I was very impressed by Tom Bradby’s earlier novel, Secret Service, which also featured Kate Henderson. She is a very empathetic character as she struggles to juggle the conflicting demands of her job as a capable and ambitious senior officer in MI6 with bringing up two teenaged children. Her husband has an equally high-pressure role, as principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education.

I was, therefore, looking forward to reading this sequel. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Somehow the novel never quite gelled in my mind. Kate remains a powerful, if challenged, character, with the fallout of the previous novel having added significantly to her travails. Sadly, however, the strength of her as a character was not sufficient to counterbalance what I found to be too implausible a plotline. While the previous novel had felt fresh and intriguing, I found that this one failed to build on that start, with no cliché about the Whitehall corridors of power knowingly overlooked. ( )

This is a brilliant spy novel with an outstanding protagonist.

Britain's MI6 honcho Kate Henderson takes her teenage children to Venice to visit their self-confessed Russian spy father Simon. He now lives in exile in Moscow. While there she is lured away to meet with a Russian spymaster who presents an almost too good to be true offer. He is on the losing side of a power struggle in the Russian intelligence apparatus, facing imminent arrest or worse. His offer to Kate: he (and his family) will defect to Britain with conclusive evidence that the current British prime minister is a Russian mole. They want safe sanctuary in return.

This is an excellent sequel to the author's "Secret Service" which introduces Kate and spins the backstory to this one. It's a slick and brisk spy yarn story: full of red herrings and blind alleys. There's an undercurrent of infighting at the top of the British government and within MI6. Kate's ambitious boss is desperate for the top job at MI6 as the current head faces his wife's terminal illness. All of this has Kate travelling incognito into Russia in order to confirm the Russian's story. Kate dominates the story as she deals with the Russian defection. At the same time, she faces family problems of her own: her dementia-challenged mother and her teenaged children cut adrift by the loss of their father. Her own sanity is under stress attack by too little sleep due to insomnia. The suspense is intense as the story peters out to an oddly abrupt ending following an explosive denouement. It leaves this reader wondering whether there will be a follow-up. I hope so.

I received a complementary advanced reading copy of the eBook for review from the publisher Atlantic Monthly Press via Netgalley. The comments about it are my own. ( )

OK standalone

I don't exactly understand the logic of some of the operations, I don't understand the ending, and I don't understand the title but I liked this book anyway. This is the second book in the series and I have not read the first. Nevertheless, there was no problem with understanding. Mr. Bradby integrates backstory so smoothly you don't know it's there. I'm sure reading the books in order would be better but don't worry if you are starting here.

Kate Henderson is head of MI6's Russia group and has clearances of the highest level. Around her swirl the intrigues of the Russians, who have lost nothing of their Cold War skills in the intervening 30 years. At home the situation is no less perilous. Ambitious civil service and political appointees wrestle for favor, terrified of damaging their or their boss's reputations.

Is the Prime Minister an active Russian asset or not? Are the defectors who have come forward pledging to expose real? Which is worse – destroying the sitting government or having a PM who passes everything on to the enemy?

Kate's superiors are careening around White Hall out of control. Loyalties are unclear. Kate's health is getting worse. The children are grumpy teens. Her traitor ex-husband is miserable. This can't go on.

I read "Double Agent" quickly and was aware of how much I was enjoying it even as I said to myself "Why are they doing it that way?"

I received a review copy of "Double Agent" by Tom Bradby from Grove Atlantic through NetGalley.com. ( )