Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A really good thriller. Enjoyed the dual narrative, which shed a lot of light on the current day events. Would like to read more of Kite and am looking forward to the prospect of a sequel.

Absolutely sunningly written espionage novel, straight A+ read, you will not want to put it down!! Thank you for my ARC.

This is an intriguing spy thriller with relentless action. Its layers of secrets have sinister implications for Kite, the spy first recruited in 1989. Intricate world-building, relatable characters and plot twists keep the reader on edge as the events of 1989 illuminate the dangers of 2020.

I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is the first novel I'd read by Charles Cumming, and while I can appreciate the skill of the book it wasn't really for me.

Set in 1989, when the end of the Cold War is looming, Lachlan Kite is recruited to be a spy and gather intelligence on a businessman who is apparently linked to the Lockerbie bombing. But the job ends up uncovering more than he bargained for, putting his life and that of his family at risk.

I don't generally read spy novels, and I did appreciate the quality of the writing. I think if I was more of a spy fan I may have enjoyed this more! But I did end up feeling at times that the plot was a bit too far-fetched and found it difficult to stay interested in the book.

For me this is an ok book. There are some parts of it that i thought 'that would never happen' and there is the toing and froing of different time lines which I'm not a fan of.

Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Kite has worked for Box 88, a top-secret spying agency, ever since he was recruited back in in the late 1980s during his last months of school. His first mission was his introduction into the world of espionage: to holiday in the South of France with schoolmate, Xavier Bonnard. Bonnard’s family are playing host to a family friend, Ali Eskandarian, an enigmatic Iranian businessman who Box 88 are particularly interested in.
Flash forward to the present day, and Lachlan receives the shocking news that Xavier has committed suicide. If his death isn’t strange enough, his funeral is even stranger. By the time Lachlan realises an offer of a meal from another school colleague is a trap, it is too late. Someone wants to know what really happened on that South France holiday, and will do anything to find out the truth.
Award-winning spy writer Charles Cumming’s latest novel is a box-fresh, deftly written, Night Manager style spy story, skilfully interweaved across the decades.

(Living Magazines, October 2020)

3.5 but rounding up to 4 as, irrelevant of the criticism below, I enjoyed it and will be reading the inevitable sequel
Cummings approaches this dual time-line spy thriller with a real economy of style and characters, but it’s still quite gripping in a measured way. There’s a little too much going on - in present day England covert agent Lockie is kidnapped and interrogated by people related to his past, at the same time as MI5 investigate who he is and who he works for. Meanwhile flashbacks to an authentically described 1989 trace Lockies recruitment and first mission.
I think with time Cummins will get cleverer with his plot layering and twists to make it all a bit less predictable and more nuanced, but still a good read

A good thriller. However i did wonder a few times I was unfortunately reading a sequel as it lacked a little detail. Still worth a good read albeit a little difficult to get into.

This was such a good read! We meet Lachlan Kite as he learns about the suicide of an old school friend; a friend who in the late '80s invited Lachlan on a family holiday that was to change the course of his life forever. Another family friend, the Iranian businessman Ali Eskandarian, who was also joining the family on holiday, is of great interest to British Intelligence, and they recruit 18-year-old Lachlan straight out of school to join their ranks and spy on the Iranian.

Decades later, Lachlan is kidnapped after his friend's funeral and his captors are only interested in one thing - what did he find out about Ali Eskandrian? This was a really interesting and exciting story that jumped back and forth between the late 80s and the present day. It was fascinating to see how the young Lachlan was first recruited, and exactly how he became the man who is using all of his training and resources to outwit his abductors decades later.

The supporting cast of characters, both the family on holiday and the modern day MI5 team hunting for Lachlan, are engaging, and there are some nice unexpected turns along the way. The pacing, once the story got going, was just right and certain passages truly had me on the edge of my seat. I loved this book and will definitely be reading the sequel that the cliffhanger at the end promises...

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

I've been a fan of Charles Cummings' work for a while now. He has consistantly shown himself to be one of the premier spy novelists around. So it is disappointing to say that Box88 is not one of his top draw novels. It is perefectly fine and enjoyable enough, but a two and half stars effort and not a must read for fans of the genre. Not sure why but 'Kite' just didn't connect with me as well as Kit Carradine or Thomas Kell have in the past and the book lacked the verve and tension that i'd usually found in his books. If you've not read Cummings before i'd start with A Foriegn Country, The Man Between or, The Trinity Six, and skip this one.

I admit I don’t usually chose this type of book but I was intrigued by the blurb. From the very first chapter I was drawn into this complex story and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well defined and the attention to detail is admirable. It is a big tome but this should put off any prospective readers as it skips along very rapidly and if I have any criticism it’s that I wanted more! I hope this isn’t the only book with Lockie Kite and others. A great read.

I wasn’t sure what I thought at first but when I got to the back story and what led up to it I really got into it
I found the characters interesting and most quite likeable

Charles Cumming knows how to write very effective and readable spy thrillers. "Box 88" is no exception. Cumming takes the reader back and forth in time to add pieces to an intricate puzzle that is slowly but surely solved with hints, surprises, false leads and twists and turns.
The main part of the book is back in the late 1980s and deals with a young Scot just out of school who is drafted to become a spy for a secret, transnational spy organisation. Vacationing in France with the family of a school friend, he is to spy on an Iranian also staying the the friend's family. The trials and hormonal distractions of a teen spy in the making make good reading, and the switch back and forth between present day and the 1980s helps driving the story forward effectively. Highly recommendable read.

[An ARC of the book was generously provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]

I enjoyed reading this book but did not find it a page turner, a characteristic of many previous espionage novels that I have read. I liked the way in which the past and present were interwoven but found the pace a little slow. This said, I look forward to a sequel.

An unusual novel about a public schoolboy, Lockie, recruited by one of his schoolmasters into Box 88 - an extraordinarily secretive branch of MI5 .
Cummings, the author, flits between the early career of Lockie in the late 1980s and the current day. This successfully enables the reader to build-up the underlying character of the main protagonist and his personal background as a teenager.
The plot is gripping, but at times is quite implausible, which detracts slightly from the main story. A number of the characters are complex individuals and it is sometimes difficult to ascertain whose side their loyalties lie.
From my perspective, the story ends with a number of unanswered questions left hanging. I am not too sure whether this is a clever ploy to entice the reader to buy the next novel, or the author didn’t want to drag out the book any further.
I enjoyed the book and will probably read the next in the series to see whether my queries are resolved.

Box88 by Charles Cumming is a brilliant spy story and very much in the le Carre style. Both Cummin and le Carrie show us what the reality of the intelligence sector is like, no James Bond swanning round in glam locations, but unobtrusive secretive men and women going about their business in a very understated way.  (Personally, I have always wondered how Bond could be a spy seeing as how everyone knew who he was...)

It is 1989 and the Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. Lachlan is torn with loyalty to the service that has recruited him and to the friends he is staying with.

It is now 2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88’s existence and investigate Kite only to disover that Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die.

The Narrative goes backwards and forwards in time, a device which I always find interesting and helps with character development. A tight, taut thriller, excellent writing and as good as Cumming's previous spy novels, all of which I have read. There is a cliff hanger ending so more to come and that is also A Good Thing..

I approached this book with great expectations having read the previous reviews. I do like a good espionage tale.
This book did not excite me. I had no interest in any of the characters – either to like or despise. The plot premise was good but somehow failed to pull me along, I wasn’t rushing turning pages to reveal what would happen next.
Cumming has written many other books, all with glowing reviews, maybe I should try one of those before dismissing his novels completely.

Interesting spy thriller about an 18 year old recruited by a secret sub-section of joint MI6 and the CIA called Box 88, initially investigating the Lockerbie bombing, and aiming to prevent further atrocities. 'Lockie' is the public schoolboy taken under the wing of his history beak at Alford College. After their A levels Lockie joins his best friend Xavier Bonnard and his family at their villa in the South of France, but is tasked by ~Box 88 with watching and reporting on events there.
Lots of twists and you don't know who the perpetrators are or why certain individuals are being watched. The story jumps from the present day, (where both Lockie and his wife are abducted separately for reasons unknown) and back to events of that Summer in 1989. We don't know why the abductors are interested in that time at all, or what they want to know - but the story is peeled back layer by fascinating layer with Lockie urgently trying to keep his wife and unborn child safe.
I felt the ending and explanation of things with MI5 a bit too convenient, hence loss of 1 star. But then maybe reading about clearing all the 'stuff that went on' isn't that interesting to the reader? - a dilemma for the author of any spy novel.

It’s the first time I’ve read a spy/espionage thriller in years and I must say I really enjoyed this book. The story focuses on Lachlan (Lockie)Kite who is recruited into Box88 which is a covert UK/US espionage group. The story starts with Lachlan receiving a phone call from a former girlfriend informing him that his best friend Xavier committed suicide.

The story flips between Lockie’s childhood and his time growing up at a prestigious boarding school where he meets Xavier. At the age of 18 just as he was leaving school, Lockie gets recruited by his school teacher to spy on Xavier’s fathers friend, a well known Iranian during a holiday at Xavier’s family villa in France in 1989.

His first assignment is to gather intelligence on the Iranian businessman, who has links to the Lockerbie bombing, but he soon discovers much more than this during this fast paced novel.

The book flips from the past to the present and the present sees Lockie getting kidnapped shortly after Xaviers funeral by Iranians who are keen to find out what really happened during the summer holiday at his friends Families summer house in France back in 1989.

Lachlan has to fight for his survival during his kidnap ordeal whilst his colleagues desperately try to find him before it’s too late.

This is a fast paced novel that will have you at the edge of your seat and I look forward to reading more Charles Cummings book.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.