Gabriel Dax is a successful travel writer, just into his thirties. He knows the importance of the ‘full plum pudding’ and readers evidently love his theatrical prose. He’s a lucky man: he has an adoring girlfriend, a supportive publisher and the excuse to travel wherever he fancies for his work. Aside from a persistent mouse problem in his Chelsea flat, one could surmise that the world’s his oyster.
However, Gabriel’s an insomniac. He was orphaned at the age of six when his mother dies in a house fire which he believes was started by his moon-shaped nightlight. In his mind, the object of comfort is transformed into one of horror. Since then, although he’s been kindly brought up by his affectionate uncle Aldous and is on cordial terms with his brother, Sefton, he suffers from night terrors. There’s a mother-shaped hole in his life of which he is aware. He admits to his therapist that he would like nothing more than to love someone unconditionally.
William Boyd’s naïve, clever, brave, selfish and sometimes downright obtuse central character is perfect spy material. So thinks the charismatic, enigmatic MI6 Faith Green who reminds Gabriel regularly that he is ‘her spy’ once he has agreed to carry out a mundane task as part of his travel arrangements. There’s the catch. Once in, perhaps impossible to leave. And then, of course, Gabriel is implicated in ways far more complex that he could imagine, resulting in some out of the ordinary behaviour. After such an event, he recognises that, ‘What had just happened had changed him in a profound way, he saw, a crucial way, and everything about him was different now.’
Not only is ‘Gabriel’s Moon’ a real page turner; the author has also conjured a suitably ruthless, murky yet credible world of agents and double-dealings. Faith Green understands that Gabriel’s vulnerabilities make him her perfect spy. The reader can see that she is his undoing. Another excellent novel, brilliantly written, from the marvellous William Boyd.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK, Fig Tree for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Another fine entry into the espionage genre.

The latest thriller from master William Boyd opens in 1936, and a young boy awakens to find the house he shares with is mother in flames. He ventures downstairs, only to find her dead on the floor. In terror, he manages to escape the house, and hides in the garden.

Forward to 1960 and the boy, Gabriel, is now a successful author and travel writer. But the events of that night still haunt him, and he suffers from extreme insomnia. His work seems to be his only distraction, so when visiting the Congo, to research his latest book, he is invited to interview a high-profile figure, the notorious president Patrice Lumumba, he jumps at the chance. The president insists the interview be tape recorded, which Gabriel is happy to do. It goes well, and he returns to the UK.

The reader, along with Gabriel, is then drawn into a net of intrigue, conspiracy and danger. From the woman on his plane home, who is reading his latest book, to the brother who asks him to carry out a clandestine job, to the over-the-top free-spirited Uncle, this story is full to the brim of colourful characters, each of whom may, or may not be what they seem. Slowly but surely, events conspire to draw Gabriel deeper and deeper into a plot, parts of which he can see, but others he cannot. And all this is painted against the backdrop of the 1960's, where everyone seems to drink far too much, smoke far too much, and live in fear of the "reds under the beds". The Cold War is just beginning to heat up, the Bay of Pigs is about to take place, and the players are all putting plans into action. As Gabriel's involvement with the intelligence services grows more complex, so do the dangers he faces.

Gabriel's Moon is another fine read by a master of espionage tales. It's not a difficult read, and moves along at a fair pace. If Gabriel seems a bit too dense at times, then suddenly as sharp as a tack, it seems to fit. He travels easily from place to place, carrying out little, seemingly unimportant tasks for MI6, and his preoccupation with his handler is very nicely teased out, leading to a satisfying conclusion. This book is another gorgeous montage of, admittedly, many spy-novel tropes. But they seem to work.

Fans of Boyd's previous books will love this latest one, as will fans of Alex Gerlis, Joseph Kanon and Alan Furst. Highly recommended.

William Boyd is the writer of a generation, and I was so excited to see Gabriel's Moon available for review! It's classic Boyd - moving, pacy and full of mystery. It reminded me of Graham Green, John Le Carre and Patricia Highsmith - a classic, spy thriller. As in Boyd's other novels, I thought the addition of Gabriel's family history was particularly moving and I enjoyed how the story unfurled.

Gabriel Dax is the first person narrator, a semi-successful travel writer who has persistent insomnia due to a tragedy in his past, who is drawn into the shady world of 1960s espionage. An accidental spy who is nevertheless surprisingly good at the job.

Of a certain class, but slightly outside it, he has a relationship with a young woman who works in a Wimpy Bar, drinks like a fish (as it seems most of the middle/upper classes did in the 60s if he is to be believed) and has Sunday lunch in the home counties with his brother Sefton, who works for one of the government intelligence agencies. He sometimes does small favours for Sefton when he is travelling abroad researching his books and this, along with an enigmatic woman, is what starts him off as a baby spy.

It is a gripping read and funny too. The extracts from Gabriel's travel books are hilariously over-written and his long-running feud with a mouse in his flat both mirrors and mocks some of his own antics.

I would definitely recommend this - Boyd's assurance and skill as a writer carries us along and I read the book in a day as it's such a page turner.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy.

What’s not to like? Great character's, plot, history, politics, humour and full of the “full plum pudding”.