Member Review
Review by
Martin P, Reviewer
Maggie Flynn is back and better than ever.
"The Spy and the Snake" opens in Spring 1968, some three years after the events of "Mrs Spy". Maggie Flynn been promoted to a desk job in MI5 - she's no longer a Watcher, following suspicious characters through the streets of London. But she's bored. So when her boss, Guy Standing, offers her the opportunity to carry out a simple exfiltration job, she doesn't need much convincing. Her job will be to fly to Budapest and smuggle notorious British defector Fitzroy Carver back to the UK. It's behind the Iron Curtain, but really, how hard can it be?
Quickly both Maggie and the reader are drawn into a fast-moving story which takes her and her less-than-enthusiastic ex-spy across Europe in a race to stay ahead of her enemies, known and unknown. If Maggie showed her natural aptitude as Watcher before, she positively shines here, as from her first day in Hungary, she has to think on her feet, improvising like never before. Lifted from the familiar streets of London, she still has to employ her Watcher skills, while finding new ways to achieve her increasingly difficult mission. Along the way she recruits assets, and collects the resource she needs to get the job done. It's tremendously rewarding to watch her grow into a competent, accomplished spy, while still retaining her "middle-aged woman, questioning herself" demeanour. When she meets, and slightly falls-for, a smooth, aging-gracefully Englishman who seems too good to be true, she really has her work cut out for her.
If 1960s London was the star of the show in "Mrs Spy". this time it's Budapest, and Europe which form the backdrop to the story. The city is painted in all its glory - buildings, people, and cake. There's lots of cake. There's also still that lovely 1960s vibe, with fashion and music nicely acknowledged here and there. And a special mention for the various people Maggie recruits along the way - the citizens of Budapest, who live under a harsh regime, who hope by helping her, to bring about better days. We see some of them fleetingly, but they stay in your head.
This book really is the perfect follow up, and I sincerely hope it's not the last we see of Maggie Flynn. Heartily recommended.
"The Spy and the Snake" opens in Spring 1968, some three years after the events of "Mrs Spy". Maggie Flynn been promoted to a desk job in MI5 - she's no longer a Watcher, following suspicious characters through the streets of London. But she's bored. So when her boss, Guy Standing, offers her the opportunity to carry out a simple exfiltration job, she doesn't need much convincing. Her job will be to fly to Budapest and smuggle notorious British defector Fitzroy Carver back to the UK. It's behind the Iron Curtain, but really, how hard can it be?
Quickly both Maggie and the reader are drawn into a fast-moving story which takes her and her less-than-enthusiastic ex-spy across Europe in a race to stay ahead of her enemies, known and unknown. If Maggie showed her natural aptitude as Watcher before, she positively shines here, as from her first day in Hungary, she has to think on her feet, improvising like never before. Lifted from the familiar streets of London, she still has to employ her Watcher skills, while finding new ways to achieve her increasingly difficult mission. Along the way she recruits assets, and collects the resource she needs to get the job done. It's tremendously rewarding to watch her grow into a competent, accomplished spy, while still retaining her "middle-aged woman, questioning herself" demeanour. When she meets, and slightly falls-for, a smooth, aging-gracefully Englishman who seems too good to be true, she really has her work cut out for her.
If 1960s London was the star of the show in "Mrs Spy". this time it's Budapest, and Europe which form the backdrop to the story. The city is painted in all its glory - buildings, people, and cake. There's lots of cake. There's also still that lovely 1960s vibe, with fashion and music nicely acknowledged here and there. And a special mention for the various people Maggie recruits along the way - the citizens of Budapest, who live under a harsh regime, who hope by helping her, to bring about better days. We see some of them fleetingly, but they stay in your head.
This book really is the perfect follow up, and I sincerely hope it's not the last we see of Maggie Flynn. Heartily recommended.
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