Duty or loyalty. Which would you choose?
It's 1966. London is swinging, and the Cold War is spiralling. Clear cut lines have faded to grey areas. Whispers of conspiracy are everywhere. Spies on both sides of the Iron Curtain are running in circles, in a deadly game of double-cross and subterfuge. And MI5 agent Richard Knox is tired of it all.
But when Abey Bennett, his CIA comrade in arms, appears in London with a ghost from Knox's past, and a terrifying warning that could tip the balance of power in the Cold War for ever, he has to fight to save the future. And face an agonising choice: who to trust and who to betray - his duty to his country or his loyalty to his friends?
I'm so thrilled to be hosting the blog tour for A Loyal Traitor today. Huge thanks to Tim Glister, Point Blank Books and Anne Cater from Random Tours for inviting me and for my advance digital copy of the novel.
I loved Tim Glister's debut novel, Red Corona and said at the end of my review that I thought he would be an author to watch. I'm delighted to be proven right because A Loyal Traitor, the second book in his Richard Knox historical spy thriller series, is even better.
The book is set in 1966, five years after the events in Red Corona and can easily be read as a standalone, although returning readers will recognise a few names and enjoy welcoming back some of the characters who featured in the first book. As the West fears the spread of Communism beyond Eastern Europe and through Asia and Africa, the end of the British Empire and the Vietnam War are the major concerns of the Governments of the day as they seek to limit the influence of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the uneasy troika of Brezhnev, Kosygin and Podgorny are conspiring against one another in post-Stalinist Russia. This might have been the Swinging Sixties but it's a sobering reminder that the era was characterised by immense political upheaval too.
Richard Knox has become jaded by the endless subterfuge and has perhaps even lost the sharp, intuitive edge that a spy needs to stay alive. At the start of the book he is sent to Canada but soon returns to London where his increasing lassitude even leads to him beginning to question whether he needs to consider walking away from MI5. The characterisation throughout A Loyal Traitor is superb but perhaps never more so than with Knox. Having joined MI5 as a young man still just in his teens, the middle-aged spy has been almost entirely shaped by his experiences; both the successes and failures. If he leaves, he risks losing who he is but if he stays, he may become dangerously complacent. It's an intriguing dilemma and a thoughtful exploration of what it must be like for the people who spend years involved in clandestine intelligence. What does it do to a person who lives a life built on mistrust, misdirection and betrayal.
The welcome return of Abey Bennett, who made such an impression in Red Corona consolidates the exploration of the personal cost of working for the security services. Though still ambitious, she too has become more cynical, often due to her altercations with her superiors who still don't recognise her full potential. She is now stationed in the Dominican Republic and has realised that her Native American heritage gives her some degree of freedom there that her fellow Americans don't share. After a tense handover ends badly and she has another run-in with a senior intelligence officer, Abey drowns her sorrows but then comes face to face with somebody who she eventually realises is a significant figure, especially for Knox.
The murky, paranoid world in which Knox and Bennett operate becomes even more opaque in this cleverly sophisticated thriller where it becomes increasingly obvious that being allies or enemies matters little and nobody really knows who can be trusted. The sense of foreboding this engenders becomes almost palpable and as they find themselves having to make decisions which could have catastrophic consequences, this wonderfully intricate novel is complicated still further by a frighteningly proficient assassin, the strange orders issued to a new Russian submarine and Kosygin's vital visit to London.
A Loyal Traitor is a dark, emotional thriller and although the nail-biting action scenes and nerve-wracking tension that looms over proceedings throughout are rendered superbly, it's the chilling reminders of what governments and some who represent them were – and perhaps still are – prepared to do in the name of national security that is most disturbing, both in terms of the physical and psychological damage inflicted on people and what it implies about the moral conscience of a nation. There are no first-hand scenes of torture and coercion here but the despicable methods that both sides employed are acknowledged to devastating effect.
Tim Glister evokes a rich sense of time and place which is a delight throughout the book and the truly global workplace of spies and assassins as they work with and against each other, is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. With its thoughtful, complex and surprisingly poignant plot, A Loyal Traitor is an absolute treat for anybody who enjoys intelligent, authentic and utterly compelling thrillers. Very highly recommended.
A Loyal Traitor is published by Point Blank, purchasing links can be found here, also available from bookshop.org, Waterstones, Hive or your favourite independent bookshop.
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
Tim Glister is a creative director working in advertising. He's worked for a range of famous and infamous brands, including eighteen months at the controversial political communications agency Cambridge Analytica. His first thriller starring Richard Knox, Red Corona, was published in 2021. A Loyal Traitor is his second novel.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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