Corpus: A gripping spy thriller

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Our features are original articles from our print magazines (these will say where they were originally published) or original articles commissioned for this site. Her schoolfriend Nancy has suddenly died, apparently of a heroin overdose, and then the parents of another friend have been found butchered in their home. This is because, though set in that turbulent time of the mid-30’s where totalitarian politics are on the rise, and the only possible response to fascism appears to lead to war, his central character here is an academic, a historian, with a special interest in the politics of espionage in Elizabeth’s court, Robert Cecil and Walsingham. For one, he is American with a different reading of human nature; he sits on the fence and observes. At first it started out to be a bit long on the tooth but after getting acquainted with the characters and advancing with the story I couldn't put the book down anymore!

That and a line in national neutrality that will come in handy when he seeks to retain a sense of objectivity when all around lose theirs. I had to do a fair amount of looking backwards into the novel to remember who certain people were, particularly during the early part of the book as we move from one location to another – Cambridge University, country homes, London hotels and more. The deeper Tom Wilde delves, both inside and outside college grounds, the more he wonders whether the murders are linked to the death of the girl with the silver syringe – and, just as worryingly, with the scandal surrounding King Edward VIII and his mistress Wallis Simpson.As in Le Carré novels, each character has a back-story that affects the action to a greater or lesser degree.

A resolve to be a giant among men, to conquer, plunder and seize the greatness that he thinks is his right.This is an immensely engrossing novel where the security of any country and the devastation that could ensue from certain orchestrated events is depicted with a terrifying realism; the sharks are circling and have no hesitation in picking off anyone who threatens their cause, regardless of where they sit in the food chain. In a conspiracy that stretches from Cambridge to Berlin, and from the US to Ireland, can he discover the truth before it's too late? Levitt Stuart Lawrence Stuart MacBride Stuart Turton Sue Bentley Sue Mongredien Sue Turton Sujata Massey Susan Calman Susie Hodge Susie Williams Svend Brinkmann Svetlana Alexievich Swapna Reddy T. Roberto Michael Fuller Michael Grant Michael Marshall Smith Michael Naef Michael Rutger Michael Schudson Mick Herron Mike Berners-Lee Mike Brownlow Mike Love Mike Stirling Mikhail Gorbachev Mindy Mejia Misa Sugiura Molly Lefebure Muhammad H.