The Spanish Game

by Charles Cumming

Book Overview

Six years ago, after working for the British Secret Intelligence Service, Alec Milius got out of the spy game after being drummed out by MI6. His retirement came at unbearably great personal cost. But... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312366396
• ISBN13: 9780312366391
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The rare, perfect spy story

This is one of the rare examples of its kind: the perfect spy story. It's well written, the characters are detailed and realistic, the plot is exciting and credible and keeps unraveling throughout the story, and it's an exciting read. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that the story does not let up until the very last page. Add to that a colorful description of the location, Spain, and you have a book that you look forward to every time you pick it up, unless you race through it in a single read. Most best-selling spy stories feature muscular, clever, incredibly good-looking men and ravishing, seductive women in plots that can be charitably described only as "hard to swallow." There are lamentably few great spy stories and authors: Eric Ambler, John LeCarre, Alan Furst, David Ignatius, Rudyard Kipling (Kim), some Len Deighton. This book belongs in the top of its class. This one is perfect!

You mean you haven't read this superb spy thriller yet?

Charles Cummings is the writer standing in the gold medal spot at the Spy Thriller Olympics. The Spanish Game is brilliant. Page after page it keeps you hooked. It reads fast and it keeps you guessing: where's this turn and twist taking me now? Being familiar with Spain and Spanish customs I can say with certitude that Cummings has the setting bang on. The characters and the plot are colourful and very much alive. You want a good, entertaining, and extremely well written spy novel? Look no further. You will enjoy this one!

outstanding espionage thriller

I stumbled upon this wonderful author, and have absolutely enjoyed A Spy by Nature and the follow-up book, The Spanish Game. The plot has been well chronicled by other reviewers. I have read LeCarre, Ludlum, Littell, McCarry, Seymour - this young man definitely deserves a spot amongst these authors. The plots are intricately woven, full of twists that keep the reader staying up late; one is never quite sure of anything or anyone, and as often is the case in a Ludlum novel, there is "madness" everywhere! The characters have substance and depth. They linger with you long after you have finished the last page. I look forward to the next book and have already ordered his other books. Great effort and bravo! Igor Dumbadze

The sense of impending danger permeates the pages

Alec Milius has spent the last six years of his life in exile in Madrid in a near constant state of paranoia. He searches his apartment for bugs, takes different routes to his favorite haunts, and checks his rear view mirror for tails. He never finds anyone listening or looking or following, yet as a spy who was unceremoniously kicked out of England's famous MI5 and MI6 espionage divisions, old habits die hard. He even wonders if they're trying to reel him back in. He has grown accustomed to a life of relative peace and leisure, yet has moments of wanting to be back "in the game" and is certain that his role in getting two other agents killed has left him permanently out in the cold. Saul, a former MI5 colleague, turns up unexpectedly, looking for a place to stay during his visit to Spain. He is the only person who knows any details about the reasons Alec was thrown out of the service. Saul complains about how hard it was to find him and kids him about being so paranoid, changing his cell phone number every three weeks and adopting new email addresses. "It pisses me off, Alec, and it annoys your mum." Saul teases him about the pseudonym he has adopted at a local chess parlor. "You can't call me Alec, here, Saul. The people here know me as Patrick." Saul assures him that after 9/11, nobody cares about what Alec did in the late 1990s. The world has moved on, he tells Alec --- and he should too. Alec is a fascinatingly flawed man, drinking too much, living in a world created by his checkered past, and filling his hours working part time as an investigator for a bank. His haunted present is further complicated by his affair with his boss's wife. When his boss sends him deep into Basque Country to meet an infamous well-known separatist and terrorist, Alec is suspicious that his boss knows about the affair and is sending him on this mission to get him killed. When the separatist goes missing and is then found murdered, Alec is doubly convinced that he is at the center of something he simply cannot pinpoint. Author Charles Cumming has been compared to le Carre, Deighton and Ludlum, the giants of Cold War spy thrillers. He served a brief stint with Britain's real Secret Intelligence Service in the mid-1990s and is well grounded in how things can go awry in pursuit of bad guys. With the end of the Cold War and the aging of the spy thriller masters, spy page-turners came to a halt for want of plot. With no double-dealing Russians or scheming Chinese to chase, what was the point? Cumming proves that there is a rich new threat to explore --- not in the form of plotting governments and counter-espionage agencies, but in the ephemeral world of terrorists who are more difficult to track and nearly impossible to bring to justice. Cumming portrays such a strong sense of place and atmosphere of threatening watchfulness that we are pulled into Alec's paranoia almost against our will. Driving through arid, wild, southern Spain, walking the rainy streets of Madr

Solid spy yarn with a great character

Charles Cumming's "A SPY BY NATURE" was brilliant and original, containing a voice that rivals the great Le Carre. Alec Milius, the protagonist of that novel, is a realistic young spy who could very well be the bloke next door. "THE SPANISH GAME" is the second novel featuring the character, and the story takes up a few years after the end of the first book. I enjoyed "THE SPANISH GAME" a lot. Great sense of place and locations, well-drawn characters, and a plot that keeps you guessing. It's not quite the revelation that "SPY BY NATURE" was, hence the 4-star rating, and I felt that the first half of the book took a while to start moving in a page-turning fashion--but the second half of the book is riveting. I look forward to more Alec Milius. Cheers to Charles Cumming, who effortlessly makes it obvious that he's a very talented author.