I read this book as part of Dean Street December 2024, a reading challenge involving books published by Dean Street press. It was the 11th book on my list for the challenge, and after finishing the 10th, I joked about this one representing a major shift in genre triggered by the fact that the title of the book reminded me of a famous science-fiction film. It turns out that I was partly right, in a way that feels a little like punishment for my attempt at wordplay. 

As Curtis Evans mentions in his excellent introduction to the book, the story is not a straight murder mystery. It is a blending of murder mystery with espionage/political thriller. To use the sort of phrase that Anthony's uncle Nicholas might, I would say that the espionage/political thriller genre is one of which I am not overly enamoured. As a result, reading this one was less fun for me than the preceding two. 

I did enjoy reading this book, especially because of the way that it filled in the back story of both Antony and his wife Jenny. In my review of the series opener I mentioned how glad I was that there was no massive info dump of exposition on their back story. Instead Antony's back story forms the crux of this entire novel, and one critical element of Jenny's life story was explicitly stated for the first time. That particular incident was not much of a revelation, even I had been able to deduce that something like it must've happened, but having it confirmed "for the record" as a lawyer like Antony might say, was useful. 

The actual murder mystery in the story was inextricably linked with Antony's past, a past which came back to bite him severely in the story. In the very first book of the series I commented that Anthony's career and professional reputation were put in serious jeopardy, but in this one he nearly lost his life. In addition to that though, he was once again the victim of persecution by a recurring police character, and what smacked of psychological bullying and abandonment by the security services who coerced his cooperation. By the time I reached the end of this book, I was left hoping that Sara Woods does not continue this pattern of making her protagonist a constant victim. 

The story was interesting, with the explanation of Antony's past and how it played out into the murder around which the story is built. Anthony's resolution of the murder mystery by drawing the events of the past to a conclusion was really quite masterful. Complex planning and real intelligence went into his scheme for revealing the actual murderer, and the mastermind of the murder and of Antony's own troubled past. 

A major reason why I'm not a big fan of Le Carré type stories is that they are a little too real. Moral ambiguity, compromises, unsatisfactorily incomplete resolutions - you name it, spy stories have them all. There was a little of that aftertaste with this story too, despite its comparatively tidy wrap-up. 

The tone of this book definitely reflected that greyer and more complex nature. In the previous stories I've included excerpts that I really enjoyed, passages where Woods writing brought a smile to my face. There were no such passages in the story. Indeed the only passage I highlighted in the story was a line from Kipling. I highlighted it because Antony's uncle Nicholas said the words, and then said: "in its context, I must admit, the quotation is not entirely apposite.” 

I on the other hand, feel that not only were they apposite, they serve almost as the theme of the entire story. This is the quote: 

I'm glad I read this book for the character development, and for seeing Uncle Nicholas unusually proactive in defence of the nephew he often seems to shower only with 'tough love'. Woods showed that she was very capable at blending the two genres together, but it was less to my taste than the preceding two. I know from Curtis Evans' introduction that book four is another one in a similar vein. Which does leave me at an appreciable distance from gruntled.  

I really hope that the series returns to the style and format of the first two, which I adored. That said, for any who enjoy political thrillers and want an excellent example of that genre blended with a murder mystery, this book would be a compelling read.