Quick Review: ICARUS 17 by Charles Cumming (Hemlock Press/Mysterious Press)

Lachlan Kite’s latest mission is a little closer to home…

Lachlan Kite should have left fieldwork behind by now.

As director of covert intelligence agency Box 88, he’s at the apex of his espionage career. But when Martha Raine – a woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years – begs for his help, Kite finds himself back in the game, racing to avert disaster.

Kite must find Martha’s son, Max, who vanished in Athens with his girlfriend, Yasmine. But the couple aren’t just missing, they’re running for their lives. Two rival agencies are hunting them, both with orders to kill on sight.

Max and Yasmine are carrying a dizzying secret, one which could pull apart the foundations of the Middle East for a generation. If Kite fails to save them, the costs – both personal and professional – will be catastrophic.

In this, the fourth novel in Charles Cumming’s excellent Box 88 series, Lachlan Kite sets out on the hunt for a couple who have gone missing in Greece. While previous books have connected contemporary missions to Kite’s past actions as a spy, in this book, the stakes are far more personal. As expected, this is another gripping, very well-written novel that hooked me from the start. Continue reading

Upcoming: ICARUS 17 by Charles Cumming (Mysterious Press / Hemlock Press)

Great news: Icarus 17, the fourth novel in Charles Cumming‘s Box 88 series, is due out this summer! Also, unlike many of the author’s other novels, it’ll be getting a simultaneous release in the UK and North America.

I’ve been a fan of Cumming’s novels since Typhoon (2009), which I definitely recommend to all fans of the genre. This latest series, following the missions of Lachlan Kite has been particularly good — each of the novels so far has been excellent, exploring the long-term consequences of past missions and decisions. Must-reads, in my opinion, for all fans of espionage fiction.

Here’s the synopsis for Icarus 17:

Master spy Lachlan Kite heads to Athens, Greece, after an old flame asks for help locating her missing son.

A threat to the lives of his wife and daughter in London forces elite intelligence agent Lachlan Kite to move his family to safety. Meanwhile Kite’s former girlfriend, Martha Raine, comes to him with a plea for help. Her twenty-year-old son, Max, has vanished without trace in Greece. Can Kite help to find him?

Analysts at Anglo-American intelligence agency BOX 88 discover that Max was in a relationship with an Israeli woman, Jessica Morrow, who has links to the Mossad. Morrow is being hunted by a ruthless criminal gang. Fearing the worst, Kite and Martha set out for Athens in a desperate attempt to locate Max and Jessica.

This is easily one of my most-anticipated novels of the year.

Charles Cumming’s Icarus 17 is due to be published by Mysterious Press in North America (July 7th) and Hemlock Press in the UK (July 2nd).

Also on CR: Reviews of Box 88, Judas 62, Kennedy 35, Typhoon, The Trinity Six, A Foreign Country, A Colder War, and The Man Between

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