The Man Between by Charles Cumming
I have just returned from a holiday in Morocco. Before I left, l checked Pittenweem Library catalogue for novels set in that country. I was impressed to find two that looked promising. On holiday I read both of them and finished this one on the plane home. It had an eery congruence with my experiences. Some of it is set in Marrakesh, where we spent the last few days, and where I found myself visiting some places which are actually mentioned in the story.
This added to my enjoyment of the book, but of course it’s not necessary to visit Morocco to enjoy it. This is a classy spy thriller with an enjoyable style and an unpredictable plot. Don’t take my word for it – Ian Rankin ‘read it in one breathless sitting’, according to the jacket blurb.
The protagonist is CK ‘Kit’ Carradine, a successful author of spy thrillers who is thrilled to be recruited by MI6 to undertake a job while he is attending a book convention in Marrakesh. His task seems quite straightforward – to courier packages to a couple of agents in the field. But after Carradine arrives in Morocco he discovers that the book convention is the setting for a high-stakes quest which will lead him to take on life-threatening risks.
MI6 is tracking the murderous activities of a terrorist group called Resurrection. Having started out as an idealistic revolutionary group resisting and undermining the corruption and greed of the world’s richest and most powerful, Resurrection has betrayed those ideals. 0riginally peaceful, its attacks have become violent and increasingly barbaric. Many of its early followers have left the movement, including Lara Bartok, the beautiful former partner of the Russian Resurrection leader Ivan Simakov. She has put herself in danger from him and his cronies and has gone into hiding. MI6 is trying to find her, to protect her and to tap her knowledge about Resurrection.
The real reason for Carradine’s recruitment is that MI6 believes Lara will attend his book convention. His intended role is to lead the service to her. However, after Carradine starts to mistrust his employers, he quickly decides to become her knight in shining armour and rescue her himself.
This is one of several moments in the story when Carradine decides to enhance his role and write himself a script which could have come out of his own books. He delights in the chance to perform the spy role for real and pats himself on the back several times for how well he is doing. At one point his training sessions at a local boxing gym come in very handy when he is confronted by a proper Russian bad guy. On one occasion he behaves just like James Bond and proves adept at finding a boat to escape a threatening situation.
Such clichés are send-ups by the author. It is fun to spot them in this clever and witty book.
There are satisfying, unpredictable twists and turns on the way to a climax which may not be totally credible – but by then you don’t care too much. The tongue in cheek narrative sweeps you along and leaves you satisfied.
Charles Cummings is an established spy author with more than ten novels to his name. Born in Scotland, he was apparently approached by the intelligence services himself at university although he did not go on to work for them. Some reviewers describe him as ‘the heir to John Le Carré’, but I don’t agree. Both the authors write about spies, but their work is very different. Le Carré’s books are drawn from his own experience of the ‘service’, his plots are more complex and his characters more sophisticated. The tone of his novels is also very serious and they are at times dense and slow-moving. He cannot be described as light-hearted and easily enjoyable. In this respect Cummings is superior and his books likely to be enjoyed by readers who find Le Carré heavy-going.
Thank you Pittenweem Library for introducing me to this book and this author
