Post-World War II

Life is good for travel writer Gabriel Dax—his books are doing well, and he’s enjoying time in London and his country cottage planning his next title. But when MI6 handler Faith Green informs him that he is needed, this time to get a double agent out of Russia, he brushes off his passport and takes orders. Using his artifice skills (he thinks) to avoid confrontations with Russians, or maybe the Mafia or an insider, Dax skips from the UK to the U.S, Russia, and Finland, with some stops in between during Cold War 1964, an intriguing period in international espionage. I fell for Dax immediately—he’s a Gitane chain smoker, a low-key intellectual, and still a bit naive on how all these spying things work. And he doesn’t mind the attention of dangerous women who may or may not be trying to kill him. Boyd builds this smart tale with a delicious push and pull to the storyline, teasing readers who are trying to work out who will be taken out next. We even get to sit in on Dax’s therapy sessions! It’s easy to drop into this thriller, even though it’s the third in the series. After meeting Gabriel Dax, though, you may want to go back to the beginning; Gabriel’s Moon is the first book in the series and after that is The Predicament.—Dodie Ownes

In his 2013 James Bond novel, Solo, Boyd sent the iconic secret agent to 1969 Nigeria. While the protagonist of his new book shares Bond’s love of good liquor and beautiful women, he is a reluctant spy, and the author here is interested in exploring the morally murky world of Cold War espionage, double dealings, political murders, and defections. It is August 1960, and British travel writer Gabriel Dax is interviewing Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the newly independent Republic of the Congo. Lumumba, who insists the interview be recorded, mentions that certain foreign powers aim to assassinate him. On the flight back to London, Gabriel notices an attractive older woman reading one of his travel books. Other odd incidents occur. Gabriel’s editor cancels the Lumumba piece and demands his notes and tapes, which is not standard journalistic practice. Instead, Gabriel buries the tapes in his garden. The woman on the plane, Faith Green, turns up at Gabriel’s door and asks him to do “small favors” for MI6, similar to the ones he does for his elder brother, Sefton, in the Foreign Office. Gabriel initially refuses but falls under Faith’s seductive spell and embarks on his first assignment in Spain. The writer is soon caught in a twisty labyrinth of lies and betrayals, and, like Michael Corleone in Godfather, Part III, gets pulled back into the spy game each time he tries to extricate himself from the manipulative Faith’s machinations. At the same time, Gabriel struggles to understand, through analysis, the childhood trauma—his mother’s death in a fire—that has scarred his life. This first-rate complex and suspenseful historical thriller will resonate with fans of John le Carré and Alan Furst.

Cold Sunset

Gabriel’s Moon