Deep Purple

Rating:
Summary: Insider's novel of espionage
Review: Typically calm,detached espionage yarn from an old hand in the genre, and a man moreover, with years of inside experience which give his books an air of authenticity foreign to Bondian romps and others of that ilk.

"Eddie Hoggart"is an experienced MI6 operative ,one who has risen from a an underpriviliged background to a key role in British Intelligence .He is charged with the task of debriefing "Yakunin" a former Soviet official who claims to be a
defector and a high ranking agent with experience of running a spy ring within the US Complicating matters is another alleged Soviet defector "Belinsky"who claims his fellow Soviet is a fantasist with delusions of self-importance.In turn "Yakunin"claims that "Belinsky"is a KGB plant and further avers that there is a mole in British Intelligence.

"Hoggart's" personal life and the collapse of his marriage to "Jacqueline" an ex-prostitute from an abusive famliy who has resumed an affair with a London gangster is also a theme of the book and shows how the world of Intelligence can be ruthless in protecting its own interests and people

This second strand is the more compelling and tragic and the novel shows unfussily and quietly how the world of espionage can exact a jigh price from its practitioners who have difficult and demanding jobs to do,althiugh one cgaracter the quirky intellectual "Renshaw"is more inclined to see it as an elaborate game

The world of spies and spying is as seen by Allbeury a world where information is analysed meticuluously and gone over thorougly to arrive at thr truth

The books are not exciting but do impress with their air of emotional detachment and stoicism.These spies are grey men and women you would never mistake for Helm or Bond,doing a key bureaucratic job in a professional way while trying to keep their lives together personally

Recommended to those liking the more cerebral type of espinage book