Stella Rimington, At Risk

At Risk

Stella Rimington

Knopf, Jan 2005, $24.00

ISBN: 1400043700

At Thames House, the Joint Counter-Terrorist Group employees learn that the al-Safa organization of the Islamic Terror Syndicate is planting an "Invisible." Pakistan cooperates and the Immigration Office combs the lists for possible suspects. However, the MI5 and MI6 attendees know how difficult to uncover an Invisible is as these terrorists are a special breed, being a native of the host nation. An agent just in from Islamabad corroborates that al-Safa is a rare Islamic terrorist organization because it welcomes full blood Caucasians.

MI5 agent-runner Liz Carlyle sees her work as a means to avoid her matchmaking mother and a place to hide from her married lover, Mark Callendar, who is no longer convenient. The need to track down the Invisible becomes imminent as the evidence mounts that something big is about to occur. Liz starts to put a human face that seems increasingly female to the trigger, but who she is and who is her handler remains just out of visible scope especially since agents allegedly on her side decide not to share information with anyone.

This exciting, counter-terrorist, espionage thriller travels on two storylines that connect via the heroine. Readers receive an exciting race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe while also seeing the inner office shenanigans of hiding critical information behind a need not to know fa ade and sexual harassment towards the token estrogen in a testosterone world. The prime plot is typical of the sub-genre with its adrenaline rush to climax, but is slowed down somewhat by the office side, which is more interestingly unique (and perhaps autobiographical) though not as exhilarating. Spy fans are not AT RISK reading this fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

Stella Rimington, At Risk - Stella Rimington made history as the first female Director General of MI5, the domestic arm of British Intelligence. She was also the first Director General to give public speeches and photoshoots, raising the profile of espionage, and made several radical changes in MI5 policy to bring the Service up to date.

In this, her debut novel, she brings a lot of her experience and the book reads almost autobiographically. The heroine and main character Liz Carlyle could have been Stella Rimington, a very promising character.

Liz is an overworked, lower-echelon secret service operative. She has to deal with both the chauvinism of her colleagues and a potentially devastating terrorist plot. Through one of her undercover agents she becomes aware that an Islamic extremist is on their way to England. She has no idea where they are heading or what the target is.

It is only by chance that the news of a murder in a small fishing village starts ringing alarm bells. Liz heads off to see if she can help in the investigation and soon realises that it is connected to her "invisible".

The chapters tend to alternate between Liz's viewpoint and then that of the terrorists, although in the first chapter you are introduced to that many characters, I found myself having to turn back to remind myself who they were. As the chapters move on, however, the main character comes to the fore.

It's well-written, thought-provoking, fast-moving, very exciting, interesting but believable characters and an easy read. What I really liked about it was that unlike other books there is not much description of the surrounding scenery, unless relevant to the plot.

This is a change from the usual genre of books I read, but a welcome change. Some perseverance is needed to get through the first couple of chapters but once the action starts it's full on.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes spy novels, although it is a bit more realistic than the James Bond books. As I think this is the first in a series of Liz Carlysle novels I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment "Spies" due out in October 2004.