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THRILLER writer Charles Cumming’s latest book marks the second appearance of his spy hero Thomas Kell. Disgraced and drummed out of the security services, he is summoned back when an old colleague is killed in a plane crash sparking a hunt for a traitor that takes in shady goings-on in London, Istanbul and Tehran.

Cumming, who claims to have been targeted for real-life recruitment by MI6, expertly recreates a world of waiting and watching where boredom is as much an enemy as other agents, and yet has still produced a page-turning thriller.

The search for the mole packs in plenty of twists, a body count worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy and some tense surveillance scenes that will change the way you think about London’s smartest store – Harrods – forever.

If you thought true spy novels went out with the Berlin wall, think again.

Rob Dex