Editorial Content for London Station
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Reviewer (text)
LONDON STATION asks readers what happens when the “special relationship” between the US and the UK is no longer so special.
This fast-paced thriller from David McCloskey is set in a near-future where a Trump-like president decides to shake up government agencies. The CIA has been put under the control of Bobby Jerome, a businessman brought in with a strict remit to overhaul the agency. He plans to run it the way he managed his home-building business in Texas, and he brings in employees (some of of whom are family members) to help him.
"While LONDON STATION is a fast read with unforgettable characters and a surprising amount of gallows humor, it ultimately delivers a chilling look at modern espionage and the dangers that arise when the focus is not on the enemy."
One of McCloskey’s most memorable characters, Artemis Aphrodite Procter, is tasked with heading up the CIA station in London, though she would rather be anywhere else than that genteel British city. Outspoken, irritable and prone to insubordination, she is far more at home in danger zones like Damascus and Moscow.
The book opens with Procter, not yet tapped to run the station, heading to London to try and recruit a Chinese official by pretending to be a British spy. It does not go well. However, it does make her a more attractive candidate to the new leadership because she flouts the rules and riles the Brits. It isn’t long before she’s trying to keep both sides from sabotaging each other.
But there is already a lot going on at London Station even before the new gang at the CIA gets moving. A staff member has been seeing a psychiatrist who is not on the agency’s approved list and may be a double agent. The former head of the station is still kicking around London, possibly helping the Brits. And a private organization is employing ex-spies to do its own intelligence gathering. What the end goal is remains unclear, perhaps even to the man running the company. Meanwhile, significant security leaks are discovered, and informants in China start dying.
All of this comes to a head when an attempted kidnapping takes place outside London with disastrous results. The Yanks are obviously involved. But is it the old guard, the new gang, or just a bunch of bad actors?
While LONDON STATION is a fast read with unforgettable characters and a surprising amount of gallows humor, it ultimately delivers a chilling look at modern espionage and the dangers that arise when the focus is not on the enemy.
Teaser
A new US administration has taken office, installing a brash and unconventional CIA director. When the axe falls on the chief of London Station, the agency veteran decides to spy for the Brits --- a betrayal uncovered by his replacement, Artemis Aphrodite Procter. Caught between a turncoat spymaster and a ruthless new boss back at Langley, Procter now must navigate a tense environment as old friends become adversaries and no one knows whom to trust. Adding to the chaos is a new breed of private intelligence agency: a secretive and powerful company run by a reclusive billionaire. When assets begin dying, Procter and her team in London Station must find out who is leaking the sources’ identities --- and why --- before both agencies go blind.
Promo
A new US administration has taken office, installing a brash and unconventional CIA director. When the axe falls on the chief of London Station, the agency veteran decides to spy for the Brits --- a betrayal uncovered by his replacement, Artemis Aphrodite Procter. Caught between a turncoat spymaster and a ruthless new boss back at Langley, Procter now must navigate a tense environment as old friends become adversaries and no one knows whom to trust. Adding to the chaos is a new breed of private intelligence agency: a secretive and powerful company run by a reclusive billionaire. When assets begin dying, Procter and her team in London Station must find out who is leaking the sources’ identities --- and why --- before both agencies go blind.
About the Book
Artemis Procter returns in David McCloskey’s electrifying new spy thriller, where London has devolved into a covert battleground between British and American intelligence services.
A new US administration has taken office, installing a brash and unconventional CIA director skeptical of old alliances and determined to disrupt the Agency. When the axe falls on the chief of London Station, the agency veteran decides to spy for the Brits --- a betrayal uncovered by his replacement, Artemis Aphrodite Procter. Caught between a turncoat spymaster and a ruthless new boss back at Langley, Procter now must navigate a tense environment as old friends become adversaries and no one knows whom to trust.
Adding to the chaos is a new breed of private intelligence agency: a secretive and powerful company run by a reclusive billionaire with a very different agenda than the two old allies who are suddenly at each other’s throats.
When assets begin dying, Procter and her team in London Station must find out who is leaking the sources’ identities --- and why --- before both agencies go blind. Soon they will have to decide whether loyalty to the Mission means disobeying the Agency they serve.
Immersing readers in the technological revolution upending intelligence tradecraft, LONDON STATION explores the changing nature of the spy business and what happens when politics threaten to destroy the special relationship between America and Britain.
Audiobook available, read by Vanessa Daniels and George Naylor
