“There is the story --- and then there is the story within the story. And then there is another story, buried, that only a select few are able to read.”

This insightful quote from Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau underscores THE PREDICAMENT. William Boyd’s latest novel revolves around the 1963 political conflict in Guatemala, which involves multiple countries, international businesses, espionage organizations and President John F. Kennedy.

The story begins with travel writer and occasional MI6 operative Gabriel Dax working on a nonfiction book about rivers, cleverly titled Rivers. He becomes curious about a car parked on the street near the cottage he is using and begins to get a feeling that his writing may be put on hold temporarily for another mission. He is first contacted by a Russian agent who asks to meet him at a nearby café. It is there where Natalia Arkadina passes on her role as his Russian contact to Varvara Suvorina. They provide him with bribe money that is left inside a Russian novel, as they have done in their previous dealings with him. He then dutifully reports all of this to his MI6 handler, Faith Green, who asks him to keep up the pretense and get whatever information he can from the Russians.

"THE PREDICAMENT is an example of literary spy games of the highest order, and this series seems to get more and more intense with each new entry."

As it turns out, the Russians want to learn more about Faith, which makes for an interesting predicament. It is shortly after this meeting that Gabriel is officially brought back in by Faith and MI6. He is told about a joint mission they are working on with the CIA that will involve his going to Guatemala, under the guise of being a travel writer observing the rivers there. In reality, he will be getting close to Santiago Angel Lopez, an ex-priest and a current political candidate who is vying for the presidency. Specifically, they wish to know what his intentions are for a future relationship with the U.S. With that, Gabriel is off to Guatemala.

Gabriel is supposedly studying the Rio Motagua for his book, and he gets a face-to-face meeting with Senor Lopez, who is known locally as Padre Tiago. Padre Tiago expects Gabriel to have a message from Fidel Castro, which is not the case, but it puts the U.S. more firmly on the hook because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is strong opposition to Padre Tiago winning from United Fruit Company, which claims to have built Guatemala. Gabriel is quickly finding himself to be a puppet caught between strong opposing forces with no obvious way out.

The situation really becomes explosive when Padre Tiago is shot dead at the same time that a violent military coup ousts the current president. Gabriel is trapped in a country amidst seriously dangerous unrest, and the potboiler that has begun is far from done with him. He escapes Guatemala City and lands in New York, where he seeks refuge in the upstate town of Hyde Park, only to survive an attempt on his life. He eventually goes back to his Rose Cottage home in London where Faith informs him that nothing is as it seems.

THE PREDICAMENT is an example of literary spy games of the highest order, and this series seems to get more and more intense with each new entry. There are so many balls being juggled by Gabriel in this story that it is hard to stay on top of where the threat is coming from and who will benefit from the next deadly move.