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    A Foreign Country
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    A Foreign Country
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    A Foreign Country
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Foreign Country

    Written by Charles Cumming

    Narrated by Jot Davies

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year. Selected by Sunday Times Books of the Year and The Guardian as Best Thriller of the Year. Perfect for fans of John le Carré, a gripping and suspenseful spy thriller from ‘the master of the modern spy thriller’ (Mail on Sunday)

    Six weeks before she is due to take up her position as the first female head of MI6, Amelia Levene vanishes without a trace.

    Her disappearance is the gravest crisis MI6 has faced for more than a decade. There has been no ransom demand, no word from foreign intelligence services, no hint of a defection.

    Should news of Levene’s disappearance leak out, the consequences would be catastrophic. But for disgraced MI6 officer Thomas Kell, the crisis offers a chance for redemption. He is approached by his former employers and ordered to find her.

    Kell’s search takes him first to France, then North Africa, where he discovers an extraordinary secret hidden deep in Levene’s past. it is a secret that could fatally compromise Britain’s national security - and for which Kell could pay with his life.

    This is another first-rate intelligent thriller which will cement Cumming's reputation as one of the most engaging British novelists writing today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 29, 2012
    ISBN9780007443758
    Unavailable
    A Foreign Country
    Author

    Charles Cumming

    Charles Cumming was born in Scotland in 1971. In the summer of 1995, he was approached for recruitment by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A year later he moved to Montreal where he began working on a novel based on his experiences with MI6, and A Spy by Nature was published in the UK in 2001. In 2012, Charles won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller and the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year for A Foreign Country. A Divided Spy is his eighth novel.

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    Reviews for A Foreign Country

    4/5

    230 ratings31 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It kid a pity I read the second book first, won't do that again spoils it a bit. Great plot lots of twists I like Mr Kell, my sort of guy.
    • 4/5
      Great narration, a good story, believeable characters, will look for more of this work.. really enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      A Most Excellent Read!The book starts out with many intriguing story lines… Tunisia; a young nanny suddenly vanishes...Egypt; an elderly couple are brutally murdered...Paris; an accountant is kidnapped...South of France; the first soon to be female chief of M16 vanishes…From there it is edge of your seat subtle spy tingling tension! Thomas Kell is a disgraced agent who was put out to pasture and reluctantly called back in from “the cold” for his particular set of skills along with his past relationship with the soon to be new M16 Chief Amelia Levene. Should news of the missing Chief get out all hell would break loose… so he must not fail!It just gets better as you read more! I had not read anything from Charles Cumming before but, now I will be checking out all of this guys books starting with the first one “A Spy By Nature”This book kept me on the edge of my seat and turning pages one right after the other well into the night! Great finger nail biting suspense & tension...a perfect spy thriller, my mother will love this one!
    • 5/5
      Jot Davies is a terrific narrator. Great storyline by author , thanks
    • 2/5
      I received this as a goodreads first reads a while back. It was a bit tedious, and not the genre style for me.
    • 4/5
      A solid spy thriller, A Foreign Country by Charles Cummings is the first in his Amelie Levene series. I read the books out of order, with A Colder War being his second in the series and the first I read. I highly recommend reading these in order, it makes the characters and plots that more thrilling.
    • 4/5
      Solid spy thriller from someone who knows the trade. After a shaky start settles into a good page-turner.
    • 5/5

      One of the pleasures of Cumming's fiction is that his characters often show a certain literary flair. The subtle characterization is also a hallmark of Cumming's work. You get to know the characters intimately.

      "A Foreign Country" is one of those very rare books that from its first page demonstrates that it’s something out of the ordinary, one of those tales that the reader hopes will never end.

      At the same time it's always an added bonus when the main character, Thomas Kell, reads the poetry of Seamus Heaney and the prose of E.M. Forster, and even the book's villain has the good taste to
      prefer the crime fiction of Michael Dibdin... I know, it's an acquired taste, but for me, this kind of reference-dropping, make my day when reading a book.

      Definitely on my 2012 favourites' list.
    • 5/5
      If you like spy novels, you'll really enjoy this one. It has everything: great writing, a tricky story, good tradecraft, and a satisfying ending. The plot moved along at a good clip and the characters were developed well enough- I particularly liked the fact that the resolution of the story wasn't dependent upon a Rambo-type figure, just great thinking and operational excellence. I am bothered only by one detail toward the end that contributed to the conclusion, but I'll continue to think on that point.

      In addition to the list of 'successors to LeCarre' anointed by reviewers over the years (ie. Seymour, Littell, etc.), I think Cumming may also need to be named. He seems to have the background, ideas, and facility with the language that puts him among the best.

      I loved this book, almost as much as I love 'discovering' writers in my favorite genre who happen to have a back catalog I can explore! On to more from this author for me....
    • 3/5
      I, too, am a fan of Charles Cumming, and I, too, think that fell short of his best work. Lots of good stuff about trade craft for us espionage devotees; but, for me, it falls down through a gaping hole in its own plot, which I won't describe for non-spoiling reasons.
      I can only hope that he digs himself out of that hole in time for books 2 and 3 of this projected trilogy.
    • 4/5
      When the woman who is about to take over as head of SIS, formerly known as MI6, goes missing from her vacation in France, Tom Kell, a former agent who recently left the service under a cloud of allegations, is unofficially assigned to find her quietly, without anyone learning that she is gone.Well constructed, with a lot of humorous turns of phrase. “Nice was an antiseptic playground for rich foreigners who didn't have the imagination to spend their money properly.” Not that this is a funny book, but it at times has an attitude that I appreciate. I would have liked more of this.
    • 5/5
      Very good spy thriller. With this book, which won the Bloody Scotland award 2012, Cumming has established himself as the proper heir of John le Carre, though the reason he clinched the prize may have a lot to do with the happy end he provided, a sin never committed by le Carre. (MIND! SPOILERS AHEAD!) The story in a nutshell involves the first female C of MI6 who has a hidden history (a foreign country) that suddenly becomes crucial. She gave birth to an illicit child that was adopted by French foster parents who get cruelly murdered in Egypt. The latter triggers a search for the legitimate mother of the sole heir. Hence she gets to see her 30 plus son finally. Only he is not her son, but a DGRI (French secret service) spook controlled by a French agent seeking revenge on her. Thomas Kell, a disgraced ex MI6 spy, is called back to monitor the whereabouts of the MI6 C in waiting, who has suddenly disappeared (for a short trip to Tunisia with her new found son). Thomas soon locates his former boss, initially confusing her interactions with the younger French man as a love affair, but at some stage realising he is her illicit son. Everything seems fine, until something strange happens on the way back to France on the ferry. Thomas notes that the ‘son’ studiously avoids an older man in the dining room. Meanwhile Thomas’ own approach to the son triggers a search of his room. So then his suspicions are raised and soon enough something dirty crops up – Thomas finds out at long length that two funerals have been held for the real Francois who is being kept somewhere in southern France. He breaks the news to the new C and jointly they decide to trap the French without the rest of MI6 knowing. The fake Francois gets invited to England for another e-union with his mom. The house is completely wired. A whole team sitting next door – hoping for a trail back to the real Francois who’s held hostage. The last 100 pages are more or less fluent and the action is dense and unstoppable. Fake Francois gets called back to France, his ploy being foiled with the French knowing, but the English spy team manages to postpone this news for Francois the fake. Once he finds out the hunt is on. The team follows him on his improvised escape by taxi, train, plane. They only lose track of him in the Paris metro, but then they have gotten hold of fake identity and credit card details and trace him back to a hotel in Paris, where he gets killed in cold blood (I love that scene - raw, violent, yet icy) by a Algerian thug (part of the French hostage team). This young tug is recognised by Thomas, caught, and blackmailed into a confession and witness protection programme. Next a hired team of British ex special forces breaks into the rural country house where the real Francois is held, with plenty of killing (nice, terrible deaths, especially of the guy in the swimming pool who gets up again, is clearly lethally afflicted, droning on, trying to escape while bleeding profusely, having lost his mind, who gets shot on the go by one of the British mercenary types just before he reaches the edge of the field, while Thomas can’t quiet pull the trigger himself). Happy end. I quite like the totally unexpected sex scene as well. Nicely written, real, and yet subdued.
    • 5/5
      An excellent and clever plot which keeps you turning the pages and wanting to read more.
    • 3/5
      There's no doubt this is better, much better than the last one of his I read (A Spy By Nature). More coherent, more interesting and without a middle section that sagged like...well, my middle section.

      But…there's a but. Well, it's labeled a thriller, but it most certainly isn't. A thriller. Not what I'd call a thriller anyway. It is mostly mildly, to quite interesting and there are a couple of incidents which do come within binocular distance of thrilling. Though when the main man's attempt to have a hotel night porter distracted by some retired, bit-part spy helpers, long enough so he can check the hotel's computer register is the most thrilling part of the first 176 pages, you begin to wonder if I haven't been working from a different dictionary definition for 'thriller' all these years. Maybe I'm calling for a new way of determining if a book is a thriller or not, the thrill percentage in a Charles Cumming book is far to low for it to be labeled a thriller, in my book. The interest evel is ok, but not more than mildly diverting.

      And another area where the PR people could once again probably be described as being a little too over enthusiastic, is in the comparisons appearing on the book jacket. Sticking John Le Carre's name on there somewhere will always sell books. Even if it isn't written by the great man. And even, as here, you’re sticking the name of perhaps his most well known/loved character on the back, it probably still works. Which is why they’ve done it. And I suppose you can't blame Harper Collins for highlighting the reviews that bandy Le Carre about. But, and as I noted in my review for his previous one, I think they must have read a different book to the one I read. And le Carre fans, of whatever era, are going to be disappointed and wondering if the ‘Smiley’ mentioned, isn’t actually the name of the neighbours’ dog (as ours’ is).

      The thrills, such as they are, are in the first half, and based on the anticipation that comes with the feeling that ‘now...this is going somewhere…’ But are ultimately they’re not there - the thrills - because the book doesn’t get there. Either where you want it to, or where it should. But I'm not wanting to be too negative, as - amazingly enough - there are good parts.

      The book actually delivers in part on its reviewers promise mostly in the second half. It is almost tense and mostly exciting, it is about an operation carried out maybe in a more modern style than Le Carre and Smiley's heyday, but in the same ballpark. It doesn't include any giant explosions and international incidents - even though it involves the old enemies of official UK secret services and their French counterparts, it's all stuff that could be swept under the carpet, officially denied and life got on with in an air of mutual distrust even hatred (if you want to look at it as reflecting the real world). So no change there then. The final action is good enough and is well-handled. Maybe it all goes a little too smoothly, and I thought it could have been, if not should have been, expanded by 50 or so pages. It felt a little like 'ok, we'll do this and that, they'll obviously do that and this', let's go - and it all happened the way it had been explained as a plan so there wasn't the need to go into the detail that an Eric Van Lustbader would have. It all felt like Cumming had had the idea for his next book and wanted to get this one done with and out of the way so he could get on with that.

      The main man, Kell, despite the daft name, is an interesting character. Cumming has hinted at some baggage there and I'd like to see him in other stories. He reminds me a little of Jeremy Dunns' 'Paul Dark', maybe a little more ordinary (he's never going to be in charge at SIS for example, is our Kell), though as I don't know where A Foreign Country fits in Cummings' great scheme of things, I don't know if I'll meet him again.

      All in all an ok to good read and I can recommend it more than the last one. Still not up with where the reviewers seem to have been with it, but getting there.
    • 4/5
      This is my first Charles Cumming novel and it won't be my last. The tight plot, locales, and well-developed characters provided enough forward momentum that I read A Foreign Country in 2 days. In other words, I didn't want to stop reading! I appreciate the use of flashbacks in plot that provide character insights as well as the lack of overt violence that other authors in this genre use in place of plot development.
    • 3/5
      I picked this book up after a recommendation in a collection of summer reads from a group of lawyers in The Times. It had been well received - CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Thriller of the Year in several national newspapers - but I was rather disappointed by it. The book begins with three brief vignettes of apparently completely unrelated action. We are then introduced to our principal character, Thomas Kell. Since George Smiley, the idea of a hero as a former, discredited spy recalled to duty to deal with a problem too secret for the spook establishment has become something of a cliché, but here is Kell in the same position. The story touches on contemporary issues such as extraordinary rendition, torture of jihadists and the Arab Spring and is very dependent on the increasing involvement of the private sector in security matters: most of the good guys, at least, are paid for out of some reptile fund or personal accounts and even the bad guys seem to be privatising themselves by the end of the book. The choice of 'enemy' is interesting. This has been a major problem for spy novelists since the Germans and then the Russians moved off stage. Al Qaeda and other radical Islamists are useful for TV dramas such as Spooks but don't seem to work well for the spy-versus-spy kind of plot. Further discussion would count as a 'spoiler', but the solution is novel. The action sequences are pretty well done - I particularly enjoyed a complicated page or two where Kell and his mates are trying to follow someone who's route starts in the men's clothing department of the Salisbury Marks & Spencer, takes in much of the rail network of London's commuter belt and ends in the lavatory of Heathrow Terminal 5's prayer room..As an elderly, public school and Oxbridge educated Englishman brought up on Buchan, Somerset Maugham, Fleming, Deighton and, particularly, Le Carre, I like my spy stories to be based on establishment organisations and attitudes, even if full of moles and bad behaviour. I also like there to be a chill in the air which is rather lacking in A Foreign Country. The most appropriate word I can find for the ending is 'cosy'. SIS, particularly in its personnel vetting, does not come over well, and all the good work done by freelancers. I might try The Trinity Six which other reviewers have liked but I won't rush to follow the further adventures of Thomas Kell
    • 4/5
      In this work the reader is out in the cold for too long. The plot doesn't firm up well into the book. The same is true of the hero: you are not sure of his abilities until he demonstrates his expertise over a few chapters. All of this does not diminish the uniqueness of the plot and the importance put on national interest. Morality takes a back seat. Love too plays a role, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. It's unclear to the end whether the players are all unsanctioned by their respective governments. You are sure though that the bad guys will not profit from their evil. There's very little descriptive or historical information on the various nations in which the action takes place. Women are at the center of the action. But this is not in the same class as the author's "The Trinity Six."
    • 2/5
      Every now and again I like to read a thriller like this. No need to read every word, just zip along reading for the plot.
    • 4/5
      A very good read. Exciting, fast paced. In keeping with the previous books by this author. Spy craft at its best.
    • 5/5
      I won this from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.Terrific book! I really enjoyed. It kept my attention completely from start to finish. I'll be checking out other books by this author. I love this type of spy thriller.
    • 4/5
      Spy novel without much of a mystery but rather based on description of inner workings of spycraft with limited amount of suspense. Overall, I found this novel quite mundane, nothing to be excited about - which to me is not good for a spy thriller. It's well written though.
    • 3/5
      An interesting spy thriller with a mystery at its heart: is the newly discovered son of a master spy real or an imposter? Well written and with an abundance of spy craft, this novel will delight anyone with an affinity for shady doings and modern espionage.
    • 4/5
      Another interesting spy novel by Charles Cumming. The book is a very easy read with a well thought out plot. There are just enough twists and turns to keep the story interesting.The story is about the new "C" designate of MI6 and a former disgraced member of MI6. C leaves on vacation shortly before taking over on very little notice. The passed over member of MI6 has several agents check up on her and she has disappeared. MI6 brings back a former disgraced agent who has worked with C before to locate her. The reason for her disappearance is an event that occurred when she was a young au pair in Tunisia prior to joining MI6 that had never been disclosed to MI6. The French DGSE has become aware of it and is trying to use this past event to control the new C. A rogue group in the DGSE is running the operation. The disgraced MI6 agent works with C outside of MI6 channels to decipher what is happening and to regain control of the situation.
    • 5/5
      A good contemporary spy story. After a slow start, there's lots of action in exotic locales, and a happy ending!
    • 4/5
      Excellent slow-boiler of a spy novel. While not depending on constant action, this book still manages to be a real page-turner. Well-written and fleshed out characters leave you constantly guessing as to motives and whether or not a double or triple-cross is brewing.Cummings also manages to paint various locales vividly so they feel like real and distinct places. Likewise, his description of the real tasks of spycraft, both exciting and mundane, add a level of sophistication to his work. The outcome never feels like a foregone conclusion and the fact that the characters aren’t infallible lends true suspense to the plot. The various plots are layered like an onion with the peeling back of each piece revealing something new. Even when everything is revealed, the outcome remains in doubt, almost to the last page.A Foreign Country is a cut above other spy novels, and Charles Cumming is clearly at the forefront of the next generation of great spy novelists. Highly recommended. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book.
    • 4/5
      This spy novel begins in 1978 Tunisia with a missing au pair by the name of Amelia.The story then flashes forward to present day. We quickly read of a brutal murder on an elderly french couple in Egypt. Then we learn of the kidnapping of someone in Paris. Soon after the main character, Thomas Kell is introduced. He is a former spy for M16 who was disgraced after a scandal in a war torn country. Then we find out that the missing Amelia is now the new designate for chief of M16. Thomas is put on the case after she goes missing. Thomas quickly discovers that all is not as it seems and that someone or some group is targeting Amelia and knows a secret from her past.I was really intrigued with this book. Sometimes it moved a bit slow, but then it always picked up speed. I was a little disappointed in the resolution. I kept thinking that a major conclusion was going to be revealed but that really wasn't the case. The reason behind the cat and mouse game was not a very powerful ending for me. A very long buildup and then a quick ending. Still a good read, but not enough to wow me.
    • 5/5
      A Most Excellent Read!The book starts out with many intriguing story lines… Tunisia; a young nanny suddenly vanishes...Egypt; an elderly couple are brutally murdered...Paris; an accountant is kidnapped...South of France; the first soon to be female chief of M16 vanishes…From there it is edge of your seat subtle spy tingling tension! Thomas Kell is a disgraced agent who was put out to pasture and reluctantly called back in from “the cold” for his particular set of skills along with his past relationship with the soon to be new M16 Chief Amelia Levene. Should news of the missing Chief get out all hell would break loose… so he must not fail!It just gets better as you read more! I had not read anything from Charles Cumming before but, now I will be checking out all of this guys books starting with the first one “A Spy By Nature”This book kept me on the edge of my seat and turning pages one right after the other well into the night! Great finger nail biting suspense & tension...a perfect spy thriller, my mother will love this one!
    • 4/5
      This book is a must read for the mystery lover. The book starts with the murder of a couple celebrating retirement with a vacation at a resort in Egypt. Enter Amelia a member of the British Secret Service who is reunited with her son who she gave up for adoption. The writing is clean with an easy to read style that is sure to make this book best seller br />Reader received a complimentary copy from Good Reads First Reads.
    • 2/5
      I read A Foreign Country because I wanted a crime drama that would build suspense and throw twist and turns at me. It made me wonder what exactly different governments secret services do without the public knowing what is actually going on. A foreign Country is Charles Cumming sixth novel. Just like his previous works, it is centered on the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Cumming has proven to be a successful spy novel writer. This is to be the first in a series of novels about Thomas Kell, an ex member of the SIS.When you start A Foreign Country the first two chapters are about events that make you wonder what kind of turn will happen throughout the book. Then you are introduced to Thomas Kell, a disgraced ex member of the SIS. Kell is called back to service for a project that the SIS wants to keep as few people knowing about as possible, the disappearance of the Chief appointee of the SIS, Amelia Levene.As you follow Kell’s investigation of the whereabouts of Levene you learn information that ties the first two chapters into the character’s lives. This then reveals the true crime that involves the SIS and the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security – French External Intelligence Agency) plotting against one another.I thought the storyline was very good and well thought out. However the thing I didn’t like was the novel was written from a multiple first person point of view. Because of this a felt there was a lot of suspense that was taken away. I would come to personal conclusion and feel like I figured something out and hope that the character would be able to find out if I was right about something, and then the next chapter would change to another characters point of view and completely reveal what I had an intuition about. I would have liked this novel a lot more had it been completely written from only Kell’s point of view. Because of this I thought the first half of the book was a little boring and never got me needing to keep reading. The second half was still written this way but this is where the true plot of the novel develops and made me wonder what was going to happen.I would recommend A Foreign Country for those that like spy novels. It is a pretty easy read nothing too complicated. If you enjoy seeing characters develop through a series of novels this would be good for you as well, provided Cumming follows his original intentions of making a series of books based on Kell.-RyanMay 14, 2012
    • 4/5
      A Foreign Country doesn't feel like a spy novel because the other side is major European power generally thought of as an ally. So it's reminiscent of the old Mad magazine Spy v Spy cartoons, except for the dead bodies. A newly appointed Chief of MI6 is missing and a forcibly retired agent is brought in from the cold to find her before it becomes a major embarrassment for the Brits. Strengths: Another well written book by Cumming, well-paced, interesting, lots of foreign locations with excellent descriptions. There are several long passages about the craft of the spy business, including how to distract a hotel clerk so that the desk computer can be searched for guest info. Good spy vs. spy stuff. Weaknesses: Many modern spy novels go out of the way to pop the few remaining assumptions we make about who the good guys are and where the lines fall which demarc moral, or at least acceptable, behavior. But Foreign Country seems to go a bit too far and really stretches credibility in casting the French, particularly its intelligence services, in their roles. The ending was OK, but not exactly nail-biting. I much preferred Trinity Six, but will read more Cumming.