An Intelligence Proceedural
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'At Risk' is an intelligence procedural by Stella Rimington, the former Director General of the Security Service, MI5. It's concerned with the identification and pursuit of an ITS (Islamic Terror Syndicate) member (or members) thought to have been smuggled into the UK. As such, it describes the nuts and bolts of people smuggling, running intelligence sources (both at home and abroad) and analysing information in order to locate the likely whereabouts and behaviour of suspects.
Rimington gives an outline of the structure of the different services involved and the type (and at times lack of) co-operation between them. However there is nothing in the narrative that a reader familiar with this genre will not have come across before. The story includes the standard crumbs from the various intelligence service's high table, which are already well worn in fiction. MI6 are posh and crafty, the RAF posh and polite and the police, common and a bit grumpy. There's very little mention of the technology of intelligence gathering and analysis, beyond the use of e-mails and text messages. Rather, characters are often dashing out of the pub to look for a payphone. Presumably a fuller description of the communications techniques available might unsettle a public concerned with privacy and the surveillance society?
The central character is a thinly drawn Liz Carlisle. Her past and private life are described skeletally. Her clichéd affair-with-a-married-man-that-she-is-determined-to-come-out-of, gets barely any attention and disappears from the book at about the half way stage. This is obviously the first of a Liz Carlisle franchise, leaving plenty of time to pad out her character in subsequent books.
This reviewer found the narrative made sense on the first reading but suspects a second reading would make the building blocks of the main plot clearer and better bound together. The tale is good enough in the telling and combines decent descriptions of place with sufficient pace and action.
Having said that, the best part of the package is the former Director General's name on the spine, something that may have to be addressed if the franchise is to continue to engage the reader.
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Good Thriller
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Very good first Thriller. Different to read a book of this nature with a female as the primary character. Enjoyed the book and will buy the follow up.
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Excellent debut
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I bought it because of the author's work experience, expecting it to be an example of ill-advised career change, but right from page 1 it was actually very good, with a nice sense of humour and turn of phrase. The fringe characters are rather cliched and flat, but so is the scenery in a theatre; the main characters are good, but not so good that they distract from the story. But the best part is that story, told with an understated authority. A good British "thriller" (can anyone be "thrilled" by a book?), and I look forward to more.
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Good Debut Novel
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At Risk centres around a planned terrorist attack in Britain. The books main character, Liz Carlyle, is an MI5 officer, who along with her colleagues are trying to prevent the attack. However, they do not know exactly where the attack will take place. To make matters worse, one of the terrorists appears to be a native of Britain, and so can easily blend in with the general population.
I felt this book started a bit slowly, and the reader is introduced to quite a number of characters, in the first few chapters. As the book progressed, though, I found it got more interesting, as the bits and pieces started to come together. Overall, I thought it was pretty good.
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Readable Modern British Spy Thriller
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I really enjoyed Rimington's first novel. Set in present day Britain it involves an "invisible" (a terrorist who is native to the country being attacked) and her partner planning a British tterrorist attack. The main character in the book is a female MI5 intelligence officer who leads the case to find the pair. Maybe the ending wasn't overally satisfactory but it was a good read that has me keen to track down he second novel.
7/10
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