Rimington, Stella. Illegal Action, Arrow Books, London 2008. (Pages 394, Paperback)Rating: 5/10This book certainly couldn’t be a Booker Prize nominee, but Booker prize is what made me read it.I like a book to have a good story. It should be easy to read and a page turner if possible. Over the years, the Booker nominees and winners have increasingly frustrated me. True, I could admire the beautiful prose in The God of Small Things (1997) or The Line of Beauty (2004); but Arundhati Roy’s was poetry written in prose, and Hollinghurst was clearly awarded the prize for his gay agenda, rather than literary merit. I would take neither book on a flight, nor would think of returning to them in my old age. The Inheritance of Loss and Wolf hall kept falling from my hands as sleep won over letters. Midnight’s children, which I have never managed to go a few pages beyond, was awarded the Booker of Bookers. I had decided not to touch the Booker books ever again.And then, the unexpected happened. Stella Rimington, the former chief of MI5, the British spy organization, was appointed the Booker committee chairperson this year. She said she would like to select books that are read rather than admired. That quote drew me back to the Booker list. It was like people living under dictatorship suddenly being told that democracy had returned. This year’s short list contained short books (literally); each could be read in one sitting. You could take them on flights. And I would certainly like to read The Sense of an Ending again and again. It’s wonderfully written.As a token of my gratitude, I decided to read Stella Rimington, the spy chief, who caused the Booker revolution. (I suggest she chairs the committee for the next five years). The real life Judy Dench had started her spy career in India, unwittingly. She was in Delhi as a first secretary’s wife. She was asked if she would mind working as an assistant to another secretary. (Embassies like to use the services of wives of the staff). After a few months, she found out that the man she was assisting worked for MI5. Stella needed to get a security clearance, later applied for a job with MI5, and eventually became the first Dame Chief in 1992. She propagated openness, and posed for the MI5 brochure, something no other Director General had done before. Illegal Action, understandably, has authentic descriptions. It’s about Russian spies on the streets of London, who are prepared to kill. Liz Carlyle, the lady James Bond (but much understated), is at the centre of the plot and lands in the house of a Russian oligarch. The novel is fast-paced, cinematic, and fairly realistic (considering how surreal the oligarchs’ world is in reality). In 2010, as you probably know, ten Russian ‘sleeping agents’ were arrested in the USA, and swapped for four spies imprisoned in Russia. This book, written years before that scandal, explains well what illegals do.Verdict: Reading this book was my thanksgiving. If you want to thank Stella Rimington for freeing Booker from hypocrisy, you may want to read Illegal Action. A must read if you are an aspiring spy.
Starts promisingly, and ends tiresomely.I actually listened to the audio book version of this while driving long distances, and it's probable that my opinion of the story wasn't helped by the woman doing the narration. I've heard some some superb audio books over the years, with 'The Quiet American' being a stand out. The narrator there managed accents and male and female voices with subtlety and detail., and added to the exerience of the story. Unfortunately, this narrator was on par with Terry Wogan's snarkiest Eurovision commentaries on national/ethnic stereotypes. The Russians sounded ponderous and like they'd been taking elecution lessons from Colonel Klink, the Italians hysterical and screechy, the Irish like they'd been downing litres of the worst swill possible, and the senior management of MI5 and MI6 spoke in incredibly plummy tones, in slow-motion kind of way (the aural equivalent of bullet-time in 'The Matrix) to demostrate just how clever and well-brought up they'd been! >:( The opening scenes of contact and recruitment between legals, illegals, and their souces was reminiscent of Martin Cruz Smith ('Gorky Park' and its sequels) and Craig Thomas ('Firefox' and 'All the Grey Cats'). It was plausible, although some of the field craft may have been pretty thin. Unfortunately, by the end the plot was just silly, and I'm not quite sure if the author wants a burgeoning romance between her lead female and her boss (and is carefully moving to kill of the boss's wife to leave the field clear) or just giving the audience what she percieves they want. In either case it's a mistake.I may try one more in print version, and hope that this mess can be redeemed.
What do You think about Illegal Action (2008)?
This is the third novel in this British spy thriller series featuring MI5 officer Liz Carlyle. Because the author was herself a "spook" for so many years, the thriller aspect is made all the more thrilling by how grounded in reality it is and how well drawn the characters are. As with the first two, I felt like I knew everyone, and I also learned a lot about intelligence work and law enforcement. The good guys won but at great cost. It could've easily gotten sappy after that, but that's not Stella Rimington's style. The ending was perfect.
—Thomas Lady
We are promised authenticity with this book and we probably get it. Being a spy is probably as dull and pedestrian as this.This is Stella's third spy novel so you'd think she'd have hit her stride by now but she seems content with an unambitious amble. She has no doubt used her experience as Head of M15 to good effect, but she doesn't seem to have used her qualification as a graduate in English literature.The book has no pace. The dialogue doesn't crackle. There is no tension.Having just compared London's literati to the KGB following her stint as chairman of the Booker prize judges, you'd think she'd know how to stitch together a good plot.Instead we get uninspired chick lit espionage in which some of the most exciting moments are discovering how Liz Carlyle likes her cocoa.Liz got up and after a search in the kitchen cupboards, unearthed a packet of cocoa that was just in date, so she heated some milk on the old electric stove, then sat down again with her mug. It could be interesting, she supposed, to spend time with a man who literally could buy anything he desired, but she couldn't say her heart was in it.No, quite. Like Liz Carlyle, Stella Rimington's heart simply isn't in it.
—Vanessa Wu
I'm having trouble reviewing this book because I'm having trouble remembering this book. Turns out it's the third in a series (curse you community lending library for not having the first two books) and is about an M15 officer (Liz Carlyle) and her transfer to counter-espionage. While it's cool that someone who really worked in that area wrote a book about it, I do remember being surprised that someone who seemed so poorly qualified would be thrust into a Russian oligarch's inner circle. Some scenes felt like when you're watching T.V. and you keep thinking, "Don't go in that room! Call the cops! What are you doing?!" If I had reviewed it after first finishing the book I may have given it a higher rating but I can't remember whether I liked it or not.
—Marci
