The Spanish Game (Thorndike Thrillers) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Charles Cumming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2009 | Series: Thorndike Thrillers

For six years, Alec Milius has been trying to escape his past, but his past refuses to release him. Abandoned by MI6 after a disastrous operation against the CIA, Milius has slowly rebuilt his life in Madrid. Older and wiser than the young spy who first caught the eye of British Intelligence, Milius still has a talent for deception-and a fatal weakness for secrets. So when a prominent politician disappears under suspicious circumstances, Milius can't resist tracking him down. But the rules have changed. Alec is now working alone, outside the boundaries of any official agency. Paranoid and expendable, he soon becomes vulnerable to the ruthless duplicities of a secret world in which no one can be trusted. Yet as he comes face to face with the nightmare of modern terror, Alec is given one last chance for redemption.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Alec Milius, the protagonist of Cumming's well-received first novel, A Spy by Nature (2007), has created a new life in Madrid working as a researcher for a British private bank in this sterling sequel. His former employer, MI6, dismissed him in disgrace after a plot against the CIA went wrong. Alec lives alone, constantly watching for agents from his past who he thinks are intent on hunting him down and exacting revenge. He's having an affair with his boss's wife, drinks too much and is consumed by regret and guilt. When his boss, Julian Church, sends him to Basque country on a project, he meets Mikel Arenaza, a former member of the ETA, the Basque separatist party, who quickly turns up dead. The plot is pleasingly convoluted, the twists unexpected, the characters flawed and interesting. This is spy fiction of the highest order; Cumming deserves to be ranked with the best of the genre's practitioners. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

The Basque nationalists at the heart of this thriller have passionate justifications for their cause, but the new labels of international terrorism in 2003 alter the power balance and enemies lurk everywhere. Drummed out of the MI6 corps six years earlier for a botched operation, young Alec Milius is now doing due diligence work in Madrid when odd and intriguing situations pile up, and suddenly he is at the heart of a plot that inflames his spying appetites and ambitions. Even after Alec is tortured and punished for his curiosity, he continues to pick at the clues hoping to salvage some private satisfactions for a job well done. Notable for its heightened psychological cat-and-mouse play, this second Milius title (after A Spy by Nature) will build Cumming's reputation as a literary spymaster to reckon with—comparison with early John le Carré is not out of line. An added bonus is the masterly description of Madrid and Basque country complete with wine and dine notes. A well-crafted and necessary purchase for espionage fiction collections in all public libraries.—Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 577 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (March 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410414159
• ISBN-13: 978-1410414151
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,612,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Cumming is a British writer of spy fiction. He was educated at Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as "the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off".

In 1995, Charles Cumming was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A Spy By Nature, a novel partly based on his experiences with MI6, was published in 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is recruited by MI6 to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the Caspian Sea to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In 2001, Charles Cumming moved to Madrid. His second novel, The Hidden Man (2003), tells the story of two brothers investigating the murder of their father, a former SIS officer, at the hands of the Russian mafia. The Hidden Man also examines the clandestine role played by SIS and the CIA during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Charles Cumming's third novel, The Spanish Game (2006), marks the return of anti-hero Alec Milius, who becomes involved in a plot by the paramilitary Basque nationalist organization ETA to bring down the Spanish government. The Spanish Game was described by The Times as one of the six finest spy novels of all time, alongside Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Funeral in Berlin and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Typhoon, published in 2008, is a political thriller about a CIA plot to destabilise China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. The story spans the decade from the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 to present-day Shanghai. In particular, the author highlights the plight of the Uyghur Muslim population in Xinjiang, a semi-autonomous region of The People's Republic of China. The acclaimed novelist William Boyd described Typhoon as "a wholly compelling and sophisticated spy novel - vivid and disturbing - immaculately researched and full of harrowing contemporary relevance."

In March 2008, Charles Cumming published an interactive online story, The 21 Steps, as part of a Penguin We Tell Stories project. Readers follow the protagonist's travels through Google Maps. Cumming's novels have been translated into six languages. His work is published in the United States by St Martin's Press. In 2009, Cumming left Penguin to join Harper Collins. His fifth novel, The Trinity Six, a thriller about the Cambridge spies, is published in the United States in March 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The second Milius novel is better than the first, January 17, 2011

By 

TChris (Tzer Island) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Spanish Game: A Novel (Alec Milius) (Hardcover)

Alec Milius, who made his debut in A Spy By Nature, returns to action in The Spanish Game. Six years have passed since the events described in A Spy by Nature and Milius is still worried that the CIA and the SIS are out to get him. After bouncing around the world, Milius has come to an uneasy rest in Madrid where he does freelance intelligence work for a private British bank. His boss, Julian Church, sends him to San Sebastián to determine whether Basque unrest will have an impact on business development in the region. Julian puts Milius in touch with an old friend there, a Basque politician named Mikel Arenaza. When Arenaza goes missing after arranging to meet Milius again in Madrid, Milius is drawn back into the world of espionage while investigating his disappearance.

I suspect some readers don't like this novel because they don't like Milius. He is self-centered, obsessively paranoid (perhaps with reason, but that makes him no less unlikable) and a bit amoral (even sleezy). None of that bothered me. I don't need to like the characters in order to enjoy a novel, so long as the characters and story are interesting. If you're looking for a morally pure or likable hero, however, you should probably pass this one by. Having said that, it's only fair to point out that at the end of this novel, as was true in A Spy By Nature, Milius shows himself capable of remorse, if not change.

Other readers won't like this novel because they're looking for more action or less ambiguity. You don't get thrilling chases, gunplay, explosions, high tech weaponry, or nonstop action in a Cumming novel. You don't get larger than life, morally pure good guys or cartoonishly evil bad guys. Instead, Cumming gives you an intelligent, credible plot and interesting, ethically challenged characters. That's not to say that the novels are dull or that they lack action. In The Spanish Game, the story develops slowly, piece by piece. The pace begins to quicken at the novel's midway point as the pieces begin to cohere, and there's quite a bit of action by the end, but Milius spends more time thinking than fighting. The novel has some elements of a mystery as the reader, along with Milius, tries to understand the relationship between the major players. As in any good mystery, the ending came as a complete surprise to me, and a very satisfying one.

The Spanish Game departs from the conventions of the typical spy novel by centering the conflict around Basque terrorists (or liberationists, as you prefer), about whom I knew little before reading the novel. I was drawn into the story and even started to feel a bit of sympathy for Milius. Cumming writes well, bringing a literary quality to his prose that, while falling short of Le Carre, is a pleasure to read. This is a better novel than A Spy By Nature, although not quite as good as his second novel, The Hidden Man (an espionage novel that doesn't feature Milius). I would give The Spanish Game 4 1/2 stars if Amazon made that option available.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid spy yarn with a great character, November 25, 2008

By 

Raymond Benson (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Spanish Game: A Novel (Alec Milius) (Hardcover)

Charles Cumming's "A SPY BY NATURE" was brilliant and original, containing a voice that rivals the great Le Carre. Alec Milius, the protagonist of that novel, is a realistic young spy who could very well be the bloke next door. "THE SPANISH GAME" is the second novel featuring the character, and the story takes up a few years after the end of the first book.

I enjoyed "THE SPANISH GAME" a lot. Great sense of place and locations, well-drawn characters, and a plot that keeps you guessing. It's not quite the revelation that "SPY BY NATURE" was, hence the 4-star rating, and I felt that the first half of the book took a while to start moving in a page-turning fashion--but the second half of the book is riveting.

I look forward to more Alec Milius. Cheers to Charles Cumming, who effortlessly makes it obvious that he's a very talented author.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding espionage thriller, March 23, 2009

By 

Igor Dumbadze (cincinnati, ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Spanish Game: A Novel (Alec Milius) (Hardcover)

I stumbled upon this wonderful author, and have absolutely enjoyed A Spy by Nature and the follow-up book, The Spanish Game. The plot has been well chronicled by other reviewers. I have read LeCarre, Ludlum, Littell, McCarry, Seymour - this young man definitely deserves a spot amongst these authors. The plots are intricately woven, full of twists that keep the reader staying up late; one is never quite sure of anything or anyone, and as often is the case in a Ludlum novel, there is "madness" everywhere! The characters have substance and depth. They linger with you long after you have finished the last page.

I look forward to the next book and have already ordered his other books. Great effort and bravo!

Igor Dumbadze