Starred review from January 30, 2017
The October Revolution of 1917 provides the backdrop for Downing’s outstanding third historical featuring British spy Jack McColl (after 2015’s One Man’s Flag). At his father’s funeral in Scotland, McColl reunites with his lover, American journalist Caitlin Hanley, with whom he has a complicated past: two years earlier, McColl arrested her younger brother, Colm, for his role in an Irish republican plot after first offering him a chance to escape. Despite this incident, Caitlin is eager to make the most of their time together before work separates them. McColl’s boss in the Secret Service dispatches him on a mission to determine how the Transcaspian Railway can be put out of action as part of British efforts to prevent Germany from taking over Central Asia. Meanwhile, Caitlin travels to Russia to report on the efforts of the Bolshevik regime to create a new society. In addition to balancing plot and character development perfectly, Downing gives readers unfamiliar with the issues of the time all they need to know. Agent: Charlie Viney, Viney Agency.
February 15, 2017
The third volume (after Jack of Spies and One Man's Flag) in an engrossing historical series featuring an unflappable Scottish spy and a fiery Irish American journalist concentrates on the final year of World War I as it plays out on the catastrophic contours of revolutionary Russia. As a feminist and agitator, Caitlin is buoyed by the challenges of covering history-in-the-making. Her lover, Jack McColl, is up to Foreign Office skullduggery in Central Asia and Ukraine. The ferocity of the conflicts they witness as they journey through the war zones separately make them doubt both their love for each other and their commitment to their causes. With attention to vivid contemporary detail, this 100-year-old story jumps off the page. Barely mentioning the big names of the 1917 October Revolution, Downing spotlights ordinary people who are drawn to the front lines to advance or defeat the Bolshevik cause. A particularly effective thread is the attention to the revolutionists' question, "What do women want?" as Caitlin reports on Alexandra Kollontai and Maria Spiridonova, leaders of the women's corps of rival parties. VERDICT History buffs and espionage fiction fans will enjoy this entertaining novel, which might also make a good choice for book groups commemorating the centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution. [See Prepub Alert, 9/26/16.]--Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2017
In this third in the series, Downing picks up the story of Jack McColl and Caitlin Hanley in 1917, with both parties in Russia but on opposite sides of a cavernous ideological divide. For most of the tale, neither knows the whereabouts of the other, but when they do cross paths, it's clear that proximity is not likely to help their hearts grow fonder. Jack, a British spy, is charged with undermining the Communist agenda as a way of getting Russia back in the fight against Germany, while journalist Caitlin is committed to the Red cause. As in One Man's Flag (2015), Jack is struggling with the moral rightness of his mission, finding marginally more to admire in the Communists he encounters than in either his fellow British or the Russian Whites. Downing is a master at grabbing the historical moment and holding it close, and he brings the tempestuous revolutionary era to vivid life here, setting it against what appears to be a doomed love story. The ending leaves us hangingthis series is a true serial adventurebut most readers will be happy to anticipate the next installment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)