Number 31- At Risk- Stella Rimington

 

As you can see from that cover quote, this is the debut novel by Stella Rimington, the former head of M15. Stunning is a matter of debate.

Liz Carlyle is an intelligence officer in MI5. When a report says that an attack is about to be carried out by an "Invisible" operative, an ethnic native terrorist who therefore can pass through borders unchecked and access our institutions freely, the stage is set for a race against time.

This was published in 2003 (therefore probably written in 2001/2, in the wake of 9/11, which probably explains the complete lack of any balance in the narrative about Muslims. There are three in the story, the non-evil one is sidelined very early on and forgotten about, and the other two are sociopaths dead set on killing innocents. There could have been the use of the word extremist, but I don't recall it in the book. that would at least have served to tell us that these characters are at the fringe of their group and not representative of the faith. 

Anyhoo... rant over.

It's a slow burn of a story, with little action for the first two hundred pages or so. When one of the killers commits a murder in self defense after paying to be smuggled in, our plucky Liz is on the case, sleuthing around and finding clues to the exact nature of the treat to the country.

It all plays out rather sedately, which is probably more realistic than an all action shoot-em-up type thriller, but it doesn't make for a compulsive read until about 100 pages from the end. Liz does a lot of ringing around and asking people to find information for her, or receiving a fresh message from one of her sources rather than actively finding out for herself. The section with the passenger manifest would have been better if she'd done it herself instead of trusting subordinates to check it for her for example.

The prose is unremarkable, but not actively bad.  The book is never less than readable.  I don't personally think it ever reached the heights of "stunning" as stated on the cover. It's worth reading. Given who she is, it's probably a better insight into how these things actually work. It's a shame that it does highlight why these types of books do embellish detail.

6/10 if I'm feeling generous.