Description from Amazon:
A female Intelligence agent is dispatched to spy on a
group of retired spooks engaging in international terrorism in this post–Cold
War thriller
After three decades serving king and country,
fifty-one-year-old Harry Oakham is put out to pasture with a miserly pension.
But the former civil servant has his own ideas for his so-called retirement. He
settles into a luxury hotel in the English countryside and rounds up a
disgruntled crew of the world’s most brilliant ex-spooks, including a German
expert in counter-espionage and interrogation, a KGB tactician, a former Mossad
terrorist, and a lethal blond killer. Hiring themselves out to the highest
bidder, their first job is the assassination of a Saudi prince.
Meanwhile, still smarting from a recent divorce, undercover
diplomat-turned-agent Rosa Bennet has been dispatched to the Doll’s House to
spy on Oakham and make sure the retired agent is adapting to civilian life. The
last thing the Intelligence agent expects is to fall in love with her target.
And when Oakham’s recruits get wind of his affair with Rosa—and her true
identity—they will devise a plan to eliminate the traitor in their midst.
This was a DNF for me. I was in the library about to check
out another book when it didn’t want to go through the system so I grabbed the
next book under “A” and just took it because of the title. It didn’t even have
a dust jacket so I had no idea what it was about.
I can’t believe it was only written ten years ago as the
writing feels very old. It’s set post-Cold War, so I see where the interactions
are supposed to fit in with the time period but the dialogue is just odd.
Straight away it starts off with enemies about to work together against the countries
that no longer had use for them, couples unhappy in marriages and either having
affairs or about to divorce, and women being resented for wanting to pursue
careers. Lots of characters and situations to keep up with from the get-go.
I hate not finishing books as the author has taken the time
to write them and it’s usually a labour of love but in this instance I’d rather
read something I know I’ll enjoy to the end and not regret having spent “wasted
time”. This might be fabulous for others but just not for me…
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