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The Reluctant Spy
The Reluctant Spy
Jan 14, 2025 6:44 AM

Author:John Dryden,Nigel Lindsay,Aiysha Hart,Sarah Goldberg

The Reluctant Spy

A three-part BBC Radio drama about modern-day spying set in Cairo against a backdrop of the "Arab Spring". Hard-up Coptic art expert Duncan Kavanagh scrapes a living as a private English language tutor and by showing tourists around the ancient churches of Cairo. He lives with his feisty, politically-aware, 15-year-old daughter Ola, who is half-Egyptian, in a modest flat they can barely afford. Since the revolution, the situation has become ever harder for Duncan with tourists in short supply. When approached by seductive Canadian student Tara Moore to deliver a letter - for money - to a prominent Egyptian politician whose son Duncan teaches, he accepts. It's a decision that will solve his short-term financial problems but embroil him in a complex web of secrets and misinformation and a struggle for his own and his daughter's survival. Written and directed by John Dryden. Starring Nigel Lindsay, Aiysha Hart and Sarah Goldberg.

Reviews

The Swedish master of slow-build terror returns...truly skin-clawing tension.

—— Metro

The Swedes seem to be cornering the market in creepy crime fiction, and this chiller will appeal to fans of Stieg Larsson ... A compelling and scary psychological thriller

—— Sunday Mirror

Gladiator meets Tinker Tailor in a baroque landscape

—— Robert Lowe

M.C.Scott stakes a bold claim to a place in the canon of cherished adventures. Rome: The Eagle of the Twelfth succeeds thrillingly. It’s gripping, absorbing, and thoroughly entertaining, right to the last moment of desperate action and decision.

—— Robert Wilton

Stirring stuff written by a lady who has proved her worth over and over again, rivalling any other offerings by popular male writers such as Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow.

—— Shropshire Star

Simon Kernick writes great plots, great characters, great action.

—— Lee Child

Simon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!

—— Harlen Coben

From the first line, Simon Kernick knows how to get a thriller shifting, and he doesn't let up until the very last

—— Daily Mirror

Simon Kernick uses every trick in the book to keep the action breakneck.

—— Time Out

Snappy chapters, tense scenes and no holds barred action sequences - I read this novel in a very short time and it gave me a real “wow” feeling.

—— The Crime Warp

a tremendous read…well put together and an excellent example of the good writers craft. I can’t say much more because I wouldn’t want to spoil for you when you rush out to buy a copy 4/5

—— Army Rumour Service

This book captures you from the start… then twists and turns in every chapter, taking you on an intriguing roller coaster ride until the end… Great stuff!

—— Mojo Mums

There are some lovely characters, a swift plot, not too many red herrings and lots of action. I think it is well worth investing in.

—— Love Reading

This is a tense, elegant, psychological thriller about an emotional tug-of-war... This tale of self-willing entrapment keeps us guessing to the end... Compelling and memorable.

—— Viv Groskop , Red Magazine

Hooper has constructed a modern fairy tale of a kind, complete with Bluebeard and his castle, and using some of the fictional paraphernalia of Gothic horror and melodrama she delivers a compelling, at times disturbing, but always humorous and readable cautionary tale.

—— Brian McCabe , Herald

The difficulty with a thriller - even if it is literary - is not to fall into cliche and predictability. At the points where it seems as this may happen, Hooper wrong foots the reader without losing any credibility, leading to a very clever ending.

—— bookmunch

This beautifully crafted psychological thriller really got under my skin.

—— A.N. Wilson , Readers Digest

Hooper is a very clever writer. Her prose is uncluttered, but every phrase is packed with meaning.

—— bookoxygen.com

A chilling, compulsive read.

—— Fanny Blake , Woman & Home

New, dark literary thriller...read it for its seductive plot.

—— Tatler

A dark unsettling read which will appeal to fans of the gothic as well as those who enjoy tales of twisted relationships such as Gone Girl.

—— lisabooks.blogspot

Literary thriller The Engagement by Chloe Hooper takes a Fifty-shades style plot about erotic games between estate agent Liesel and business man Alexander to a darker place.

—— Good Housekeeping

Part gothic novel, part thriller, this will keep you guessing until the end.

—— Glamour

Hooper has crafted a terrific tale full of dark corners and dead-ends that leave the reader wondering what to believe. The result is a collision between a psychological thriller and a very dark romance that has something for fans of either genre.

—— Irish Examiner

The Engagement has all the ingredients of a top psychological thriller with the bonus of literary style. I think it could be a huge hit. I hope so. I really want to see the film…

—— Literary Sofa Blog

Beautifully crafted and sleek psychological thriller… The Engagement, by one of Australia’s newest and brightest writers, explores mind control, power games and emotional abuse, so do not expect it to be a romance novel as it is, most definitely, not!

—— Yattar Yattar

An unsettling thriller... A book which deftly explores the power of money and property, romance and sex

—— Marie Claire

A dark, erotic and tense tale

—— Grazia

Plain and lucid, with beautifully accurate word-choice, and plenty of grace-notes that one pauses to appreciate... A highly intelligent, unpredictable, very grown-up, and crazily readable novel

—— Brandon Robshaw , Independent on Sunday

A sleek and sly two-hander, a thriller almost, that sets everything out clearly for the reader and yet remains filled with uncertainty

—— John Self , Guardian

An intense psychological thriller, strewn with enough red herrings to satisfy the most demanding reader

—— Mail on Sunday

Hooper's writing is singularly challenging and confrontational... For those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey, more Jane Eyre

—— Daily Telegraph

A fine, literary thriller; cold, at times almost nauseatingly disturbing

—— Alison Flood , Guardian

A fascinating, subtle, really original modern Gothic thriller

—— Rebecca Chance , Daily Record
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