Book Reviews

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Anthology #55

The Private Life of Spies, by Alexander McCall Smith

I appreciate that this author’s writing style is not to everyone’s taste, and I have reviewed some of his other series books, but as this is a standalone book, I thought it would be worth a try [should it be Private Lives, as it deals with specific spies? Not sure]. It’s a relatively slim volume, containing only 5 stories, and an author’s note at the beginning does a lot of my work for me: “These stories are part fiction and part non-fiction. In Nuns and Spies, one of the common myths of World War II — that German spies were dropped into England dressed as nuns — is explored. … Donald and Yevgeni is based on the life of several historical characters, including Archie Clark Kerr, a British ambassador, and Donald Maclean, a British spy [Kerr was given an unlikely valet at the end of his posting to Moscow by Stalin, a dwarf named Yevgeni Yost, who dressed as a Cossack].” From the order of presentation, the author has omitted Syphax and Omar (Algiers, 1924), an amusing story about two spies who brought the activity of avoiding work, while openly following each other through the streets of Algiers for many years, to an art form. Ferry Timetable describes how first one, and then another Russian spy [who was sent to locate the first] went AWOL in Scotland in 1984; in both cases, because they were not fully committed to their line of work, and were tempted by the freedom of Scotland. Finally, Filioque, the most recent of the stories, set in 2022, uses the abstruse subject of a hotly contested point of Christian doctrine to bring to light, to a minimal extent, the activities of the Vatican Secret Service. Apparently, “There is an immense literature on the filioque controversy.”; I’d never heard of it, but given my lack of religious affiliation, that’s hardly surprising. This is a very easy read, but there is enough credible truth in these stories to engage both fiction and non-fiction aficionados. The paperback I read was published in 2024 [2023], by Abacus, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, London, ISBN 978-1-4087-1837-7.

The Family Experiment, by John Marrs

It’s some years since I watched an episode of Black Mirror, since it transferred to a streaming platform which I am not able to receive, but it’s a reference which many people will understand, and this book is readily compared to the former presentation of potentially frightening developments in technology & society. What makes this book a contender for such a ready comparison is that it is frighteningly plausible, if not actually currently feasible, although advances in the AI technology which is at the heart of this story are no doubt being driven by the potential financial rewards, which all technology is. The story shows one of the worst aspects of current British society, which is only likely to accelerate IMHO, and that is our obsession with living vicariously the lives of ‘celebrities’ and royalty, seeing their lifestyles as something we should aspire to; plus the mob mentality of social media, which is all too ready to condemn people [rarely praise for extended periods], those considered to have transgressed their own narrow set of rules. A company called Awakening Entertainment creates a ‘reality’ TV show, the title of this book, in which selected contestants will very publicly raise an avatar MetaChild from birth to 18, in a condensed contiguous nine-month period; the prize will be the right to keep the virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby. This is set against overpopulation, a privatised NHS, and desperate parents selling their children to be sent to Europe, in an ironic reversal of the current immigrant ‘crisis’. We are allowed to review each set of contestants, which includes one male single parent, every month, as they contend with the changes wrought by their virtual child’s rapid development. As this unfolds, we are made aware that each set or individual has a past which could easily disqualify him or them, and many of them are shown to be unlikeable, or even criminal; but all this is ‘grist to the mill’, as far as the programme’s producers are concerned, because it makes for good ratings, despite there being darkness at the heart of the project. The dénouement is quite satisfying, and no loose ends are left but nevertheless, the warning in the story should be heeded: if we can bear to tear ourselves away from our screens… The paperback I read was published in 2025 by Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, London, [2024, Macmillan], ISBN 978-1-5290-7123-8.

Prose & Cons: The English Language in Just a Minute, by Gyles Brandreth

I can’t endorse this author’s political affiliations, but I do share his love & respect for the English language. The premise of this book, over & above the aforementioned attributes, is a series of meanderings & meditations in an alphabetical sequence, but each one being circumscribed by the parameters of the predominantly radio [but minimally also television] entertainment programme whose name is in the subtitle of this book. I’ve never listened to it, not because I have anything against it, but because I prefer to listen to music on a regular basis. I acknowledge the mental dexterity necessary to be proficient in this exercise, and I know I would fail miserably, were I to be required to attempt it. I did find the necessity to avoid repetition [or deviation, or hesitation] somewhat tiresome, given the requirement to employ sometimes obscure synonyms, but that is a minor gripe: Brandreth’s erudition shines through; I have made a note of some of the more unusual & sometimes amusing words for possible future use. Given the foregoing, I was surprised to find an egregious tautology more than once: to repeat again, when repeat [or say again] would be correct. I also feel that TGIF is not an acronym, as he maintains: it’s not a recognisable word, but an initialism [as confirmed by my Reader’s Digest Universal Dictionary]. He starts one monologue with “Until less than 500 years ago…”: here, I would argue that 500 [as printed] is not an amount, but a number, so “fewer than” should be used. Aside from these few reservations, this is an enjoyable romp, including a set of so-called tongue-twisters, which I might find useful as an actor; but also, I wish it could be made required reading in schools, because it might help to reverse the poor command of the language evident in much social media output, and the abominable diction displayed by many presenters & continuity announcers on radio & television: admittedly, I have reached a certain age when I compare today’s standards unfavourably with those of my youth, and I know language is always evolving, but I lament how standards are falling, and the lazy adoption of spelling & neologisms imported from a country now not known for its linguistic excellence. The paperback I read was published in 2025 [2024], by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing, London, part of the Penguin Random House Group of companies, ISBN 978-1-7859-4683-7.

Nobody Walks, by Mick Herron

I’m always ready to read a Mick Herron novel, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It is of the Slough House world, but not about it; although he is a secondary character, it is the origin story of one of the later Slough House denizens, JK Coe. I remember reading about something which had happened in his previous experience before he was demoted there, and this novel fills in the details. Tom Bettany was a field agent for MI5, but now is no longer: he is working in a meat processing plant in France, and keeping his head down. One day, he gets a voicemail message telling him his estranged 26-year-old son has died: apparently, he fell from the balcony of his London flat while he was high from smoking a new, very strong strain of cannabis. Tom is driven to investigate this, for a variety of reasons; the primary one being guilt for allowing the estrangement to happen & fester; but he can’t just accept the official story, so he goes back to England, and starts annoying people in the course of his enquiries. Liam was working for a computer games developer; not necessarily because he was super-qualified, but because he was the first to crack the secret of the company’s hugely popular, and very lucrative first game. Tom’s reappearance is also of interest to his former employer, and the “First Desk” no less, Dame Ingrid Tearney, assigns JK Coe to Bettany, to steer him in the right direction; that is: the right direction for the Security Service. Unfortunately for Bettany, he worked undercover previously, and was instrumental in securing the conviction of a pair of London gangster brothers, and when they learn of this new development, they are very keen to find Bettany and arrange some overdue payback. Bettany is clearly a conflicted character, and not the nicest of people, but compared to nearly everyone else he has dealings with, he is almost a saint, so it’s not difficult to root for him. Along the way, what he learns causes him to reassess his objective, but he never loses sight of his goal to achieve some justice for his son. A worthy entry in this canon. The paperback I read was published in 2022 by Baskerville, an imprint of John Murray (Publishers); [2016, John Murray (Publishers)]; [2015, Soho Press, Inc.], ISBN 978-1-4736-4712-1.