This is a very interesting book about an American spy, Brian Regan, who was known as the Spy Who Couldn’t Spell. Regan wasn’t the typical spy.  Most people thought of him as not being very intelligent, mostly due to his dyslexia.  But he was able to amass an amazingly large bulk of highly sensitive intelligence and turned out to be a brilliant cryptologist.  Steven Carr is the dedicated FBI agent hot on his trail.

The book is written in a journalistic style and is very easy to read and understand. I found the spy hunt to be a fascinating one.  I also enjoyed the author’s reconstruction of Regan’s childhood and upbringing in an effort to create an understanding of how a spy was born.  Not quite as fascinating was the prosecution of Regan but it still kept me interested.  

This is not written as a thriller but is more a methodic, years long hunt for a spy. It’s well written and I found it quite frightening to see how easy it was for Regan to accumulate America’s secrets and how willing he was to sell those secrets to our enemies.  I felt much anger at Regan and his desire to betray his country for money and found nothing in his history to give me any sympathy for him.  Congratulations to all those who brought this ignoble spy down.

This book was given to me by the publisher through First to Read in return for an honest review.

Publication Date 29th January from Harper Collins.

Source: Publisher review copy. Thank you Hannah.

I am Kirstie

I am Lydia

I am confident and loud.

I am thoughtful and quiet.

I lived. I died.

Or did I?

Prepare to be haunted by The Ice Twins.

Five things you need to know about The Ice Twins. Teaser Review.

1) “Prepare to be haunted by The Ice Twins”  – seeing that, you may be blase. Seen it all before. Heard that more than once. But PAY ATTENTION. If this book does not appear somewhere in some subconcious form or another in my dreams tonight I shall be very surprised.

2) Storytelling genius.  Really can’t tell you anything about it though. It is obvious of course that there are twins involved and one dies and there seems to be some confusion over which one. Apart from that though, I would not give anything away. You need to read it. The pure and haunting prose and beautifully constructed plot will engage and enchant you at the same time as having you feeling vaguely afraid of something you can’t quite capture.

3) Atmosphere. One of the most atmospheric and exquisite novels I have read for some time. And I read a lot. If I had to liken it to anything, it would be The Shining. Not in story form, the two tales are poles apart. But in sense and feeling and the odd sudden reading adrenalin rush, that is the novel I would “twin” it with. Yes I really did do that.

4) Don’t put it in a genre box. I hate boxes for books. But if I must this is not only a top notch, highly readable and terribly addictive psychological thriller it also manages to be a pretty emotional and heart wrenching look at grief and survivor guilt, However it is also many other things. Clever and intuitive writing, let it be what it is.

5) You will worry for the dog. I’m not going to tell you whether or not that worry is justified because I really am that mean.

Highly Recommended. 5 beautiful shiny stars and a puppy for this one.

Pre-Order it here: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/s-+k-+tremayne/the+ice+twins/10492781/