A Foreign Country

Starred review from June 4, 2012
Bestseller Cumming follows 2011’s The Trinity Six with another superb stand-alone, which opens in 1978 Tunisia, where Amelia Weldon, a 20-year-old British au pair, is having an affair with her expatriate French employer. Fast forward to the present, to the brutal, apparently random murder of a retired French couple on an Egyptian beach; the abduction of a target referred to as HOLST on the streets of Paris; and the disappearance of the much older Weldon on the eve of her becoming chief of the U.K.’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. The agency taps Thomas Kell, a former MI6 operative “turfed out in disgrace,” to find out what’s become of her. Starting out in Nice, Kell trails Weldon to Tunisia, where she turns up with a much younger man in tow. Cumming is particularly skilled at sketching his characters, most notably Kell (a classically reluctant spy) and Weldon, who’s haunted by personal demons central to the elaborate puzzle of a story. The elegant prose will appeal to those who don’t usually read spy fiction. 100,000 first printing. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit.

October 29, 2012
In this audio edition of Cumming’s thriller, narrator Jot Davies’s crisp, stiff-upper-lip performance perfectly captures Thomas Kell, a former British agent who was unceremoniously dismissed from MI6 after two decades of service for his involvement in a torture scandal. But to his surprise, Kell’s given a shot at reinstatement. All he has to do is find a missing person, the agency’s first female chief, Amelia Levene, who went missing in France prior to her official appointment. Davis’s characterizations are subtle but effective: a slightly softer delivery for females, an understated accent for French characters. His rendition of Amanda captures the character’s sophisticated haughtiness, as well as her self-doubt, while his Kell remains unflappably British in his quest for answers and redemption. A St. Martin’s hardcover.

Even if you've never listened to Cumming's other novels, you'll settle into this beguiling spy story quickly. Often compared to the master of cerebral espionage fiction, John le Carre, Cumming plays to the listener who prefers a subtle and thoughtful approach. Jot Davies's narration ushers you in; his voice is a steady presence through the disparate events from the beginning to the satisfying conclusion. He shifts between the numerous characters easily, although one character's accent gets lost occasionally. Davies's pacing fits the narrative, quickening as tension increases, mechanical as an extraction team pursues its deadly work, wistful or angry as the protagonist's situation demands. You'll find yourself wishing this story would continue just a while longer. M.L.R. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine