Synopsis/blurb.....
Winnie Monks
has never forgotten - or forgiven - the death of a young agent on her team at
the hands of a former Russian Army Major turned gangster. Now, years later, she
hears the Major is travelling to a villa on the Costa del Sol and she asks
permission to send in a surveillance unit.
They find an empty property near the Major's. The Villa Paraiso. It's perfect to spy from - and as a base for Winnie's darker, less official, plans.
But it turns out that the property isn't deserted. The owners have invited a young British couple to 'house sit' while they are away.
For Jonno and Posie, just embarking on a relationship, this is supposed to be a carefree break in the sun. But when the Secret Service team arrives in paradise, everything changes.
They find an empty property near the Major's. The Villa Paraiso. It's perfect to spy from - and as a base for Winnie's darker, less official, plans.
But it turns out that the property isn't deserted. The owners have invited a young British couple to 'house sit' while they are away.
For Jonno and Posie, just embarking on a relationship, this is supposed to be a carefree break in the sun. But when the Secret Service team arrives in paradise, everything changes.
I picked up my first Seymour book last year, which was his
debut novel, Harry’s Game – first published in 1975. Enjoyable it was too with
a four star rating on the Keane scoreboard.
The Outsiders is his 29th book and was released
last year.
This time around the story was a bit more complex with
various players in separate strands of the British intelligence services, along
with European equivalents, several Russian groups – both operating on the far
side of legality, a couple of low-life Costa criminals and an unwitting couple
of holidaymakers-cum-house sitters.
Seymour’s depiction of
the Costa del Sol and its changing landscape both physically and ethnically
with the influx of Eastern European mafia and money, and the local authorities
tolerance/indifference to it in these cash straightened times was eye-opening
and disturbing. Whilst his book is fiction, I would have to believe that the
author’s research would in fact support these illustrations as having some factual
standing. Maybe I don’t get too much European news, living as I do in my cave
in Leighton Buzzard, but I was wholly unaware of this development, or maybe it
just hadn’t registered.
Seymour also reminds us that the good guys don’t always
dress in white, blurring lines of both legality and morality in the interests
of a result. Does the end always justify
the means, or do we play by the rules?
Interesting characters, decent storyline, compelling situations
racked with tension, mainly delivered at pace and with an ending that remains
in doubt until the last (nearly).
Very enjoyable and a great way to start my new reading
month. I just need to read more of the 27 books that sit in the middle.
4 from 5
Borrowed from Leighton Buzzard library
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