This is a well-plotted espionage thriller set in the not too distant past, tracking down a ‘genocidaire’ from Rwanda by an older and wiser spy.

To start the story we go back to 1994 with Lachlan Kite working in Rwanda as a dropping off point. Kite has carried money out there to fund the ‘snatch’ but of course, things go wrong and instead of catching Bagaza, he is killed and his girlfriend, Grace Mavinga escapes, travelling over the border and becoming someone else.

Years later, she reappears alongside Duval, a french spy gone rogue, and together they money launder. Box 88, the spy group that Kite works for, hears of her reappearance and sets up a plan to catch her, which they do. It sounds so simple but of course it is anything but.

The story is intricately woven with politics and personal views about America and the UK which does the job of setting the context historically and provides the space for people such as Mavinga and Duval to operate.

Successive British governments have actively encouraged anyone with a large enough cheque book to get it out in London and start spending. Dirty money washes through the construction sector, the hospitality industry, car dealerships, football clubs, you name it. Without it, the British economy would probably go into freefall.

p244

Ouch!

The dual timeline of ‘then and now’ allows Cummings to show how things have changed, characters included, but also spy tools and methodology. Kite in the present day is 50 years old and spends time with his wife and daughter. Not something he did in 1995, when as a young spy he was involved in the failed plot but this is a device that shows us how failure early on in a career can be stored away and rectified later on.

The book didn’t have me sitting on the edge of my seat, chewing my fingers but it does have a page-turning quality where the ‘chase’ takes place over decades and where patience pays off.