At risk

"At risk" is the title of the first novel written by Dame Stella Rimington, who received her damehood for running MI5. Not surprisingly, the book (and the following series) is about a female agent in MI5 - virgin territory for me (in terms of fiction, that is). Whilst Rimington is no literary stylist, her prose is far better than I had been led to believe, and reading the novel was an enjoyable experience.

As usual, the first few chapters provide background about several characters who appear later in the book; the story as such gets going at around the seventh or eighth chapter (the chapters themselves are very short). There are a few early chapters which could easily have been cut without causing damage to the story; they don't provide much background information and serve only to distract the reader.

Once the story gets going, it is an exciting read which is more similar to a police procedural than a spy novel. The story is a manhunt after two terrorists, in which protagonist Liz Carlyle provides most of the directions for the hunt. I doubt that in real life MI5 officers become so involved in such matters, and indeed, at a late stage in the story Carlyle feels that her part of the job - the cerebral analysis - is over, even though she eventually produces the final piece in the puzzle, the terrorists' target.

Carlyle does become some kind of 'wonder woman', divining intents correctly with too little input. Nowhere is this more apparent that the final chapter: in the previous scene, Carlyle suffered shell shock when the terrorists are apprehended and is hospitalised. She wakes up the next day with everything very fuzzy, but manages to make a conclusion on very slim evidence. I can't see how she had the time or the mental energy  to achieve this, and as a result the book finishes on an unbelievable note.

I enjoyed the book sufficiently to order the next installment. I hope that this is more about her life in the office as an agent-runner/analyst and less about running around in the field.