BOX 88: From the Top 10 Sunday Times best selling author comes a new spy action crime thriller: Book 1

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The highlight for me was the human story of Kite, to all intents and purposes still a naive schoolboy, drawn into the dark, intense, pressurising, dangerous and fraught world of global espionage. I have never read an espionage book before but if they are as good as this one I will certainly read more of them. For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password. As Lockie tries to save his life and that of his wife and unborn child who are also in danger, he reveals information about a Summer long ago when, as an 18 year old 6th form student, he was recruited by a top secret spy ring to find information about the Lockerbie bombing and those responsible. There’s plenty of cloak-and-dagger action here, and the requisite number of twists and turns, but it’s the characterisation that makes this exploration of friendships, familial relations and betrayal a stand-out read.

I enjoyed this well paced thriller and would certainly like to read more about Lachlan Kite and his organisation: a clue on the last page of the novel led me to believe there is indeed another book on the way.Kite’s story is told from two perspectives: that of the older, experienced operative, decades into his career as a spy; and that of Kite as an 18 year old, on his first mission. How the personal elides with the professional is an aspect of espionage largely forgotten in the zeitgeist of the modern spy thriller - not in Cumming’s books.

I started reading on Friday evening and had finished by Saturday lunchtime (with some time for sleeping! The story takes you from the Lockerbie bombing to the South of France, the story flows effectively and really draws you in from start to finish. All the characters are very real and I really cared for Lachlan and his team, that they would reach him in time. The second book in Charles Cumming’s gripping new thriller series surrounding BOX 88 – a covert intelligence organization that operates below the radar.I do believe though that the Trip name was hijacked a few years later by a plastic userper which may have had a motor. I've enjoyed his latest, "Box 88", which for me has a slightly different vibe from the previous books, but is certainly no less enjoyable. We track events from his days as a bright student at a posh public school to a daring escapade accompanying the family of his close friend to their villa in the South of France, as he awaits his A Level exam results. Lachlan Kite works for a deeply secret intelligence agency that MI6 is dying to investigate so they set a tail on him.

We meet Lockie, now in his forties at the funeral of friend Xavier Bonnard from his school days at Alford - think Eton. But Kite’s mission soon goes wrong and he is left stranded in a hostile city with a former KGB officer on his trail. It is here that Lockie aged 18 is recruited by his ‘beak’ (public school speak for teacher) to spy on high ranking Iranian Ali Eskandaria, a friend of Xavier’s family, whilst they are on holiday at a Bonnard villa in France.

It is here that Kite meets the charismatic Iranian politician, Ali Eskandarian, while on holidays with Xavier and his family in their luxury villa. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Charles Cumming, Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and give my unbiased opinion of this book. It grabs the reader's attention from the first page and tells a fascinating story a secret intelligence unit, Box 88 and how Lachlan Kite, an impressionable public schoolboy was recruited 30 years ago to help find the perpetrators of the Lockerbie disaster. Cumming skillfully weaves Lockie's present day dilemmas with the past, his personal history and what happened that fateful summer in the South of France.