The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey

Former CIA analyst David McCloskey burst onto the espionage fiction scene with his blistering debut Damascus Station, set in Syria in 2011 and following the exploits of analyst Sam Joseph. He followed this up with the even better Moscow X, a more contemporary novel which followed the team run by Sam’s former Chief of Station, Artemis Proctor. Joseph and Proctor are back in McCloskey’s third, and no less tense, outing, The Seventh Floor.

The Seventh Floor opens with a blown operation in Singapore. Sam Joseph has gone there to meet up with a Soviet informant. The informant gives Sam some very high level information but before they can meet again Sam is kidnapped by Russian agents and spirited away to Moscow where he is systematically tortured for that information. Meanwhile, back in America, Artemis Proctor finds herself on the outer as the CIA is taken over by a new head and Deputy Director Operations, with whom she has a checkered history. As a result, no one listens when she realises that Sam’s capture was possibly as a result of a mole in the organisation and Proctor is soon drummed out. When Sam finally returns, he confirms to Proctor that there is a traitor in the ranks, and it is likely one of four people, three of whom are her oldest friends. Proctor and Jospeh begin an off books operation to find out who the traitor is.

McCloskey is open about the fact that The Seventh Floor owes some of its DNA and styling to John Le Carre’s classic tale of espionage Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and even drops a couple of Easter eggs to that end. But The Seventh Floor is not that book, and while the jumping off point may be similar, this is its own, modern, tense creature. As with the other books in this series, McCloskey keeps the tension higher by giving readers a glimpse into the opposing forces and setting up the roadblocks that his main characters are going to face. In this case that includes following a pair of deep cover Russian sleeper agents tasked with murder.

Pairing Artemis Proctor and Sam Joseph again is a treat for fans of this series. Proctor is a wildcard – hard drinking, hard living – but with a strong sense of duty and justice. Joseph is more down the line but has shown his grit a number of times now in torture situations and can stray from the rules when necessary. They are a formidable pair but also have a sweet ongoing mentor/mentee relationship.

The Seventh Floor is another great entry in this espionage series by an author who improves in his craft with every outing. Tense from start to finish but McCloskey also slows down to consider the lifelong connections that his characters have and the history that they bring with them, creating some real poignancy at times. A number of storylines wrap up in this book, making it feel like the natural end of a trilogy. But there is plenty of scope for McCloskey to return to this world. Whether he does or turns to something new, there are likely to be plenty of readers eagerly awaiting what comes next.

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey

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9.0/10