Spies and Other Gods by James Wolff

It seems like writing an espionage novel is the thing to do if you are an ex-intelligence agent. There is a long roll call of authors out there who have successfully followed this path – Stella Rimington (UK), David McCloskey (US) and Jack Beaumont (France) – to name a few. As James Wolff notes in his acknowledgements: “it turns out there’s more than one similarity between spying and novel writing”. But he is not above a little self deprecation – there is also a point in his latest novel Spies and Other Gods where one of his characters, a wannabe spy who loves espionage books, considers that: “Anyone who chooses writing spy novels over spying itself can’t have been much good in the first place…”. Which is a great place from which to approach Wolff’s fourth novel Spies and Other Gods, a twisty tale that plays many of its cards close to its chest, told through the use of a unique narrative voice.

Spies and Other Gods opens with an intriguing setup: the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has received an anonymous complaint about a particular case run by MI6. That case is a highly classified one involving the hunt for an Iranian assassin who has been killing Iranian dissidents in Europe.  Much to the chagrin of the head of intelligence, Sir William Rentoul, a parliamentary researcher has been sent in to review the case and report back. The researcher is a woman called Aphra McQueen and while she is interviewing those involved in the case it is clear that she both knows there are things that she is not being told but that she also has her own agenda.

To say much more would spoil some of the delightful twists and turns that this narrative takes. While much of this comes from Aphra herself, some of these twists are powered by delightful side characters like Aphra’s shadow Susan, who does not like the idea of an outsider being allowed into the inner sanctum, and a dentist who is used by the agency and desperately wants to be a spy. The only slightly odd note character-wise is the arc of Sir William, six months from retirement and possibly suffering from the onset of dementia, who makes some surprising decisions which drive some fascinating situations and encounters.

Much of the enjoyment of Spies and Other Gods can be found in Wolff’s attention to the craft of spying. In particular, the way in which unintended consequences can mean that the best laid plans go sideways. There are no big thriller set pieces here, just a slow burn mystery and some interesting twists. The narrative voice of the novel and guide to all of the goings on can possibly best be described as the spirit of British intelligence. This provides a wry, slightly omniscient, deeply insightful but also slightly removed view of the characters and their actions.

Wolff sets up an engaging mystery that effortlessly manages to illuminate the shadowy world of spycraft. The trick of Spies and Other Gods is that for all the suspension of disbelief, it makes readers feel like they might be getting a glimpse into how the system ticks. So that despite any hint of self-deprecation in the narrative, Spies and Other Gods turns out to be another engaging addition to the growing canon of espionage novels written by ex-spies.

Spies and Other Gods by James Wolff

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8.0/10