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A review by bunnieslikediamonds
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming
3.0
There's something irresistable about the idea of spies and spying. Not that betraying your country is a commendable career path, but the whole covert sneaking thing thrills me. Especially the old school hanging around car parks exchanging manila envelopes type of sneaking. The Trinity Six is a fast-paced modern version of the spy novel with more gun fights than actual sneaking around, but it's fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.
The writing is clunky and the female characters cardboard cutouts, but the plot is solid and entertaining. The hero, Russia expert Sam Gaddis, is refreshingly incompetent and has no heroic qualities whatsoever. He's broke, he's an absent father, he's constanly lusting after the pretty young women surrounding him and has a habit of introducing himself as an "academic". As in "Hi, my name is Sam Gaddis. I'm an academic. Could I please look at your top secret files?" In his attempts to uncover the mystery of the sixth Cambridge spy he stumbles around London, Moscow and Berlin, smokes a lot, gets plenty of sex, takes out a Russian bad guy and uncovers a surprising amount of information while doing it. He may not have a future in the MI6, but I like him all the better for it.
The writing is clunky and the female characters cardboard cutouts, but the plot is solid and entertaining. The hero, Russia expert Sam Gaddis, is refreshingly incompetent and has no heroic qualities whatsoever. He's broke, he's an absent father, he's constanly lusting after the pretty young women surrounding him and has a habit of introducing himself as an "academic". As in "Hi, my name is Sam Gaddis. I'm an academic. Could I please look at your top secret files?" In his attempts to uncover the mystery of the sixth Cambridge spy he stumbles around London, Moscow and Berlin, smokes a lot, gets plenty of sex, takes out a Russian bad guy and uncovers a surprising amount of information while doing it. He may not have a future in the MI6, but I like him all the better for it.