Stella Rimington should know espionage with her almost 30 years of experience at MI5, including her stint as Director General, she can claim an understanding of theory and praxis. And while she’s not alone in turning her years of experience to fiction, she does succeed where many fail in avoiding complete wish fulfillment (James Bond anyone?) and telling a mostly good set of stories with her Liz Carlyle stories. I’ve recently read the first four novels: At Risk (2004), Secret Asset (2006), Illegal Action (2007), Dead Line (2008).
These books are unpretentious but authentic novels that are largely successful as spy thrillers. Unfortunately, for all the authenticity Rimington's limitations as a writer are pretty obvious. While her characters are well thought through, she has no ear for dialogue in casual conversations. Her endings are fairly anti-climatic, with the villain being apprehended almost as an after-thought. It is obvious that Rimington is more interested in the process of investigation than the hands-on business of saving the day. Which I actually find a positive; I just wish she didn’t rely on so many coincidences to get the investigation moving and that she was better able to depict the intuition and analysis that are supposedly the trademark of her main character.
These books are light and fun and a good antidote to the super-machismo that dominates so much of the spy thriller genre. While not a master of the literary form I would definitely recommend Rimington, I even got my wife to read one.
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