I would like to thank Netgalley and Atlantic Books for an advance copy of Treason's Spring, the fourth novel from the Archives of the Comptrollerate-General for Scrutiny and Survey.

In 1792 Edinburgh merchant Keith Kinnaird arrives in Paris as the behest of his friend and sometime trading partner, Henry Greene, only to find that Greene has disappeared and no one seems to know where he is. As Kinnaird starts to search for him he soon finds himself in trouble as the revolution is in full swing, nobody can be trusted and a stranger asking questions about a man the authorities have a suspicion of cannot stay unnoticed for long.

There is much to admire in Treason's Spring but I found it a struggle to get through as it isn't my kind of fiction - it's too literary and meandering and I'm more of an obvious, short, sharp points kind of reader.

This is a densely plotted spy novel with double cross upon double cross where no character's intentions are clear apart from Kinnaird and even then he seems too gullible to be true. It takes concentration to keep up with all the webs and tentacles so I applaud Mr Wilton's skill in plotting as he doesn't put a foot wrong and I love the ending which is so smart and ironic.

The characters are well drawn. It is interesting to watch Kinneard grow and change as the novel progresses. He possesses an unusual strength of character from the start but it morphs into steely determination by the end of the novel. The other strong character in the novel is the real life Joseph Fouché, a one man secret police, being a spy catcher and holder of many secrets. He also grows in the novel from an uncertain young man to an unscrupulous politician, determined to hold on to his power at any cost. The battle of wits between these two men is the driving force in the novel.

With an intricate plot requiring thought and concentration from the reader and strong characterisation I should have loved this book but I found the execution and much of the minutiae hard going. Firstly I should say that this is a long novel and as it has multiple points of view it is not a straightforward linear narrative. Mr Wilton covers all the bases with paragraph's from every character's point of view, excerpts from contemporaneous diaries which may or may not be real, I haven't checked, archival reports and letters to and from unnamed correspondents. There is no doubt that it gives the reader a wider understanding of events but it makes for a choppy read and puts a distance into the narrative where it is difficult to get absorbed and really root for Kinnaird. I do, however applaud Mr Wilton's research into the period and his ability to pass on the unease and fear of many citizens.

Treason's Spring is not a novel that appealed to me but it has many good points and will appeal to readers who want more that a straightforward thriller.