Secret Service is an easy reading novel about foreign influence possibilities in an election. Hmmm, sounds familiar, but instead of the US news stories, this takes place in the UK. It kept me interested until the end, trying to figure out which of the possible people could be the potential spy or spies. Each seemed, at times, to be the one, until another bit of fact made the reader doubt it.
Mostly the story looks through the eyes of Kate, Russia desk for the government. Is the info given to her real? Is she being played? Which of the people in the know could be trusted and all, including Kate and her husband, must be investigated?
I also learned more about how the elections there vary from what I am used to here in the US. Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A solid mystery/thriller. But the life is stranger than fiction political world we are living in today makes this story feel a little rote or bland at times.

For me, the most interesting thing about Tom Bradby's novel is the close look we get at what it means to be a wife, mother, and a Secret Service agent. It gives a different perspective to the considerations she has to make. Secret Service as a novel is intriguing, yet full of the office politics common to government work.
That Russia continually tries to intervene in the politics of Western nations is highly topical.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Like so many British novels, this book ends in ambiguity. You’re never sure who Russia’s top-placed spy is despite the complete thrust of the main character’s, Kate Henderson’s, actions throughout the book to determine just that.

It’s a truism that the spy business is a dirty business and spying at MI6 is every bit as dirty as the CIA. Most spy novels have spymasters backstabbing each other in pursuit of personal goals. Their hope is to get ahead in the organization by undermining the accomplishments of rivals and they go so far as to place each other under suspicion of making grievous judgment errors; not too unlike many Washington and London politicians. Like real-life spycraft practices, the book is full of misdirection which keeps the reader guessing. The author’s decision to not answer the underlying question in the reader’s mind with certainty by the end of the book was a mistake in my opinion.

Like most spies, Kate Henderson is a spymaster whose daily struggles with the demands and sacrifices called for by her profession conflict with the need to be a mother to her two children and to be a good wife. Work seems to get in the way of domestic duties and, having a distrustful nature, she can never get comfortable trusting people in her life. As it turned out in the story, that uncertainty was justified.

Although I was a little disappointed with the ending, the book kept my interest. This is a great book for a book club as the ending will lead to a long intellectual discussion among the club members.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is an espionage novel featuring a female protagonist, Kate, who is head of the Russia desk. It is quite a cerebral read, by which I mean that you have to concentrate. The characters are well portrayed and the plot centres on unmasking which candidate for PM is working for the Russians and also who is their mole, codenamed Viper. There is thankfully little in the way of violent detail (although bad things do happen) and no boring chase scenes.

I did work out who Viper was, although I wasn't sure, and possibly I only worked it out at the point the author intended me to. The portrayal of the way Kate and her husband Stuart juggled their jobs with caring for two teenagers and an appalling mother was interesting - I'm not sure it would have worked with younger children - what did they do then?

Recommended.

Tom Bradby has written a great spy thrill with Secret Service. Utterly engrossing with a well developed plot

Kate Henderson is a senior MI6 officer who heads up the Russian desk for the British organization. We meet her at a point where she is acting on a tip that the Russians have a high level spy working at a level guaranteed that he or she will be privy to important information that could do enormous harm to Great Britain. Acting on the tip received she is trying to get a young girl to take a job on the Yacht that is indicated to be sailing with an important Russian official. If his talks are recorded it would be possible to ascertain who the spy is in the British government. She uses the ploy with the girl she wants to go on board the Yacht that she and her sister, who are attempting to enter England as immigrants would be guaranteed their residency.
Unfortunately the girl's identity is discovered and she is murdered. Kate is galvanized into raising the level of the search for the mole in the government. At one point Kate herself is thought of as possibly being the mole along with several other people also suspected of being the spy. The novel moves to covering her search and reactions of both herself and her assistants. Very well done and very engrossing. One of the features used by Mr Bradby in bringing his characters to life is the descriptions of both Kate and her assistants' private life. These become real people experiencing strains in their personal lives as well as the pressure of doing their jobs. Kate is married, has two children; a girl in the complicated age of 15 going on 25 who has encountered her first boyfriend. The boy's demeanor is not to Kate nor her husband's liking. There is also a son looking to find his direction in the world. Kate has the misfortune of having an overbearing mother that never misses the opportunity to downgrade her daughter. Her family is very important to her but so is her job and the conflicts involved are well handled by the author.
The search for the mole is the crux of the matter, and the reader is kept appraised of the investigation into capturing him along with both the family and her job's pressures. The ending is well done but would seem to rule out any further novels featuring Kate Henderson and her assistants on the MI6 Russian desk. On the other hand the treatment by the author of this book would certainly indicate future books done as well as this one.