A follow on from Tom Bradby's Secret Service Novel.
Kate Henderson, a senior MI6 officer is in the middle of a complex plot with the Russians to discredit the Prime Minister. In order to obtain the proof needed ,Kate has to meet her long time friend Sergei to judge the veracity of the proof.
A tangled web of political intrigue ensues, which has Le Carre dark twists.
A great Spy novel which has the reader guessing the outcome with suspicions of double crossing at every page.

Great read ,some more please.

Follow up to Secret Service by Tom Bradby. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in return for review. Following on from Secret Service this book develops the characters further and provides more details on their background and story. Sometimes I find "spy" novels at little difficult to follow but no such issues with this one. Loved it and feel certain their will be more to come.

Kate Henderson’s husband, exiled to Russia following his exposure as a Russian spy, misses his family. Kate somewhat reluctantly arranges a trip to Venice so that their children, Fiona and Gus, can meet him and spend a while with him. Is this a big mistake? Whilst killing time waiting for the children to return she ends up being kidnapped at gunpoint. Her kidnapper turns out to be Mikhail Borodin who offers her proof that our Prime Minister is in fact secretly passing secrets to Russia and also has a lurid past. In exchange for this information he requests safe passage and asylum in England for him, his wife, child and father.

Kate struggles to get the Uk government to accept that the information she has is correct but agreement is eventually reached and she returns to Russia to escort them back. However, has this put her own family in great danger? ..........

A great read. It does follow on from Secret Service and although there are reminders, I wouldn't recommend this as a stand alone. The story flows well and easy to follow except you don't know who is telling the truth. Don't expect a neat tidy ending, but life is never like that anyway. Is there going to be another one in the series? Please.

This is a swift paced book full of intrigue as MI6 officer Kate battles with the challenges of espionage and the frustrations of family life. I enjoyed Secret Agent, Bradby's earlier novel, and although Double Agent follows on it can be read independently as it frequently links seamlessly back to earlier incidences. At times it is difficult to believe that with Kate's fragile mental state she is still able to function in such a dangerous environment which threatens her life and that of her family. Overall an excellent and very readable novel which I found hard to put down.

Tom Bradby nails it again! This sequel to his earlier Secret Service is another superb espionage novel with characters we know so well - Kate Henderson, C otherwise known as Sir Alan Brabazon, Ian, Julie, Kate's husband Stuart, revealed as a traitor and now in Moscow and Kate's children Fiona and Gus. Bradby's character development is comprehensive, which makes it easy to recall who all the individuals in the plot are. And what a plot!

A seemingly innocent weekend in Venice becomes threatening when Senior MI6 officer Kate Henderson is kidnapped by a Russian defector. He offers indisputable evidence by way of a video and a money trail that our incumbent Prime Minister is a live agent working for Moscow. In exchange for handing over this evidence Mikhail Borodin wants safe passage to the UK, residency and unlimited freedom for himself and his father Igor. Kate is now on her next mission... The evidence appears to be bulletproof. In seeking further confirmation Kate travels clandestinely to Russia to meet a former friend, Sergei, who has links to Russian Intelligence. Reach chapter 20 and Bradby delivers a punch to the solar plexus that knocks you sideways!

Kate has seriously put herself in harm's way and can trust no-one including key people at the heart of the British Establishment.

I won't say more about this dazzling plot save that the last half-hour or so is as tense and nerve shredding as anything I have read.

Tom Bradby has my unequivocal respect. He is an extraordinarily talented writer, certainly as good as John Le Carré in my opinion. Bravo!

Even better than Secret Service! A real page turner which kept me guessing right up to the end. It was great to meet up with Kate again - such a three dimensional character who engages the sympathy and admiration of the reader. This book has pace and intrigue. Bradby has kept the momentum of Secret Service and the ramifications its events had on the main characters. I will definitely read other books by this author and would definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy a great read.
A real gem!

Double Agent is another readable spy thriller from Tom Bradby. It follows on directly from Secret Service and I would strongly recommend that you read Secret Service first.

Kate and the rest of the small MI6 circle concerned are trying to recover after the events of last time. The question of whether there is still a high-level traitor remains, and Kate is now offered evidence by Mikhail. There again begins an operation to determine the veracity of this and we get more office and political manoeuvring, Kate putting herself in danger again and so on. It’s all pretty well done and Tom Bradby knows a lot about what he is writing about here – perhaps to the point of overdoing the detail at times.

Alongside this is Kate’s struggle with insomnia and anxiety. Again, Bradby knows a lot about this, writes pretty well about it and it is a very important subject, but for me I didn’t fit comfortably with the style of spy thriller in the rest of the book. I found the two aspects distracted from each other rather than enhanced the book and I struggled a bit as a result.

I don’t want to be too critical; Double Agent is perfectly readable, it has good things about it and I’m sure there will be a third novel in the series which I shall probably read. I hope it is a little more tightly focussed, though, and branches out from the slightly samey structure of the first two.

(My thanks to Random House for an ARC via NetGalley.)

This is the follow up to Secret Service which I loved, however I say follow up as it really is a part 2, IMO, and so you need to have read Secret Service for a lot of it to gel and make sense
In many ways this was like a ‘tying up loose ends’ from the previous book and was good to be back with Senior MI6’s Kate and the gang as they once again tried to unravel fact from fiction as to whether the PM was indeed a Russian spy!
The book is character rich and some
in quite similar roles and so took me a few chapters to put them all in their rightful places and let the games commence, and once they did it was every bit as exciting and tense as I remembered book 1 being and once again I loved being back in Whitehall, Cobra Meetings and The MI6 building, have to say there was more ‘personal lives’ in this book but that was a bonus not a nuisance
Part of the book is based in Georgia and loved the descriptions of the Country and Capital City, Tbilisi, the people, food and housing as well as the history which was interestingly given and made me want to visit it
A great 2nd book by a keen on detail author and I hope there is a 3rd book although there was a definite end to this part of the story!
9/10
5 Stars

We meet Kate Henderson again after her husband Stuarts defection to Russia, her friend Rav's death and the knowledge that her children Gus and Fiona are in therapy. As they meet Stuart in Venice for the first time since his defection, old enemies resurface and cast doubt on all that Kate believed to be true.

This book sets the scene, accelerates the pace and keeps the reader wanting more. Again, not my usual go to genre, but I absolutely loved the characters, the plot and the intrigue.

easy to follow the characters and their roles in the story. Highly recommended.

‘Kate could not decide whether the woman before her had a keen sense of humour, a deep-seated social autism or both.’

‘Double Agent’ picks up where ‘Secret Service’ left off. Senior MI6 Officer Kate Henderson’s husband, Stuart, identified as a Russian spy, is now living in Moscow. Kate and their children manage to meet him in Venice for a brief family visit. Kate’s children are struggling with the separation: her son Gus is surly; daughter Fiona is barely eating. They would like Kate and Stuart to reunite. Kate herself is vulnerable and struggling.

The children are with Stuart and Kate is on her way to join them when she is kidnapped by a Russian agent. The agent offers evidence that the British Prime Minister is a live agent working for Moscow. There is both a scandal and a financial paper trail, but the agent wants a deal. There is a change about to occur in the Kremlin, and the agent and his family want to defect. The stakes are high: can Kate find the truth?

Kate takes the information back to London. Both the politicians and other more senior people in MI6 are hesitant to act. Can Kate authenticate the information? In the meantime, time is passing, and the Russian agent may well offer the information he has to other governments if the British hesitate.

The tension rises. Kate is running on near-empty: not enough sleep, needing to try to second-guess her own decisions as well as those around her. The stakes, already high, become higher just when success seems close.

And the ending? Well, it’s not a neat conclusion and it has me wondering what might happen next. Highly recommended, but best read after ‘Secret Service’.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Political intrigue a plenty in this follow on novel. The PM is believed to be in the control of the Russians and everyone in the secret services seems to have an insight into who is leaking information and who you can trust., Good thriller that motors along with some twists and turns along the way.

Double Agent is a sequel to Secret Service which I enjoyed. Kate the protagonist in Secret Service is now on her own with her two children her husband having been outed as a Russian Spy in the first book. She is living with the repercussions of that which are many: she can't sleep, her teenage son is difficult and sulky, her daughter a near anorexic. Plus there is the continuing concern that the Prime Minister could be in the pay of the Russians. When some evidence comes her way that could prove that she follows the lead putting her own life and that of her family's in danger.

I thought this was an OK read. I wasn't as engrossed in it as I had been with Secret Service perhaps because there was a lot of time invested in Kate's state of mind. This could be repetitive at times with endless rumination on insomnia which to be fair were pretty accurate descriptions of the state but not interesting to read about. I did like the descriptions of Georgia which made me want to go there (fat chance in these plague days!) but I was unhappy with the ending which just sort of petered out. Would I read another in the series? On balance, yes, as I do want to find out whether the PM is a Russian spy (winking eye) and Kate is on the whole a sympathetic character. But this episode didn't quite hit the mark. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. 3.5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, for the ARC.

This is the second book featuring MI6 officer Kate Henderson, a sequel to Secret Service, both of which I have thoroughly enjoyed. It's well-written, fast-paced and intriguingly absorbing through its twisty plot.

Kate's pushy and career-driven boss, Ian, has foisted an ex-MI5 officer, Suzy Spencer on her as her new deputy. She has suspicions about this and doesn't trust her, especially when she insists on re-opening the sealed file on a previous operation. That operation pointed to the British Prime Minister being a soviet spy - but couldn't prove it.

Meeting her estranged husband Stuart in Venice, accompanied by her colleague and friend Julie, in order for Stuart to see their two children Gus and Fiona, Kate is accosted at gunpoint by the son of Russia's former intelligence chief who, with his family, offer to defect - bringing with them a wealth of intelligence, including proof the PM is a traitor.

Only a very small circle of people are involved but somehow someone is always one step ahead of them - who can she trust?

This is a good read.

This follows on from Tom Bradbys' previous book 'Secret Service' with MI6 officer Kate Henderson still attempting to find out whether the now newly appointed British \prime \minister is a Russian Agent!
The action fairly zips along after she receives an offer to defect from a former head of the Russian SVR who is offering incontrovertible proof of the prime Ministers treachery.
But a trip to Berlin to meet with the potential defectors son ends with Kate cornered by Russian heavies and only the intervention of her back up team saves her but it appears that the Russians know every move she is making,is there another mole in SIS ?
Desperate to find out who the mole is and if the defector is to be trusted Kate goes on an unauthorised trip to Russia only to to find more confusion death and help from her ex husband who was unmasked as an agent of Influence for the Russians at the end of Secret Service,Kate hasn't really recovered from the treachery of her husband who had an affair with his boss,a friend of Kates which was then used to blackmail him into working for the Russians.
Shes not sleeping, hanging on by a thread as her world feels as if its crumbling around her, Then throw into the mix deceitful colleagues with their own agendas or ambitions,cowardly and two faced politicians more worried about their careers than the security of the country.
This is a terrific read and moves along at great pace and is probably more exciting than Secret Service which was an excellent book .The plot is ingenious and the dilemas' faced intriguing,And who can Kate trust her new assistant ? her boss who's . eyes are on the top job 'C' s seat. The spineless politicians not to mention the Russians.
A great read I raced through it and can't wait for the next instalment.

Fast-paced sequel to Secret Service. Full of twists and turns.
Did not enjoy it quite as much as Secret Service, but still a good read.

I was offered Secret Service and Double Agent by the publishers recently and have read them both in the past couple of weeks. This one is much better than Secret Service and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Easy to follow what is going on, unlike some spy/espionage books. Kate is a great character and the supporting cast are all well drawn and beleivable too. I look forward to more books in this series.

A potentially immoral and bent PM (who would have thought such a thing possible!) with Russian paymasters unleashes a plot involving defection, distraction, dilemma’s and of course danger for our central character Kate Henderson, MI6 officer and mother of two with a husband branded a spy and exiled in Moscow. All this leads to a good story with plenty of drama though the interaction between some of Kate’s colleagues would make many an old school tie twitch. But then this is the same old school tie that would do anything to avoid a scandal.

A new author to me and one to follow I think as I found this book to be in the ‘unputdownable’
category. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

A follow up book to Secret Agent, released this time last year, this book picks up the story of senior MI6 Officer Kate Henderson.

Her husband, who has been identified as a Russian Agent is now living in Moscow, but Kate has managed to take their children to meet him on a trip to Venice. During the trip Kate is kidnapped by a Russian agent who offers her unassailable proof that the U.K. Prime Minister is working for the Russians and that a change of power in the Kremlin is taking place.

To give credence to this he also tells her about a ending revolution in Estonia, which is attempted the next day.

Back in the U.K. Kate takes the information to her boss. He’s keen to exploit the information and give in to the demands of the Russian agent who, in turn wants to defect with his family to England.but others in MI6 aren’t so sure, and neither are the politicians.

The story continues with Kate trying to authenticate the truth about the Kremlin and the evidence on the PM.

At one point in the book Kate’s son jokingly asks her if she’s a female James Bond. She is but the story is so much more than the usual all action espionage thriller. It looks at the effect the job has on Kate, her physical and mental health, and her family. The tension, the lack of sleep, the constant second guessing, not just her own decisions but those of the people around her, takes it out of her.

The story also looks at the complex political and personal relationships formed, and in places abused, in the hallow halls of parliament, and the insular offices of the “MI…” departments of the security services.

I enjoyed nearly all of this book but, and it’s a big but, with only a few pages left I was thinking how is this going to finish. I was reading on a kindle and even checked if I had fully downloaded the book.

The answer was it didn’t.

It did, the story finishes, as in there is an end to the book, but there’s no conclusion. It just feels like the end of another chapter. If it was meant to be a cliffhanger it didn’t work. Even if there is another book in the series I would have liked a less ambiguous ending to this one.

Tom Bradby’s Secret Service was one of my favourite espionage novels of 2019. A credible, twisty spy thriller, it was powered along by a clever plot and a strong cast of characters.

Double Agent is the follow up to Secret Service and once more features embattled MI6 agent Kate Henderson as she tries to determine the truth behind claims that the new British Prime Minister is really working for the Russians. Shaken by the personal betrayals and tragedies detailed in Secret Service, Kate is not in a good place at the beginning of the new novel and things only become worse for her when a high ranking Russian intelligence figure offers proof of the Prime Minister’s true allegiance in exchange for political asylum and protection. Thrust into a web of lies and danger, with her physical and mental health rapidly declining, Kate must play a very dangerous game to determine where the truth lies.

It is difficult to go into more detail about the plot of Double Agent, without ruining the many surprises in Secret Service for those who have not read it. Suffice to say that it follows up on the various revelations in the earlier book in a credible way and sets the reader down an exciting new path.

Double Agent is a more pacier spy novel than its predecessor, and there are some well-written and suspenseful set-pieces on the way to the taut climax. Kate’s deterioration adds a good deal of tension to the story and the ending has a nice touch of cynicism to it. As with Secret Service, Bradby excels in his portrayal of the interplay of personal and professional relationships in the secret service, reminding me of Len Deighton’s Bernard Samson novels. The briefing of Ministers and advisers rings true and the political ramifications of the plot are nicely handled.

The contemporary geopolitical detail is also convincing and the descriptions of the various locales from Venice to London to Moscow and Tbilisi are spot-on and quite evocative and add a further layer of credibility to the story. There is also a good cast of convincing secondary characters.

In all, Double Agent is a very good spy novel and I look forward to seeing whether he continues with Kate’s story in his next book or if he heads in a new direction.