3 1/2 stars for "How to Betray Your Country" by James Wolff. I think I'm a little at a disadvantage, not having read the first book in this series, which is why I'm going 3 1/2 instead of 3 stars. The first half to three-quarters of the book feels very disjointed. At times, I had difficulty figuring out who was speaking because the voices weren't very distinct and there weren't context clues to help my brain stay in the conversation. I thought the plot and twists were well done, but I didn't ever feel much for the main character.

"How to Betray Your Country" is a stylish, immersive twist to the usual spy thriller set in strange lands, for James Wolff, in his sophomore release, chronicles the tumultuous inner world of a career spy gloriously, heroically unravelling. When grief-wracked August Drummond, recently sacked, spies something going on during a flight to Istanbul, he pursues the lead and plunges back into his secret world, this time from the outside. The plot careens like a sports car through the geopolitics of terrorism in Turkey, landing him in the clutches of a Machiavellian manipulator and his ex-sp-shop-rival. The author is a flamboyant, keen stylist, the exotic settings are superbly depicted, and the pace is hectic, but the core triumph of How to Betray Your Country is its examination of a soul in crisis. For those of us steeped in spook fiction, this is an exciting departure.

I loved this book -- but it was an odd experience for me, having been unable to finish By the Syrian Sea, the first book in this author's quasi-trilogy. How to Betray Your Country, however, hooked me fairly early with August Drummond, a disgraced former spy, who --grieving, depressed and self-medicating with alcohol -- behaves as if there is nothing left to lose.

James Woolff is very good with characters of all stripes, from fatuous, clueless upper-class co-workers to desperate refugees. This isn't a spy novel so much as it's a book about how spying damages people --its practitioners and targets alike.

This story is intelligent and sensitive yet gritty and horrifying. It is saved by flashes of grim humor. Now to go back and take another stab at By the Syrian Sea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bitter Lemon Press for an advance readers copy.

August Drummond is a disgraced spy, although the nature of his transgressions is it more opaque than obvious But although separated from his service, be can't ignore what to him, a passenger on a flight to Turkey, had all the hallmarks of an espionage operation His curiosity overrides his common sense, and by involving himself in the situation that develops as soon as the aircraft touches the tarmac, he finds that his bunch was right.. And it may cost him what's left of his reputation, if not his life

I struggled a bit with the author's first book of this unrelated trilogy but this was good. After a slowburn simmering start it bursts into life and is well written, thoughtful and intelligent.

It deals with moral dilemmas and how one deals with them but there s enough derring do to keep everyone happy too. Good characterisation to makes this a read to remember - and I might have another go at his first offering now.