Like most electrical products, especially computers, there’s the old adage that they are obsolete, the day they leave the factory. Such is the pace of innovation and technological development. The same can be said of literature, especially for the authors of political thrillers. When they dream up a plotline for a story, and finally get their book published, unless you write about dead cert, such as East versus West, your fairly confident that in nine months to a year after you started the journey, the two will still be old foes. The same can be said of the Middle East. But when this month’s author wrote her current book, little did she probably realise that the main subjects. Would be headline news, thus making a creative plotline, more believable, while also following the old line, that life imitates art. The book is Honour Among Spies, by Merle Nygate and published by Bedford Square Publishers (www.bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk) in April.

Eli Amiram is the Mossad Head of Station at the Israeli Embassy, in London. A man with a checkered history and the scars to prove it, he walks a fine line grappling with the political turbulence at home and trying to keep his job. His daily routine is currently occupied by a spate of stabbings of Israeli tourists across England, as well internal politics at the embassy surrounding the appointment of his new deputy. Mean on the international stage, desperate to tip the scales in the espionage game, he concocts a a plan to deliver tampered drones into the hands of the Russians. But in doing so, he has to exploit his wife Gal’s job as psychologist. helping Ukrainian refugees. The result is a clash between his moral compass and the mission. As the stakes escalate, Eli finds himself and his team racing to foil a terrorist plot that will unleash chaos on the world stage.

As I said at the start, seven months ago, this book would have been a run of the mill spy thriller, trotting out the same old material harvested from a well-worn path. But now, its politically red hot, with antisemitism on the rise in the UK, and across the world, following the events of 27^th October.  If you loved the 2023 BBC drama The Diplomat starring Sophie Rundle, set in Barcelona or the Netflix version starring Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, set the US Embassy, in London. Then you’ll love Honour Among Spies, because the story is heavily littered with Eli’s day to day mundane staff meetings, which helps to keep it grounded and real, away from the realms of Mission Impossible and the Bourne Series.

As well as that its nice to see the view from another foreign perspective, instead of the usual US, UK and Russian slants. Mossad are a big player in the espionage world, and up there with the KGB, CIA. While having the reputation of one of the leading spy organisations on the planet.

This is English Author. Screenwriter, script editor, and screenwriting lecturer, Merle Nygate’s ( www.merlenygate.com ) sixth book and second spy thriller in the Eli Amiram series, the previous one was The Righteous Spy (2018), her previous books, all psychological thrillers in the Darkbridge series were  Mother care (2015), Be My Friend (2014), Short season (2014), Snap (2014).

I liked the book, but not having read the first one, I was starting from behind the metaphorical eight ball at times, with the back story. But overall, it’s a good solid read, which is made even more interesting with the current political climate.  So, pop into your local book shop or order a copy online, and join another of large field of fictional spies, juggling, saving the world with domestic issues too.

Reviewed by Adrian Murphy

This book review is part of Random Things Blog Tour. To see what the other reviewers thought, visit their sites listed below. Then, if you get a copy, comeback and tell us what you thought. We’d really appreciate the feedback.