Dead Line - Hardcover

Rimington, Stella

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307272540 ISBN 13: 9780307272546

Publisher: Knopf, 2010

Synopsis

Here is the fourth installment in Stella Rimington’s series of thrilling novels that have at their center MI5 officer Liz Carlyle.

As plans get under way for a Middle East peace conference at the Gleneagles resort in Scotland, alarming information comes to MI5 from a high-ranking Syrian source: two individuals are mounting an operation to violently disrupt the conference and lay the blame on Syria. No one knows who they are, exactly what they’re planning or if they’re working independently or being controlled by an unseen foreign hand. But given the stature of the conference attendees—heads of state from the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iran—no chances can be taken.

Initially, the leads look promising, but as the conference deadline draws closer and the clues lead Liz to one seeming dead end after another, she begins to understand that the threat is far greater than she or anyone else has imagined. Her most reliable tool has always been her searingly keen intuition—about what makes people tick, what makes them explode, what makes them defy the most basic constructs of society—but will it be enough to avert a disaster that may forever erase the possibility of peace in the Middle East?

Once again, Stella Rimington brings her experience as the first woman Director General of MI5 to bear in a powerfully suspenseful, intellectually and psychologically riveting tale about how the war on terrorism can suddenly—and continually—reshape our world.

About this title

About the Author

Stella Rimington joined Britain’s Security Service (MI5) in 1969. During her nearly thirty-year career she worked in all the main fields of the Service’s responsibilities—counter subversion, counter espionage and counter terrorism—and successively became Director of all three branches. Appointed Director General of MI5 in 1992, she was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. Following her retirement from MI5 in 1996, she became a nonexecutive director of Marks & Spencer and published her autobiography, Open Secret, in the United Kingdom. She is also the author of three previous novels: At Risk, Secret Asset and Illegal Action. Rimington lives in London.

Reviews

In Rimington's fine fourth spy thriller to feature MI5 officer Liz Carlyle (after Illegal Asset), the 35-year-old counterespionage agent takes the lead in unraveling disturbing intelligence received from MI6 regarding a plot to disrupt an upcoming Middle East peace conference in Scotland. According to a Syrian source, a Lebanese businessman living in London and a freelance journalist are suspected of planning to lay the blame for the projected attack on Syria. With the high-profile conference quickly approaching, every clue raises more questions for Liz, who begins to wonder if the intelligence wasn't all just disinformation. Liz's intuition proves correct when she uncovers an ingenious conspiracy that, if successful, could throw the entire Middle East into chaos. Rimington, the former director general of MI5, can be a bit methodical at points, but the impressively Ludlumesque plot will keep readers blissfully turning the pages until the end. (July)
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Rimington brings a great deal of credibility to her espionage thrillers—she worked in MI,5, Britain’s intelligence agency, for 27 years and was serving as director general of the agency at the time of her retirement in 1996. She has mined that experience in an autobiography published in the UK, Open Secret (2001), and three previous spy novels starring MI5 officer Liz Carlyle. This time Carlyle is the pivot point for a tale involving a plot to disrupt an upcoming Mideast peace conference in Gleneagles, Scotland. Much of the novel constitutes MI5’s build-up to the conference. What could be tedious in another author’s hands is absolutely sweat-inducing in Rimington’s, as she guides readers through the terrorist plot, the intelligence counterplot, and the protocol involved in staging a conference. A secondary story line stems from Carlyle herself—an old friend asks her to check out the young admirer of the mother-in-law, who may be involved in Israeli intelligence. Fast moving, engrossing, and well constructed. --Connie Fletcher

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0307272540
• ISBN 13: 9780307272546
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352