Contact Zero - Softcover

Wolstencroft, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340831669 ISBN 13: 9780340831663

Publisher: Hodder, 2007

Synopsis

David Wolstencroft, author of Good News, Bad News, returns with another head-jolting thriller that exposes the deepest secrets in the world of international espionage.

Ben Locke is a recent graduate of Spy School and anxious to succeed on his first assignment. Like everyone in the Agency, he’s heard the stories about Contact Zero. When you have nowhere left to turn, when all is lost, only Contact Zero can save you. Some say it’s an isolated hideout run by ex-members of the Agency. Others say he’s a father figure, ready to protect and care for the dispossessed. To most, it’s an old spies’ tale, a myth to be whispered about behind closed doors and quickly dismissed as fantasy.

But during Ben’s operation in South America, he is brutally framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Barely escaping with his life, he finds himself suddenly cast out by his handlers in London. On this same day, across the globe, seven of his fellow classmates have been found dead. The three left behind—Ben, Lucy, and Nat—must join forces and quickly discover that, myth or no myth, Contact Zero is their only chance for survival. What ensues is a spellbinding quest that takes them from South America to the capitals of Europe in search of the most elusive treasure a fugitive spy can attain—sanctuary.

About this title

About the Author

David Wolstencroft is the creator of the popular award-winning drama Spooks on BBC (renamed MI-5 on A&E) and has contributed to numerous other television programs in the UK. He is the author of Good News, Bad News.

Reviews

A fast-paced, wide-ranging opening sequence introduces the characters;and their immediate fates;in this derivative second thriller (after 2004's Good News, Bad News) from the writer and creator of the excellent British television series MI-5. Newly minted British spies, undercover on their first international assignments, are dying in what appears to be a series of random accidents and attacks. Lucy Matthews, Benjamin Sinclair and Nat Turner manage to survive and band together after it becomes clear their unnamed agency wants them dead. Their only option is something called Contact Zero: "The most secret secret society on the planet," a haven for spies on the run. It's a great (if familiar) premise, but too much of the wrong kind of backstory (young spies in training and in love) and not enough of the right kind (what's the agency up to?) slow the plot. Main character Ben is fairly well developed (he resents his place in the middle of the class structure), but most of the characters are cut from thin cloth. Still, the author provides some convincing glimpses into the world of contemporary spycraft.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the author of Good News, Bad News (2004) comes this intense thriller about young spies cut adrift. When Ben Sinclair, freshly graduated from Britain's Spy School, learns that several of his classmates have died under unusual circumstances, he knows something is up--because someone has already tried to kill him, too. Framed for a crime he didn't commit, abandoned by his handlers, Ben teams up with a couple of his surviving friends, Lucy and Nat. Together, they try to reach safety by finding Contact Zero, the legendary (and possibly mythical) haven for spies who no longer have a home. This is a killer novel. Not only does the author know his subject backward and forward (he created the hit TV series Spooks, known as MI-5 in the U.S.), but he is an excellent writer, too, with a knack for finding a unique turn of phrase and for keeping us on our toes with unexpected right-angle turns in the story. Spy-novel aficionados, and regular MI-5 viewers, will definitely want to give this one a look. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Hodder
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0340831669
• ISBN 13: 9780340831663
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448