The Espionage thriller sub-genre of mysteries is probably my favorite type of thriller — current events with fast paced action, usually set internationally… plus, heavy on plot, characterization AND setting. Charles Cumming is among my favorite espionage authors with his two series featuring Alex Milius and Thomas Kell. Happily, Cumming has now given us a third series featuring Lachlan Kite, who currently heads up a US/UK under the table agency which doesn’t exist called Box 88.
Kennedy 35 is the third in the Lachlan Kite series which began in 2020 with Box 88, as its first title. As usual reading the series in order makes more sense, as the personalities of the group of spies unfold throughout the books. Lachlan was a poor Scottish young man who was recruited while in college — and in Kennedy 35 a bit of Lachlan’s past from a 1995 Senegal mission has come back to haunt him in 2023 when an old friend from that time “falls” out of a window.
Cumming gives us a preliminary note on the horrifying Rwandan Genocide of 1994 and then takes us through the complicated politics and economic trauma of Africa, while Lachlan tries to figure out what is really going on in the Senegal mission and how to safely get his sick girlfriend back to England. If you are a fan of Daniel Silva, then Cumming’s step by step mission detail should please you as much as it did me.
I learned much from this novel about Africa and specifically about Rwanda and Senegal. Isn’t that what reading is all about? Learning and gaining insight about topics which impact our world? I am invested in Lachlan as much as I was with Milius and Kell from Cumming’s other series. Only a fine writer can make me worry about a sick girl in Senegal and still personalize justice for the almost one million murdered in Rwanda over 100 days. I only hope to read many more novels featuring Lachlan and his team as they address current world affairs in these action packed espionage international thrillers.
My rating 5 of 5.
This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. Kennedy 35 will be published on November 7, 2023.
Pam Did It 