At Risk - Softcover

Rimington, Stella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099461390 ISBN 13: 9780099461395

Publisher: Arrow, 2005

Synopsis

Former head of MI5 Stella Rimington brings the high-stakes world of intelligence to life in AT RISK – the first novel in her bestselling and much-loved series featuring MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle.

For MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle the nagging complications of her private life are quickly forgotten at Monday’s Counter-Terrorist meeting. An invisible may have entered mainland Britain.

An ‘invisible’ is a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country, who can cross its borders unchecked and move about unnoticed – the ultimate nightmare.

For Liz this signals the start of an operation that will test her to the limit. Who or what is the target? Where and who is the invisible? With each passing hour the danger increases. But as she desperately sifts the incoming intelligence and analyses the reports from her agents she finally realises that it is her ability to get inside her enemy’s head that is the only hope of averting disaster.

About this title

Review:

With At Risk, Dame Stella Rimington's first novel, she is probably aware that she'll be under negative pressure for her literary efforts quite as she was for her true-life revelations concerning the world of spooks in her autobiography Open Secret. In fact At Risk is a strikingly assured debut, with a female perspective on the secret world (via Rimington's heroine Liz) that is as fresh as it is plausible. Rimington's position in MI5 led to the inevitable comparisons with Judi Dench's performances as the first female M in the James Bond films, but what we're shown here is clearly a picture of the author in her early days--Liz is an overworked lower-echelon secret service operative, dealing with both the casual chauvinism of her colleagues and a potentially devastating terrorist plot. The latter is handled with terrifying verisimilitude (one senses the author's intimate knowledge of this world here), and the chapters involving the activities of the 'invisible' (a terrorist who passes as a native of the host country) is probably the most chillingly handled section of the book.

At Risk appears to be partly autobiographical--a novel with a female intelligence officer as its heroine will be construed that way--but it wouldn't be enough to carry an indifferently written book--and this is anything but that. In a plot that mixes East End gangsters, hierarchy and the role of women in government organisations, the central theme here is terrorism. Rimington clearly sees this as the major threat to homeland security in this day and age. Liz Carlisle is a very promising character--and the fact that a series is pending is welcome news. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"A cracking good thriller" (The Observer)

"Intelligent... Undeniably pacy" (The Guardian)

"This is something rare: the spy novel that prizes authenticity over fabrication" (Mail on Sunday)

"Rimington makes adroit use of her expertise as former MI5 chief" (The Sunday Times)

"Tense and terrifying" (Cosmopolitan)

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0099461390
• ISBN 13: 9780099461395
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464