A Loyal Spy by Simon Conway
Published: 2010
Published: 2010
Note: I have no
allusions of being a NYT reviewer and I’m aware my grammar is that of a 1st
grader. I'm writing as if I were chatting about the book with my dad over
a Guiness.
My goal is twofold:
1) Keep a detailed record of books I've read for my personal reference.
My goal is twofold:
1) Keep a detailed record of books I've read for my personal reference.
Simon Conway is a fascinating man…he’s a former British Army Officer who then cleared land mines and explosives from war torn areas across the globe while working for The HALO Trust. Somehow, he had enough time to become a popular and successful UK novelist.
My introduction to Conway came from a spybrary podcast interview and the subsequent glowing recommendations and reviews from the spybrary web site and facebook group. Here’s a great article by the esteemed spybrary God Father, Shane Whaley: Which Simon Conway book to read first. In short, I admire the hell out of Mr. Conway.
A Loyal Spy is a brilliant book with fascinating characters, a great main plot, and fascinating subplots. And voila, you have all the ingredients for a classic espionage thriller.
The book switches back and forth from various timelines between 1989 and 2003. The two central characters of the book are Jonah and childhood friend Nor. While Jonah is a MI6 agent, Nor is a Pakistani ISI intelligence informant living in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. More notably, he’s also Jonah’s informant.
Things start to get interesting after the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan in 1989 resulting in MI6 budget cuts for the Middle East. As a result, Jonah has to cut loose his friend Nor and tell him he no longer is a paid informant with MI6.
Conway is brilliant…I don’t know how else to state it. I felt like he actually lived each characters’ lives. His knowledge and the detail that he imparts to the reader of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area, its people and their culture is brilliant, fascinating and impressive. The same can be said of his knowledge of all things MI6 and London’s infrastructure.
If I had one small complaint, it was at times a tough read for me, especially the first half. Conway changes to different timelines seemingly with each chapter that at times confused me causing me to go back and re-read some chapters. But as I said, it is a very small, tiny, miniscule complaint that in no way tarnished the book for me. This was a great read and worthy of winning the 2010 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller.
I give A Loyal Spy, 4.5⭐.
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