Jack of Spies

Jack McColl is in China, spying for the British admiralty.  Ostensibly he is a businessman, there to sell cars.  One of his best sources of information are the Chinese prostitutes.  One informs him that the Germans were stockpiling coal with which to fuel their Pacific fleet.  Unfortunately one of the prostitutes gave away the game and McColl was forced to run for his life.  However, would he make it to safety without being captured?

Fortunately having safely made it to Shanghai, he searches out an American journalist he was attracted to.  Caitlin Hanley is there to report on a revolution, which has yet to happen.  He finds her to be an intriguing woman.  Later, he is attacked with a knife and stabbed in the abdomen.  Was it because of his spying or because he had been with Caitlin?  Fortunately it wasn't a terribly serious wound and McColl was able to leave for San Francisco on the ship as scheduled.

The long voyage would give him time to recover and spend time with Caitlin, who was headed home to the U. S. A.  McColl's spymaster wants him to extend his stay in the city.  He is to investigate the Irish-Indian-German connections and their potto do harm should a European war break out.  There he learns that a German businessman he had befriended in China is really a spy.  Also, could Caitlin possibly be a honey trap? Will McColl make it to New York without being murdered?

While in New York, McColl is offered a full time job with the secret service.  He needs time to mull it over.  Having decided to accept the offer, McColl finds himself being sent to Mexico to see what is going on down there.  Mexico was an important source of oil for the British navy.

Shortly after being called home, and assigned to Ireland, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne was assassinated.  In Dublin he takes on the persona of an Australian republican.  But, facing one's enemies in their land when they know what you look like is not a safe thing to do.  Will McColl be able to survive?

Author David Downing's thriller is just that; full of action and fast paced, and hard to put down.  Well worth the read.