BOX 88: From the Top 10 Sunday Times bestselling author comes the first in a brilliant new spy action crime thriller series: Book 1 Paperback – 27 May 2021

I purchased this book entirely on a whim because I liked the description. Spy thrillers aren’t my normal choice of genre, but I am so pleased I took the chance because it was absolutely brilliant. It is exceedingly well written, and the plot is very realistic and believable. Lachlan Kite is an absolute legend, and I took to him right from the start. There is plenty of excitement all the way through, and I enjoyed the way the book was written with the alternating scenes from past to present. I found myself totally lost in the world of espionage and secret agents which I found fascinating and intensely interesting. The continual twists kept me tirelessly turning the pages trying to work out what was going to happen next, and the pace was constant which resulted in me feeling part of the action. So much of this plot is based on true life events which gave it even more of a sense of believability, making it both intriguing and thrilling. The ending was both satisfying and exciting, and naturally leads us into next in the series. I have since bought the next two in this series and am looking forward to finding out the future for Lockie.

The book is split into two main sections, the present and the past. I found the present chapters of the book fast paced and engaging. The past, the back story of what happened, was interesting and obviously necessary, however I did feel that it was sometimes a little long winded and could have been told quicker. Overall, this was still an enjoyable read. Probably could have been 50 pages shorter in my opinion. The end leads you in to book 2. I will be downloading book 2. I debated my rating and finally after careful consideration went for 4.5 out of 5. I was initially thinking of 4.25.

A 5* gem of a novel combining all the thrills and spills of the modern spy genre with the satisfying emotional heft of a young man’s coming-of-age. A sort of “Bildungsthriller”.Author Charles Cumming’s latest offering is his most ambitious yet. Not for the detailed expose of the modern spy’s tradecraft, though he has plenty of fun knitting together the recent past with the current clandestine world of espionage; both state-sponsored and more off-the-books, deep-state malarkey. But rather Cumming has raised the bar in terms of his works’ development of character and our understanding of how his lead character Lachlan “Lockie” Kite has become the man, the spy, he is today.This is not the kiss kiss bang bang of standard genre. Though it doesn’t lack for action in either respect. More kiss kiss moral dilemma personal growth bang bang. A very modern thriller, most Le Carré-like. But this is more the Le Carré (RIP) of a A Perfect Spy, as nuanced in the origin story as the tradecraft.A fractured narrative switches back and forth between the spy Lockie is today and the child, then young man he was, creating a bridge between the two worlds. The privileged corridors of Lockie’s boarding school - a thinly disguised proxy for Eton, Cumming’s own childhood home from home - prime him all too well for the duplicitous world of Box 88, a black ops outfit investigating the Libyan terror cell behind Lockerbie.That Lockie is recruited by one of his teachers to go deep under cover in his Gap Yah is the book’s central conceit. Cumming sweeps the reader along so adroitly that you barely give the moral hazard inherent in such a recruitment a second thought. Instead the writing is so evocative of time and place with its period detail that you can almost feel the heat, hear the crunch of a loafer on gravel, Club Tropicana on the radio. It plunges the reader into the delight of that Summer when school is out and the world is rich with the promises of adventure, of sex, of your whole life ahead of you.Any nostalgia for those days are in Kite’s case compromised by the double life of deceit and betrayal that he chose then, for Queen and country and our allies. (Would any of us chosen otherwise had the careers office offered “international man of mystery”..?) And of course his actions as a young man have consequences in the gripping present day plot of kidnap and revenge, which pulses through the novel on alternate beats.The novel is a weighty hard back of 140,000 words or so, but it wears its length lightly. (Lightest of all on a Kindle) The Kite character is one we come to understand deeply and like hugely and it is perhaps no great spoiler to note that he prevails. Wins the day. Gets the girl. And it seems highly likely we will meet him again. I can’t wait to see what became of the boy who lost his innocence so completely one hot Summer at the end of the eighties.

One of Charles Cummings usual style of spy thrillers: the storyline is based on a recent piece of history, in this case the bombing of the Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie and its aftermath. Because MI5 and MI6 have become too open and inclusive these days, the allied spies work for the secretive Box 88 and seem to be able to do what they like. It's a well written novel working two timelines with a couple of surprises along the way. The characters are well drawn and much of the action is fairly credible....although I'm not sure where Box 88 would find local assets in Ayr at a moment's notice! The ending is a bit abrupt, shamelessly segueing into the next in the series....by which time Cara's background has moved from Ipswich to East London....

Box 88 is a "mythical" joint venture between the Americans and the British to conduct off-the-grid intelligence operations that the official agencies don't want to get their hands dirty with. The novel has three main threads; firstly, Kite in the present day attending the funeral of his old friend Xavier and being abducted; secondly, an MI5 investigation into Box 88 that blends into the hunt for Kite; and finally, the story of how a teenage Kite became involved in Box 88 and how Xavier fits into it all. Often in stories with several storylines, one stands out and the reader can't wait to get back to it. This isn't the case here, as Cumming skilfully weaves the three strands together and keeps the reader's interest by keeping each one bubbling with tension as he moves between them. This is my second Cummings novel after A Foreign Country, which I also enjoyed, and I'm delighted to have found a new author with a few novels to go at. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a good espionage thriller.

A great story with good characters.Keeps you guessing, right till the end, like all good thrillers should.Already started book 2.

Great fun

The pace and character development, the setting, and the narrative structure were all exceptional. Looking forward to reading this author again and again.

I hate books that have easily verifiable errors. There was no young child passenger on Pan Am 103 who could reasonably have been called Gaby and living in Stamford. The bomb that brought down 103 was a timer fused device and not a barometric fused device. Barcelona is not in North-Eastern Spain. To mention just three. Makes my teeth grate. The conclusion is also a stretch too far and so unbelievable.

Nicely written ...gripping storyline...but with an abrupt ending

Perhaps more intimate and psychological than the usual thriller he’d write, this novel is set in a very narrow geography too. The pace and the narrative are flawless and they make for a very interesting reading.

I have read all of Charles Cumming's books and have enjoyed them all, this is as good as any of his other books. I enjoy spy books and it was difficult to put this one down. I am looking forward to his next book.