(2/23/2011)
Charles Cumming puts a new spin on the well-known, and real-life, spy ring of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean & John Cairncross. Known as the Cambridge Five, they were recruited by the Soviet Union while at Trinity College at Cambridge in the 1930's and were one of the most notorious spy rings ever uncovered. Mr. Cumming's takes this story & adds an additional, and fictional, sixth spy, who was long-rumored to have existed, but who has never been identified.
In this complicated, but riveting, story set in present day, a British historian and author named Sam Gaddis learns that there was a sixth Cambridge spy. With mounting financial problems, he thinks that he can turn this information into a best-selling book. But that is before people who can help him uncover more details begin to die.
Mr. Cummings plot is complicated and a bit convoluted with a large cast of characters and the first 100 pages are a bit dry. But this background is necessary information on which his plot is based. Stick with it - the tension continues to rise and as the story builds to its conclusion, you won't be able to put the book down!