In the year 1994, he married Claudia, Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Nicholas Hill-Norton’s daughter. The couple have three children. A strong dose of international politics with an all-too-plausible premise.”– Observer, on Secret Service The brutal murder of Sarah Ford and the disappearance of her six-year-old daughter, Alice, shattered the rural serenity of Julia Havilland's childhood. But these are not the only scars that have resolutely refused to heal. Shortly afterwards, Colonel Mitchell Havilland sacrificed himself on a Falklands hillside in an act of characteristic - but baffling - heroism. When Julia comes home from China fifteen years later, it is to a place of ghosts. While the story is finally resolved in this one and the identity of the Russian mole inside the British Intelligence Services is finally revealed, there's nothing happening in this entire novel at all. It's pretty meandering and boring, with characters who act contrary to what has been established in the previous installments. Kate, for example, doesn't resemble the bright, intelligent agent she was before, as the author, for some baffling reason, opted to portray her as a clueless, frightened, rookie agent. Kate has left her role at MI6 under somewhat of a cloud and is trying to rebuild her life in France where she is living with her two children, with whom she needs to reconnect. Everything she had in life has been turned upside down including losing her husband from whom she is now separated. Therefore, the last thing she wants is for the British Prime Minister to turn up unannounced on her doorstep. His reputation is at stake, largely due to Kate’s investigations in the previous novel in the series and he has come with an unbelievable story which he asks her to investigate. If true, it will clear his name and hopefully uncover a mole (Dante) who allegedly holds a senior position in the echelons of MI6. Against her better judgement and with a lot of bribery and arm-twisting, Kate accepts the challenges and leaves her children to work with her old team on an independent investigation sanctioned by the PM himself.

The plotting is superb; convoluted so it’s impossible to second guess where the story is leading. Who’s at the heart of betrayal. It could be a husband, close friend, colleague, senior official or even the PM. The skill in the storytelling is that we’re kept guessing. The pace is fast, there’s a real sense of danger and excitement and I felt as if I’d been dropped into the middle of a world of espionage and double dealing. The key to the investigation appears to be Natasha Medvedev, Lena’s neighbor. Will Field be able to trust somebody for whom self-preservation is her only goal? Is wise to fall in love when there is every indication that Natasha herself could very well be the next victim? In a city where reality is a rather dangerous luxury, Field is lead into the darkness beyond all the dazzle of society and into a world where the basest of all human needs are met and where the truth appears to be a lethal commodity. As with the earlier books, Bradby excels in his portrayal of the interplay of personal and professional relationships in the secret service, reminding me of Len Deighton’s Bernard Samson novels. The details of the investigation are well handled and convincing, and the characters are carefully wrought and interesting. Bradby’s depiction of Kate’s deteriorating emotional state and her questioning of her earlier conclusions is particularly well done and powerful.

Advance Praise

The Master of Ruin” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2002. Shanghai in the year 1926. A city of American gun-runners, British Imperial civil servants, Chinese gangsters, and Russian princesses, where everything is for sale and heroin is available on room service. Sexually liberated, exotic, and pulsing with life, it is a time and place where it all seems possible. A Russian agent has come forward with news that the Prime Minister has been set up, that there is a special KGB unit with a single purpose. This unit exists to process intelligence provided by ‘Agent Dante’. And the information that Agent Dante provides clearly has come from senior levels within MI6. If it isn’t the Prime Minister, who is it? This is another great read from accomplished author Tom Bradby. Well written and well researched, the storyline was complex but gripping, with excellent use of smoke and mirrors, and I have to say, the concluding chapter left me breathless, with its non stop action - as for the mole - I guessed correctly, despite the red herrings, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

When the PM approaches her with a special assignment outside the powers and influence of the secret service she is conflicted but believes she can redeem the situation. The damaged PM needs his name to be finally exonerated and who better than by his biggest critic who was /(is) Kate.

Publication Order of Kate Henderson Books

With respect to the audiobook, Juliet Aubrey is an established British actor of theatre, film and television. While she has only narrated a select number of titles, she has been the narrator for all of the Kate Henderson trilogy. Her voice is crystal clear and a pleasure to listen to. From 2005 until 2015, he was the political editor for ITV News, and presents the political discussion series The Agenda with Tom Bradby and the News at Ten. The best book on the northern conflict since Harry's Game...An excellent read on any level. It scores heavily as a thriller and as an accurate unblinking look at what is happening right now' Brad by is a gifted storyteller and Triple Cross is as exciting as the first two books in this series. It makes a change to have a female at the centre of the narrative and to see her domestic and professional worlds collide. So plausible and this is escapist spy fiction with more than a ring of truth. An excellent thriller straight out of today’s headlines… a fast, riveting yarn.”– Sun, on Secret Service

Riveting...with style and energy, evocative scene-setting and strong characterisation' Financial Times Trying to preserve what little progress has been made with her family, off Kate goes. Everything seems to be falling into place for her, pushing her in certain directions, a little too neatly. Is she being set up to reach a false conclusion? Is she being set up to take the fall as a Russian mole? Can she play the Russians into letting her husband go? Kate has a lot of masters, a lot of information, and she's playing several dangerous games at once, as she tries to close this chapter once and for all. Her investigation to clear the PM’s name and find the mole in MI6 is not welcome by everyone and with the truth remaining elusive, time running out and no convincing proof she shows signs of great stress. She is forced to take increasing risks to reveal Russia’s malevolent influence. As I wrote previously these books are closer to George Smiley’s world to that of James Bond. There is still plenty of action along with the kind of twists and revelations that are integral to well written espionage fiction.

She was arrested in the aborted bombing attempt in London, and she is given two options: talk to them and see her kids again, or remain quiet and spend the rest of her days seeing them grow up while she is behind prison bars. Attempting to rebuild her shattered life in the South of France, former MI6 operative Kate Henderson receives an unexpected and most unwelcome visit from an old adversary: the UK Prime Minister. He has an extraordinary story to tell - and he needs her help. All I do know is that Bradby captures in Kate Henderson a psychological complexity based in raw honesty – and that’s an asset to any character, let alone a top MI6 spy character. We all have flaws, and we all want comfort. But sometimes old comfort isn’t really comforting at all. Bradby captures the tensions of this, and the importance of trust, in Triple Cross, and the novel is all the better for it.