A Colder War by Charles Cumming
Maybe it was a mistake to listen to this one so soon after The Cairo Affair since they are both spy thrillers, but I found A Colder War more annoying than anything. You have Kell, a train agent in his 40s who knows the game, knows the people, knows how it all works. You have Amelia, his boss, who has called him back to look into Wollinger's death and then do some searching for the mole. She's obviously intelligent, and also, we're told, his actual friend. So far, so good. Amelia's keeping info from Kell, but he's doing the same things. They can't trust the Americans, but have to pretend to cooperate with them. Standard spy stuff and it could have been a good thriller.
Until The Girl enters the picture and Kell apparently loses his mind. He becomes obsessed, or "in love," and stops thinking clearly. And I just wanted to smack him. It's obviously not going to be in his...