Didn't have the well-paced plot line one would expect from a mystery/spy thriller. The story started off with some intrigue, but there wasn't a coherent continuity to it. The main character felt stiff and didn't seem to have a purpose. Took a few tries to finish.

A retired teacher, Ronald Jones decides to travel. He doesn't enjoy being around people, though, and selects a solo trip to Brazil where he briefly visited as a teen. Then, Mr. Smith pays a call and makes Jones an offer he can't refuse. In exchange for a free tip, Jones will translate documents and perform other translation duties. Jones agrees to the terms and finds himself interacting with three key people (Pilot, Chameleon, Latvian) who play various roles designed to confuse him and others. Eventually, Jones begins to feel like a true spy. But he's in danger, too. Who will win in the end? And what is the truth?
I'm debating between 3 and 4 stars for this novel. The first section started slow but then the excitement built, and I felt eager to continue reading. I really connected with Mr. Jones and found myself rooting for his success. Then the ending felt like an emotional letdown. Everything I believed got twisted and turned upside down, and I felt robbed emotionally - probably because I bonded with Mr. Jones and didn't care or connect with any of the other characters.
Despite the ending, I would read more books in this series.

This tale is about espionage, though though more to do with the industrial kind. However, where big business and multinational projects are involved, the stakes are still high enough for spying to still be a murky and very dangerous game.

Our hero, or maybe rather antihero, ex-school teacher Ronald Jones, is set to this out the hard way. All he wanted to do was make a post-retirement trip to South America, which he had visited as a younger man. Then, he is visited by the mysterious Mr Smith, who tells him his travel expenses have been reimbursed. All Jones needs to do is earn a few more extra pennies by reporting on certain meetings and to use his translation skills. Otherwise he is free to do as he pleases.

This isn't quite the way things turn out. Jones is to be available at a moment's notice 24/7, on a strictly need-to-know basis, and not expected to question anything. In the end, he is incarcerated: he is well fed, comfortable, but with no idea if he will ever see freedom again, as he relives his journey up to this moment in his secret diary.

Jones, at 67, is not prepossessing: he hates socialising, though it is hinted he wasn't always like that. He suffers from anxiety and we learn that his hygiene practises are far from the best. He seems extraordinarily passive: he seems to put up with a huge amount as long as he is well fed and and everything is paid for. Is it normal, for example, to accept being loaded into a metal coffin on short trips? And are spies treated with the kind of abuse Jones also, passively expects? Jones, therefore, is an enigma.

This is what makes this novel such a page turner. A lot doesn't quite add up, and so the reader wants to know what's really going on. Also, while Jones's adventures are not nearly as glamorous as, say, Bond's, he does get to visit classy hotels and to travel, alongside good food, for free: possibly more pleasure and excitement than most of us might wish for in our more limited lives.

There is, of course, a twist, but this in some ways serves to compound the puzzle, as the perspectives beyond Jones's also seem somewhat partial.

A wonderful spin on the espionage niche. Take a complete outsider and throw him in the soup. Delightful!

This is a spy thriller with a difference- I’m a big fan of this genre but I’ve never read anything quite like this. It’s a great story which held my attention from the very first page and kept me guessing right to the very last! Definitely a fun read!
Ronald Jones is a teacher of Modern Languages - Spanish and Portuguese- working in a secondary school in Slough. He lives alone and seems to be completely anti social, avoiding human contact as much as possible- somewhat surprising in a school teacher but maybe he finds children easier to cope with than adults.
Having worked hard all his life he decides to retire, take his pension and travel the world. However he gets more than he bargained for when he is approached by the mysterious Mr Smith who wants him to do a bit of translating whilst visiting South America in exchange for his travel costs. Jones thinks it sounds pretty harmless and accepts the offer.
The book is told in the form of a diary written by Jones and his travels turn into something more than a post retirement adventure when he ends up in some pretty difficult situations and held hostage by some very shady characters. Jones was a very entertaining protagonist who narrated the story in a laconic and humorous manner which had me chuckling out loud in places!
On the more serious side the book portrayed social anxiety in a sympathetic way as Jones navigated his way across South America, forced to communicate with others in order to survive his ordeal.
This is a real ripping yarn with much humour and a fair amount of action. It is a fast paced read which I thoroughly enjoyed and which I highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for my advance copy.

“I’d wanted to travel. I hadn’t envisaged doing so locked into a coffin, but variety is the spice of life, and one has to adapt to one’s surroundings”

Ronald Jones has had a long career in teaching, and now he can’t wait to retire, with travel high on his agenda. In particular he’d like to return to Brazil where he’d spent some time as a student many years ago. However, his plans are upended when he’s offered work which makes use of his language skills, but he’s thrown into a world of espionage, and he has no idea who he’s working for or indeed why. All he wanted was a simple holiday in Brazil, but instead he finds himself in serious danger.

What a thoroughly enjoyable read this was. I doubt you’ll have read a spy story quite like this one, and even though the storyline might appear a little bit incredible at times, it pulled me in to the extent that every time I put it down I couldn’t wait to get right back to it. Definitely recommended!

The storyline was very well written and very intriguing! It kept my interest from being to end. I loved the characters! I loved how you could relate to the characters and the situations the faced, I loved the suspense and drama in the story.

Somehow the author takes an incredible scenario and makes it credible. The story is written in such a way as to make me believe it was absolutely possible and I anxiously travelled along with the protagonist as he dealt with the unlikely hand dealt him. The author handles some difficult topics with sensitivity and it is nice to see anxiety being addressed openly as part of the protagonist’s life rather than in a tokenistic way,