I found it rather difficult to get into the story and to keep my attention all through the novel. I can't say the novel was not good, it was just not for me. I couldn't take the characters seriously (nor their actions!), sometimes finding them downright stupid rather than naïve! Not my style of novel.
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

The start of a brand new spy series. I've read all Alex Gerlis's previous series and enjoyed them all. This one is set the 1930s. Charles Cooper has inherited some money. He decides to take a break and travel around Europe. He is, to a certain extent, an innocent abroad. He finds himself unwittingly recruited by the Soviet Union as a communist spy. On returning to England, he believes he has walked away from the situation but his life soon becomes even more complicated.
This is a gripping read which at times seemed rather amusing. Cooper's hapless attempts to stay out of trouble seem to only lead him into worse scenarios. The operations of the different spy agencies in both Britain and Russia makes for interesting reading, as did the changing political situation in Russia as Europe heads towards war.
There are a number of unresolved points at the end of the book and so I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next in the series.

A gripping and atmospheric start to a great new series.

“Every Spy a Traitor” opens in Moscow, in 1937. A man is rudely awoken to noises outside his hotel room, and he quickly realises it's about to be raided. His female companion urges him to hide in a pre-prepared hidey-hole. Just as she closes him in, he hears the banging at the door, and soon is forced to listen as the woman is taken away and the room searched.

We then turn to an earlier time, Paris 1931, and an unnamed man is enjoying a leisurely road trip across France. He is approached at a café by a man offering advice on what to drink. When he meets the same man again later in Lyon, he realises all is not as it seems.

Skip ahead to England 1936 and another man, soon to find himself in a whole load of trouble, is about to receive some life-changing news from his solicitor.

Soon the reader is set on a journey which will cover the years leading up to WW2, in which plots are set in motion, lives are forever changed, and decisions are made that will have far-reaching consequences. We find ourselves in England, France, Russia and Germany as we are introduced to a large cast of characters, many of whom are swept along in fast moving events over which they have little control. It's difficult to say more without spoiling some wonderful twists and turns which I'm sure will be developed further in the forthcoming books (this is a four-book series).

Fan of Alex Gerlis' previous books will find this one a slightly different read. We've still got characters, some more astute than others, all of whom find themselves drawn into the world of spies and spying, who then suffer the stresses of life as an undercover espionage agent. We still see the effects of living a double life have on them and those around them, and how the spying fraternity is a heartless one. But, unlike the previous books, some of which arguably could be read as stand-alone novels, “Every Spy a Traitor” is clearly part one of four-part, overarching saga. Events are set in motion and plots are put in place, all of which will take time to unfold and become clear. The final lines of the book certainly leave us in no doubt of that.

The opening chapters of this book read like a 1930's black and white Noir film. Naïve young men enjoying the halcyon pleasures of Europe, others whose lives seem set but are about to change, more sinister characters who know dark days are coming, and events which at first seem random, but which soon coalesce into a web of deceit and danger. It seems to do the book an injustice to call it a “page turner”, but that's what it is. Again, the research is impeccable, the atmosphere thick with dread and suspicion. And all painted against the backdrop of 1930's Europe. I dare you not to want to visit a Paris café, or the Kremlin, or the Hague after reading this.

I was fortunate to receive a Netgalley review copy of this book, but be sure I'll be first in the queue for a proper copy of this, and the rest of the series. It's the best yet from a writer who knows his subject. Heartily recommended for existing fans and those of Len Deighton, Ben Creed and Helen Macinnes.