We start in the past with a very young Gabriel Dax on the worst night of his young life, when a tragedy, a house fire, took the life of his mother. Back in the present, we catch up with him as a young man who is still haunted by memories of that night. He is now a travel writer specialising in the Cold War countries. He is offered, by a friend, the chance to interview a prominent political figure, Patrice Lumumba, the newly elected PM of Congo, and it is this interview that sets his life off on yet another path. It appears to have brought him to the attention of the security services and they, under the supervision of Faith Green, want him to undertake a small mission, to go and buy a picture from a famous artist. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he is trying to come to terms with his past by way of seeing a therapist...
I do have a few of this author's books on my tbr, but I am ashamed that they have never quite made it to the top. After reading, devouring, and absolutely loving this book, I am definitely going to make a concerted effort to bump them up.
Gabriel is a wonderful character, very much shaped by his past, and also his relationship with his brother, Sefton, through whom he has already tasted the life of a spy! I took to him from the off, something about him resonated with me and that relationship only grew as the book progressed and I got to know him better. As for the plot - oh my days, what a tangled web that author has indeed woven. I really had to have my wits about me whilst reading and I still didn't cotton on to everything! Brilliant. It's a bit of a slow burn initially bu there are quite a few pieces to put into place before the whole picture starts to emerge. Which means that the pacing adds to the interest and intrigue and it draws you in slowly but surely.
And the ending - wow... Brilliant. In fact the only thin bad about it was having to say goodbye to Gabriel. I wonder if (hope that) we will meet again...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

William Boyd has written some of my favourite reads, and I am always very keen to read his latest book. “Gabriel’s Moon” is another excellent read, a spy thriller with an accidental spy as well as more traditional, career “spooks”. The main protagonist, Gabriel, the accidental spy, is a not especially likeable travel writer, a flawed individual with troubled childhood memories which he is attempting to understand. The tension in the plot ratchets up as the novel progresses, with several lighter moments that got me laughing, and a twist at the very end which left me wondering what he’d be doing different next …

Although I much prefer the author’s earlier spy novel, Restless, this one also has to be a 5 star read.

Long been a fan of William Boyd and this was right up there with his best.. Typical world wide scope and typically the story cracks along. A treat to have him write in the spy genre without losing the research that makes his novels such a joy.

This is good old-fashioned story telling with no tricks. Gabriel's moon is a compelling Cold War spy story that slowly builds into a page turner. Gabriel, a likeable, everyman travel writer, is slowly sucked into the secret services. He is never quite sure how it happened, but in trying to work it out he is sucked further and further into the world of agents and double agents. He becomes a reluctant spy, bumbling innocently onwards because at the time it always seems to him the easiest way to get out of the complex world he finds himself in. Beautifully written with an accurate sense of the 1960's and highly entertaining. I enjoyed Gabriel's company immensely.

I thoroughly enjoyed William Boyd's latest novel 'Gabriel's Moon'. Spanning from 1960's London over sunny Cadiz to cold war Warsaw, the story of the accidental spy Gabriel Dax is fascinating to follow. William Boyd's writing is exquisite as ever, beautifully descriptive and you feel you are actually there with Gabriel trying to figure out who is spying for who and how to get out of tricky situations. A highly recommended and captivating read!
Many thanks to #NetGalley and #VikingBooksUK for the ARC.

I have read all of William Boyd’s novels – it’s a long list now – and each time I wonder: will he finally drop the ball? And each time he answers: no.

Gabriel’s Moon is not one of his very best – but his best are truly exceptional, see Any Human Heart, The Romantic and The New Confessions - but it is still very, very good and like all his novels you read it with the wind at your back and a spring in your step.

I always call Boyd’s novels an easy read. This is can so be often a back-handed recommendation but here it is nothing but praise. He writes so well, confidently, but not showily, wearing all the research that he has done so lightly that it is like putting your foot into a handmade shoe.

You do not need to worry about picking up a Boyd novel; you know you won’t be bored; you know you won’t be confused. You know you won’t be distracted by howling errors and clunky language. He is a solid-gold novelist and Gabriel’s Moon is a treat.

I won’t go into endless details about the plot – just read it – but Boyd uses his skills at conjuring historical times and foreign places to good effect, bringing to life the early 1960s where post-war paranoia bumps up against burgeoning permissiveness.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this, it has a great plot and is a page turner.

As soon as you start it you know you are in the hands of an experienced writer who is a great storyteller and you can just read avidly without having to worry about inconsistencies, mistakes etc.

The actual story is great with some twists and turns and I enjoyed the 1960's setting. Gabriel is a likeable character and he acts in ways that seem realistic, ways in which we, ourselves, might hope to act, well, maybe setting aside the bit where he hides in the bushes to spy on Faith and her fiancé on holiday although even that is a bit endearing when he realises what he is doing! The minor characters are very well drawn and all their interactions seems authentic.

The writing is so vivid that I honestly could imagine that I was actually present in all the places Gabriel goes to. In my eagerness to get on with the plot I often skim descriptive passages in books but I really enjoyed these descriptions, particularly Congo and Spain. I also liked the change in style the author uses when we read the purple prose in the extracts from Gabriel's own travel books.

Unputtdownable and I intend to read more of the author's books. 4.5 up to 5.. Also, I would like to read more about the adventures of Gabriel Dax.

A gripping spy novel which ranges from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw, Gabriel Dax, our hero is an accidental spy is drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession. Dax is haunted by the memories of a fire that took his mother’s life. Every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. Salvation of a sort comes in the form of a glamorous spy or 'handler'.

WB is a wonderfully versatile and compulsively readable author.

Would recommend this.

Gabriel has a tragic childhood when his mother is killed a house fire although he was able to escape but the memories of which hunts him for the rest of his life. He grows up and makes a living as a travel writer. When he by chance gets to interview a politician just before he is assassinated he comes to the attention of the secret services, Her is tempted to take on a seeming simple courier task to go to Madrid and to buy a painting from an artist and deliver it to an address there. He hesitated to take it on but when a generous fee was offered with all arrangements and expenses paid, it was an offer he could not refuse. But when many further requests were made through an attractive female handler he began feel that he was becoming like a puppet on a string until he decided on an act of rebellion when things got more involved and dangerous so how was he going to extract himself and go back to his peaceful life as a writer.

William Boyd’s Gabriel’s Moon is an outstanding novel that once again demonstrates his talent for storytelling. The writing is elegant, clear, and engaging, characters are complex and realistic, the setting of 1960s is beautifully portrayed, capturing the atmosphere and essence of the era. The author’s attention to the cultural and historical context adds a rich layer to the story, making it even more immersive.
The plot is filled with intrigue, keeping you hooked from start to finish, as Boyd masterfully weaves suspense and surprise, with twists that are both unexpected and satisfying.
I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much. Gabriel’s Moon is a pure pleasure to read—captivating, thought-provoking, and memorable. It’s a novel that I’ll be thinking about for a long time and one I can’t recommend highly enough.

Absolutely riveting novel that draws us into international intrigue slowly, just as Gabriel Dax is. Gabriel is a very flawed character, often rash, thrill seeking, not always likeable and he needs to find out what really happened when his mother died in a fire when he was six. It’s the 1960s and Russia, Cuba and the newly formed Democratic Republic of Congo are part of the tinderbox of politics that writer, Gabriel, gets inadvertently involved in. Carefully, eloquently written and with an incredible sense of time and place, Gabriel’s Moon is a spy story but so much more. Boyd is at his best.

The reluctant spy and the Early 60’s – cold war, Iron Curtain, Cuban Missile crisis 5

I ‘fess up that the espionage genre is one I am always keen to read. It’s not the derring do, it’s not the glamorous side of the image, it’s the seedy, it’s the imaginative leap a writer can take me into, with a sense of extreme angst which I would feel, if I were having to live some kind of double life, where everything felt potentially dangerous. I’m not the kind of person who would have any skills – or desire or fantasy about leading such a life, but I am fascinated by psychology so different from mine.

Central character of this primarily early 60’s set novel is Gabriel Dax. Dax has a terrible tragedy in his childhood, one which we immediately know about. As a 6 year old child, in 1936, he is the sole survivor of a somewhat mysterious, devastating fire in his mother’s house. In fact, he is woken by the fire raging, and his mother is already dead. What a weight of confusion and guilt to bear.

Fast forward to 1960. Gabriel is making some kind of living as a journalist and travel writer. He has been modestly successful as a travel writer, with a couple of books to his name. He also has an older brother, Sefton, working in some capacity within the Foreign Office. And periodically, Sefton asks Gabriel to deliver odd packages here and there on his travels. Gabriel idly wonders whether ‘something in the Foreign Office’ might mean something to do with the Secret Service

Psychologically scarred by his childhood trauma, Gabriel has a complicated history with women. He’s not a philanderer, but cannot commit.

On a visit to Leopoldville, he is offered an interview with, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba revealed that there were interests in America, the UK and Belgium who wanted him dead. Following that interview, a number of strange ‘coincidences’ begin to happen, and against his will or inclination Gabriel drifts into being involved in complicated machinations which he hardly understands.

Boyd is excellent at slowly ratcheting up the tension. His central character is quite passive, likeable, easily influenced and seeming much younger than his years, and, as said, he is damaged by that early trauma, and part of his character journey is to try and uncover what happened in his traumatic childhood. As ever, with Boyd, individual psychology and the internal landscape is as central as events on the world stage.

Gabriel’s Moon is a classic, enjoyable spy novel that employs all the elements from a Greene or Le Carre.
Gabriel is a travel writer who is asked to interview an African leader, just before they are deposed and killed. The interview contains links to US and UK involvement in his death, so MI6 and the CIA are soon attempting to retrieve the recordings and compromise Gabriel.
There is a femme fatale, double crosses and defection. I loved the way Boyd developed the plot and characters so that the reader is left not trusting anyone’s motives.
There is also another mystery around Gabriel’s childhood, whereby his mother’s house burnt down with her inside but he escaped. The report states it was his night light (Gabriel’s Moon) that was the cause but he isn’t convinced and can’t accept his culpability as an adult.
An exemplary addition to the spy genre that I would happily re-read.

Gabriel Dax is a travel writer given an opportunity to interview Patrice Lumumba at the time of Belgian Congo independence and at Lumumba’s insistence the talk is recorded. Thinking this is a great journalistic scoop on his way back to London he notices a woman reading one of his books. The sudden downfall of Lumumba renders his scoop worthless but agencies want his recording. He claims to have destroyed it and then he is tempted to undertake a seemingly innocuous mission to purchase a drawing from an artist in Spain by the woman from the plane. And so a complex tale ensues of espionage with the mystery of Gabriel’s early years interspersed within the narrative. It races across various exotic parts of Europe as well as Cold War Poland and an episode in Southwold Suffolk fits in neatly. A cracking read with an ending that maybe promises more to come.

Well this book drew me in from the very first page! I find this author has the power to describe a world so real that you are thoroughly immersed in the protagonist's experience first hand. Gabriel isnt always a sympathetic character but you cannot help but believe he is real, and as soon as the intrigue starts , which by the way is slipped in almost like a side plot at first the book becomes even more engrossing. Its a world which might take you away from your own with art dealers and intelligence services at play , and Gabriels family is a privileged one although he has certainly suffered becasue of his early experiences. But for all that you wont want to step away, so intriguing is the unfolding plot. I found it very satisfying, consumately well written and to my mind it only cements William Boyd into the highest echelons of literary fiction today. Its accessible, even quite exciting in its own way. 5 stars of anyones money I'd say.

William Boyd is just a great storyteller and here he tells a compelling story.

It's 1960 and Gabriel is an English travel writer and occasion freelance journalist. While on assignment in Africa he is given the opportunity to interview the new leader of the volatile Independent Republic of the Congo. By the time he's finished the article the leader has been deposed and his newspaper turns down the opportunity to run it. However somehow - perhaps there's a connection, perhaps not - he's come onto the radar of MI6 who view his occupation as the perfect cover for some small jobs. He takes one on out of interest and then finds himself increasingly caught up in something that he can't control.

It's an engaging and twisting story when you're not sure who can be trusted and who's telling the truth. It has a wonderful sense of time and place. Gabriel is a complicated character and I enjoyed spending time with him. Boyd has breathed new life into a genre popularised by John le Carre and Graham Greene.

I received an ARC via Net Galley.

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
Having read and loved William Boyd’s books for years I was really excited to read his latest, Gabriel’s Moon. The story opens with a description of the night of Gabriel’s mother’s death in a terrible house fire. The Gabriel’s moon of the title is the night which he has by his bed and which is thought to be the cause of the fire.
We then move forward to the early 1960’s Gabriel is now a very successful travel writer. He has been brought up by his uncle Aldous an art dealer and his older brother, who was away at boarding school when the fire broke out is adopted by another part of the family. He lives in a flat in Chelsea which he shares with some rather persistent mice see. He is troubled by insomnia in which he is awakened by dreams of fires linking back to the death of his mother. He travels frequently for his writing and also does occasional jobs for his brother who works for the foreign office. He and his brother are not particularly close having lived separate lives after the death of their parents.
He then is given the opportunity to interview Patrice Lumumba, a leader about to be deposed, in the interview Gabriel becomes privy to information that others do not want to emerge and although his story is written they decided not to print it. Gabriel becomes more and more embroiled in what seems to be a spy network and he is the unsuspecting pawn in their manoeuvring.
It is a glorious novel and the period detail is brilliant. I absolutely loved the flawed character of Gabriel and his quest to discover what happened on the night of the fire and what is happening in his life now. Gabriel’s Moon is a real page turner and it is also a wonderful spy novel evoking shadowy world of spies and double agents. I will be recommending it to all of my book groups. William Boyd is a great writer at the top of his game. Many thanks to the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

I wasn't sure about this novel to begin with. It starts with a fire when the protagonist, Gabriel Dax, is a child. This fire which kills his mother, is a defining part of his life. It then moves to the (newly independent) Congo where Dax interviews the president. This beginning jarred with me and I had to restart the novel three times. I didn't want to give up on it because Boyd in one of my favourite novelists. i'm so happy I didn't give up on it because this is one of his best novels yet, I absolutely loved it.

Gabriel is a complex character. A travel writer by trade he is drawn into the world of espionage almost by accident. He is quite passive in all of this and appears to be motivated mainly by money (and perhaps lust for his contact, Faith). He carries out a number of errands for the secret service and soon becomes embroiled.

After a somewhat dodgy start – my fault no doubt – I adored everything about this novel. As already mentioned, the characterisation of Gabriel is excellent but there are many other well -realised characters too: his psychoanalyst,;Faith; his brother Sefton. Only Lorraine, his lover, is somewhat sketchy. The setting too is very well done. The early sixties in all their dreariness. The awful food, the dismal accommodation. I loved it all. We also have the bonus of several trips abroad, Having been to eastern Europe in the seventies (not the sixties but near enough) I can testify to the terrible food so well described by Boyd. Incidentally we are treated to a couple of extracts from Gabriel's travel books and these are a superb pastiche of some of the travel writing of this time.

Perhaps my favourite of his books so far, maybe even better than Any Human Heart. I strongly recommend this. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Gabriel’s Moon is an espionage story reminiscent of the classics in the sub genre.
Although I am very selective when it comes to thrillers, spy and mystery novels, and hence I do not consider myself a fan of these genres any longer, I am glad I picked this book up. The blurb was intriguing and so is the book.

Gabriel is tormented by his childhood. A travel writer by day, he happens to have interviewed an important figure, and that’s the final interview holding some answers.

Gabriel is a complex character and his characterisation is one of the strongest elements in this book despite my not finding all of his decisions sensible or relevant for his character. Boyd’s prose and the plot are interesting.

Plot 4.5
Characterisation 4
Prose 4.5
Mood 4

William Boyd's “Gabriel's Moon” is nothing short of a literary triumph, a novel that brilliantly captures the complexities of the human psyche while delivering a narrative that is both haunting and exhilarating. This is Boyd at the height of his powers, crafting a story that lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned.

The novel centers on Gabriel Dax, a character so richly drawn that he feels entirely real. Gabriel is a man burdened by a past he cannot escape, and Boyd masterfully explores his inner turmoil, creating a character study that is both intimate and epic. Boyd's ability to delve into the depths of Gabriel's soul is remarkable, making the reader deeply invested in his fate.

Boyd's prose is, as always, exquisite. Each sentence is carefully crafted, with a lyrical quality that enhances the novel's emotional weight. The pacing of “Gabriel's Moon” is pitch-perfect, with a slow burn that draws the reader in and keeps them hooked until the very end. Boyd’s attention to detail is extraordinary, from the evocative descriptions of fascist Spain to the subtle nuances of character interaction.

“Gabriel's Moon” shows the literary force that is William Boyd.This is a book that deserves to be read, savored, and remembered. A definite five-star read.