A Foreign Country

by Charles Cumming

First published 2012

Thomas Kell thought his career with MI6 was finished. Months after being kicked out of the Service, he gets an unexpected call. Amelia Levene, Britain's first female MI6 Chief, has vanished from the streets of Paris just weeks before taking control of European intelligence operations. Her disappearance follows the brutal killing of an elderly French couple vacationing in Egypt. MI6 faces its worst crisis in over ten years. They need Kell to find Levene quietly, without letting word leak to allies or enemies. Kell follows clues from Paris into Tunisia, where he discovers that Levene's kidnapping connects to a far larger plot. The conspiracy threatens not just Britain but its closest partners. Kell must choose between personal redemption and political disaster. His investigation forces him to confront secrets that could reshape European intelligence forever.

Genres: suspense, mystery, espionage, political-thriller

Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, redemption, secrets

Setting: Egypt, Paris, Tunisia

Period: 21st-century

357 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press

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