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Friends and Traitors

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Friends and Traitors

By: John Lawton
Narrated by: Lewis Hancock
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About this listen

It is 1958. Newly promoted Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard is on a Continental trip with his older brother, Rod, who is taking the entire family on 'the Grand Tour' for his 51st birthday. After a concert in Vienna, Frederick Troy is approached by an old friend - Soviet spy Guy Burgess, who says something extraordinary: 'I want to come home.'

MI5 send an agent to debrief Burgess - but the man is gunned down yards from the embassy, and Troy finds himself a suspect. As he fights to prove his innocence, Troy finds that Burgess is not the only ghost who returns to haunt him.

©2018 John Lawton (P)2018 Oakhill Publishing Crime Fiction Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Mystery Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military World Literature Fiction Military Crime War Haunted Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant
I love this series. The cast is populated by crooks and traitors and the most morally flexible bunch you could imagine. Lawton’s trick is to make them sound witty and clever. Wealth helps. Of course, in real life, all those public schoolboys in one place would have you grabbing a revolver to put yourself out of your misery but a murder detective needs a murder.

Spies and sex

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As with all Lawton books there is an engaging and convoluted plot, but to my mind there is really too much (again) about Guy Burgess - the book consists of a sort of biography or re-creation of the life of Burgess and so there is in reality very little plot as such. Nevertheless the reading is wonderfully RP and beautifully paced and as with all Lawton books we are swept along with the drama. It is also another step in the Troy story and brings in all the usual characters creating an extremely realistic or at least vivid description of the 1950s and the way that upper class society operated.

Too much Burges

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Probably because I found the reading so jerky and he seemed to try too hard. I think I might have enjoyed it a little more other than this. Having said that the reader of the books can make or break the enjoyment. Even a boring book can be made to sound good if the reader is good.

Hard to follow

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This is quicker paced than most of the series, and has more expletives and adult humour. I loved it. Worth reading series in chronological order of content and not order they came out. They make more sense that way.

My Favourite Troy book

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An excellent novel, beautifully written, clever and entertaining. Narrated with style. As enjoyable as other Lawton works.

Excellent

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