Our Woman in Jamaica

A rotten apple in the barrel.

1980. With a general election three weeks away in Jamaica and the usual violence escalating there as rival factions literally fought it out, MI6 and Langley decided that they needed to enter into the fray to ensure that the resident Prime Minister did not retain his seat.
Ruby Parker, bright, black and unpredictable, was again persuaded to become their agent. Not that everyone in MI6 was in favour of the selection, but black agents were in short supply: in fact, she was the only one. Ruby wasn't too happy about the assignment either. But flights were booked, together with an hotel room in Kingston, and she was told that an American agent, also black, would meet her a day later at her hotel. But things didn't go quite as smoothly as expectdd.

Another great spy come personal story from author, James Ward, who writes with intelligence, wit and gives a terrific story, action filled, with sometimes humerous, sometimes frightening situations. Always a really good immersive writer, this book is certainly no exception.
The narration by Sandra Elzabeth Cullen was reasonable. Her English accented voice was clear and pleasant to the ear, with good intonation throughout. However, to this listener, although accurate in her delivery, she seemed to merely read the words, not the story behind them, especially in the earlier part of the book. Increasing playback speed to 1.25 helped deflect this impression. Also, her early attempts at other accents - American, Jamaican, or even South West England - were woefully poor and were abandoned, thankfully, altogether as the book progressed. This was then a straightforward reading, not a performance with character voicings after the initial chapters.

Our Woman in Jamaica is an excellent book, very satisfying and enjoyable, which should appeal to all spy story devotees (it's not James Bond, more John le Care or Graham Greene) ) and the main protagonist is endearing, sometimes fragile and just a wee big odd. My thanks to the rights holder who, at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom.
Well worth reading.