(2022) Thought I would give this a try when I saw its sequel in library. Through the first 100 pages or so, I thought, I've read this book before and am sure I started it. The clincher was when one of the characters is revealed to give his spy operatives nicknames based on TV women detectives like "Cagney & Lacey" and "Killing Eve". I plugged on but soon got bogged down in the author's insistence on using 2 stories separated by 20 years and jumping back and forth by chapters. It soon became hard to continue as both stories weren't very interesting and concentrated on the main protagonist, Lachlan Kite . I kept at it and finally the story of 20 years ago involving Iranian spies and the Locherbie Flight 103 airliner bombing got interesting. This would have been a much better book if he had left out the current day story altogether, concentrated on the earlier one up to its ending. I would give this a weak 3 stars of 5.KIRKUS: Karma comes calling for a veteran spy.An eerie prologue set on Dec. 21, 1988, recounts the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie from the perspective of Gaby, a young American passenger who doesn't survive. Cut to present-day London, where veteran intelligence officer Lachlan Kite receives a phone call telling him that his childhood friend Xavier Bonnard has killed himself. His phone is being tapped by a cadre of MI5 agents intent on ferreting out the significance of Kite's involvement with the mysterious Anglo-American intelligence group BOX 88. Though their surveillance is comprehensive, the agents haven't reckoned on Kite becoming the target of a surprise attack, but he's soon kidnapped and thrown into a cell by a group of determined Iranians led by businessman Ramin Torabi. Captivity becomes the catalyst for Kite to engage in a soul-searching reevaluation of his life and career. Going all the way back to Kite's adolescence, author Cumming lays the groundwork for the moral decisions Kite faces in his intelligence career. The unravelling of the events surrounding Xavier's suicide is a key component of this painful reminiscence. So are the aftermath of the Lockerbie tragedy and the subsequent shocking secrets surrounding BOX 88. Cumming keeps the suspense high; not only is Kite imprisoned, but his captors are threatening his pregnant wife and their family. The plot anchored in full-bodied portraits of a small cast of characters confronted with the inescapable way the political and the personal are entangled is intricate but coherent, taking readers down a chilling road of recent history, vividly depicted. The result is a believable plot undergirded by complex characters and profound questions.The gold standard in espionage fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022ISBN: 978-1-61316-273-6Page Count: 400Publisher: Mysterious Press

A good, fun read--weaving past and present together for a smart and creative story. ( )

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
CAWPILE score: 4.86 (34/70), Good
FRTC ( )

I wanted to really like it. I enjoy espionage stories. This feels like it could have been 2 books. All of the flashbacks feel overdone. I was just bored most of the time. I had a hard time feeling invested a out any of these characters. ( )

BOX 88 is listed on bestseller lists and receives high ratings, but I had to struggle to avoid a DNF. So, I trudged through it 50 pages at a time. In a word, it is boring.

The book begins with a short four-page introduction focused on the 1988 Bombing of Pan Am 103 near Lockerbie, Scotland, to set the background for the story.

In 2020, Iranian spies kidnap Lachlan Kite, a married, middle-aged agent of BOX 88. Previously, they murdered Kite’s boarding school friend, Xavier, and are now intent on extracting information about Kite’s first assignment in 1989. As the story progresses, Kite’s wife is held hostage, and agents of BOX 88 and MI5 attempt to locate and rescue Kite and his wife.

Unfortunately, the focus shifts to Kite’s recruitment into BOX 88, his initial training, and his first assignment. Initially, I regarded these shifts as annoying interruptions to introduce Kite’s backstory. It soon became clear that the focus is on Kite’s actions as an 18-year-old recruit and the events that occurred in 1989.

Unfortunately, the events of 1989 are not particularly interesting, and Kite’s abduction and the subsequent rescue is little more than a flawed subplot. The motivation for the kidnapping was laughably implausible. Finally, the story ends with a lame cash grab. A minor character introduced early in the book reappears with information blatantly designed to set the stage for a subsequent book. Read Box 88 and any sequels at your own risk. ( )