Raven's scurrilous roman fleuve continues into its sixth volume, and he keeps the momentum admirably. Fielding Gray is back in the foreground, having been persuaded to return to Cyprus, scene of his disfigurement several years earlier while he was serving in the Army. Now he has been asked by Tom Llewellyn to investigate allegations that the rising in Cyprus had actually been managed ad manipulated by operatives from the CIA.

The author has clearly researched his background well, and the political context seems entirely plausible (to me, anyway!). However, the context is less important that the principal plot, in which Raven excels. Fielding Gray, an eminently empathetic character, is tested both physically and morally at different stages of the story, and the reader feels for him. Meanwhile Marquis Canteloupe and Somerset Lloyd James are plotting in their inimitable way, deterined to ensure that Fielding's investigations go awry.

Unlike the rest of the sequence this novel would probably not stand up on its own, but within the context of the series it works very well. ( )