I had enjoyed all of Charles Cummings books prior to Box 88 but found that relatively dull and un engaging. Thirty years after a deadly attempt to extract a Russian scientist to safety in Ukraine, master spy Lachlan Kite eludes an assassin in the streets of Dubai. It’s well written with such a large sense of realism and it’s very obvious the author has done his homework.

In the first timeline, it’s 1993 and Kite accepts an assignment to go to Russia undercover to spirit out a scientist who will otherwise be used by the Russian state to develop chemical weapons. He had, however, been tracked down despite the safety measures put in place, and a Russian assassin had managed to deliver a fatal dose of Novichok. My fear now is that Cumming will stick to this structure in subsequent books, doing a back-and-forwards at least until we get to the bit in Lockie's life story where we learn how/why/when he broke up with Martha. Combining dexterous plotting in the manner of Daniel Silva with full-throttle action and character building that whets our appetite to learn more about Kite and his colleagues, Cumming is in top form here.

He uses Aranov as bait to compromise Mikhail Gromik, the Russian intelligence officer who caused Kite problems in 1993 and who is also at the centre of the Judas List terminations. A sequel, entitled A Colder War, in which Kell investigates a traitor inside western intelligence, was published in 2014. Is their inside man into Russia trustworthy enough to help them accomplish such a tall task in a foreign country without being exposed?

The Judas list has such a ring of authenticity as we all know of revenge stories such as Alexei Navalny and Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury. Like the first in series, Box 88, the second book, Judas 62, takes place in two widely spaced periods, first Lachlan’s youth, when he’s just starting to learn his tradecraft and to develop as a man, and then his current middle age, when he has become a very senior spook with a lot of emotional baggage. Having made several working visits there, I’ve always felt that Dubai would make an excellent location for a thriller, for in real life the city is awash with intelligence officers from the West, Iran, Israel, Russia and other parts of the Middle East.He was educated at Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature.