Reading the 20th Century discussion

Welcome to our buddy read of The Envoy by Edward Wilson

The setting is 1950 in London at the height of the Cold War and Kit Fournier is ostensibly a senior diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Grosvenor Square, but he is actually CIA bureau chief in London—a spy operating under diplomatic cover. He plies his cynical trade on the spy-infested streets where suspicion turns enemies into friends and friends into enemies. This bleak but familiar literary landscape hosts a volatile cast from MI6, KGB, CIA, and top-secret nuclear researchers who play at espionage and treason by day and dangerous, sometimes fatal, sexual games by night.

Pamela and I are definitely reading this. Anyone else is very welcome.

I have started this one. It is quite convoluted in terms of the plot - fairly world-weary and a realistic appraisal of what spycraft probably really involves. A fair amount of boredom, alternated with danger and death.

I'd like to give it a try if I can find the time - great monochrome cover!

I must admit I am struggling a little with this one. I like it, but I don't love it, if that makes sense. However, I do feel a little as though I am chugging along to the end.

Ah, I might wait then till you've finished it, Susan, and see what your final verdict is.

I really enjoyed re-reading the Anthony Price - it was dated, but it worked better as a story.

This was a three for me and, sadly, I am not really enthused enough to read on.

Oh no Susan. I will be starting this today so will have some thoughts to share soon. I liked the Anthony Price too.

I enjoyed the Anthony Price. I liked parts of this, but I was a tad disappointed, to be honest. Never mind, it's good to try different series and this has had loads of great reviews, so you might feel differently.

Thanks for trying this, Susan - think I'll skip it given your verdict.

I must admit I am struggling with this one a bit. I have restarted it and got to about 30% so will persevere.

I think the problem is that the writing is very heavy. The author has done a lot of research but delivers it in info dumps. For example, Kit returns to his flat and looks at the fire - we get a short treatise on smog and the Clean Air Act. There are lengthy explanations of who Philby was, how to write in code, etc. It slows the narrative down.

Good to hear it was not just me, Pamela. Feel free to give up as, to be honest, I really struggled with this. I got to the end, but will not continue with the next book.

I’d hoped it would pick up but it doesn’t look like it will. I have discovered I have a physical copy of Book 6 in the series so it will be going to the charity shop

No, it was a disappointment, but it was good to try a new series. It might have been good.

I’ve finished it now and it finally picked up, the last third was really good. I gave it 3* as it was 2* up to that point, then became a 4*.

I liked the double crossing and the world weary tone, and I felt Kit was convincing as an agent (less so as a lover ) even though I didn’t like him. Wilson did a good job of showing how his past experiences had damaged him and affected his path - that must have been common for ex-military of that era - but the obsession with Jennifer was less convincing.

I enjoyed seeing the author’s fictional take on the real events that came up in Ben McIntyre’s books, like the Lionel Crabb frogman incident, but there were too many clunky info dumps in the early part. That improved once the plot started to fully unfold, but I nearly didn’t stick with it that far.

Overall I liked the ideas and underlying plot, but the execution was rather laboured. Maybe it would have worked better in first person?

Glad that it finally clicked for you, Pamela. I agree that it had some positive points, but there were some negatives. What did you think of the central character - realistic or somewhat unlikeable?

I thought that Kit was convincing at times, certainly the way he fell into espionage and never really had his heart in it as a cause, but also unlikeable. I guess he was damaged by his war experiences, as Frances states later.

I didn’t find his obsession with Jennifer convincing, or the bizarre correspondence with his sisters, and I didn’t like any of them - Jennifer, Brian nor Kit.

Me neither. I don't have to like characters, but Kit was quite a difficult central character to get to grips with. He was pragmatic and wished to survive, but hardly the hero - or anti hero - of many such series.