Stephen Leather brings the oldie but goldie school spy charm in this off-the-headlines thriller, Direct Action.
Dan “Spider” Shepherd is faced with a double threat in this latest outing. He and his old team are being investigated for a murder that occurred on his watch while serving abroad just as he is sent undercover to infiltrate a group of vigilantes who are taking matters into their own hands supposedly weeding out the bad apples who’ve found their way on British soil through weak immigration. As Dan works his way through the group, he finds there’s more at play with a larger force acting as the puppeteer behind the scenes.
Leather goes all in with his realistic and slow-burn depiction of espionage tradecraft, emphasizing human wits and intelligence in the world of undercover operations. Shepherd takes a much more active role in this outing as he goes into a den of killers himself, with little more than his own instincts and training to save himself, keeping violence rightfully as a last resort to avoid breaking cover. This makes for some harrowing close calls throughout the book.
Direct Action boasts a very timely narrative constructed around immigration and those who would pervert it on both sides of the equation. The story delves into moral questions afflicted by politics and prejudice, all the while steadily building to a ferocious finale that ultimately brings a very satisfying conclusion while offering a slightly uncomfortable mirror to the harsh realities of the world.
Direct Action is a worthy addition to the vast world of spy craft and kinetic operations that Stephen Leather continues to evolve with the changing times.
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