Carlyle. Liz Carlyle.

Dame Stella Rimington, former director general of the Security Service (MI5), brings the complicated world of modern intelligence to life in Rip Tide, her sixth Liz Carlyle novel. This fast paced novel finds Liz Carlyle trying to protect her country while also juggling interdepartmental issues and her own new relationship.

The likeable Liz, a counter-terrorism specialist, is called to France to interrogate a Birmingham-born British Pakistani who was arrested by the French navy as he and other pirates attempted to board a ship loaded with charitable supplies bound for Africa. Liz is intrigued by several aspects of the case: why were the pirates attacking a ship of food and medical supplies, rather than going for more lucrative cargoes? Also, how did a British citizen end up working with Somali pirates? Is there a larger conspiracy going on?

Liz and her colleagues at MI5 begin investigating the Birmingham end of the trail, seeking information on the radical Muslim elements there. She is also forced to collaborate with the urbane Geoffrey Fane, her counterpart at MI6, as they try to ascertain whether or not the pirates have a contact in the charity’s Athens office. Then an MI6 agent turns up dead in Athens, and suddenly the whole situation becomes much more urgent. The British agents must work with the Americans and French in order to discover as much information as possible about the pirates—and who is behind them—before it’s too late.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Should I recommend this to my grandma? Why not?


This review was originally written for Shelf Awareness (although it has not yet appeared in print there). The title image and cover are Amazon affiliate links.