Source: Review copy from No Exit Books for the Random Things blog tour
It’s ages since I read a book by Andrew Rosenheim – I remember reading one of his early novels, Stillwater, but not much about it – well it was 2005 pre-blog. It’s a tale of small-town America, dysfunctional families, growing-up, loves gained and lost, homecoming and murder. He’s an American Rhodes Scholar who came to Oxford and stayed – indeed, his daughter went to my daughter’s school, and I remember him manning the very popular American hot dog stand at a World Food Festival the parents’ association ran!
Since then he’s diversified into thrillers, and his latest novel has a ‘fish out of water’ scenario, as much-favoured by Eric Ambler. It has a great beginning – Weaver, a translator and interpreter for the US government, is travelling to London for a few days off after the G20 meeting in Stockholm. When the flight attendant helps an old lady to the seat next to his, he inwardly groans, but Mrs Golubova proves interesting company.
For the duration of the flight, the old woman barely drew breath, only interrupting her narrative to pepper Weaver with questions. How had he come to learn Russian so well? He explained the mix of family background and education that accounted for this. What had he been doing in Stockholm – had it been a business trip? Yes, he said wanting to leave it at that. But she continued – Where did he work? When he told her, she seemed impressed – The American Government? He must be an important man – a ‘big shot’. He didn’t think so, he replied lightly, hoping the questions might cease.
Fat chance. Was he married? Not any longer. Were there children? No – given his divorce, a good thing too.
Somehow, you know we’ll encounter Mrs Golubova again.
Weaver was a translator and interpreter for the American delegation at the G20. Russian was his main language, but given the state of relations between the two countries, there wasn’t as much call for it, so this time he was dealing with the Italians in trade talks in his second language. However, he was seconded to be interpreter in a secret meeting between a US official and the Kremlin, when the interpreter who had been assigned fell and broke her leg. Weaver finds himself in a meeting between the White House Chief of Staff and a Russian general, and it’s clear that they have an arrangement. It is made clear to Weaver that he must never mention this meeting to anyone, however, he discovers that he has inadvertently recorded it on the pen recorder that his colleague had given to him for the other talks. His phone had been taken off him, but the pen innocently stayed in his pocket.
Once in London, he heads off to the countryside to stay with his old friend JP and his wife Sue in their manor house in Oxfordshire – with fishing rights! For apart from languages, Weaver’s other passion is fly fishing (I would wager he shares that with the author given the detail?). It is here that he meets Lily Churchill, a young businesswoman, who obviously has hidden depths. When Lily’s radiator manages to jam itself on full blast, she uses the interconnected bathroom between her and Weaver’s bedrooms to escape the heat and save disturbing the house. They get on well, but ever the gentleman, as we saw when he helped Mrs Golubova with her bags earlier, he took the couch.
Lily returns to London, but not before giving Weaver her details, as he is due to stay there too for a few days before going fishing with JP once more. He also takes the opportunity to hide the pen.
Once in London, choosing to stay in an air b’n’b in Notting Hill instead of the hotel booked for him, Weaver has a couple of scary encounters – someone on an e-scooter tries to steal his bag, a black Merc ominously appears. But no-one should know where he is… Who can he turn to? Lily of course! And thus begins a cat and mouse chase as both sides are after him.
I really enjoy thrillers where the protagonist is a fish out of water, although Weaver is not totally out of his depth, his father works for the FBI. The key issue though is who Lily is working for, as she is not merely a businesswoman helping start-ups from her East-London fortress of an appartment/offices. We do gradually tease that out of course. Weaver himself must go dark, and resist contacting anyone, leaving it up to Lily. Can he trust her? There is definitely a chemistry developing between them.
There are some interesting nuances raised between the arts of translation vs interpreting in Rosenheim’s novel. I had registered a good quote on that, but forgot to bookmark it! At it’s heart though is the corruption that is evident in the secret deal between US and Russia, and the conspiracy that results to bury it.
This was a pacy, twisty thriller with two protagonists in Weaver and Lily that you’ll root for throughout. I really enjoyed it, and must check out his other thrillers.
Source: Review copy. No Exit Press, paperback original, 299 pages.
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