The Hidden Man: A gripping spy action crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Over the last few years Charles Cumming has garnered a reputation as one of the leading British writers of spy fiction, and has even been widely feted as "the new John le Carre". Having read some of his recent novels, including The Trinity Six, and A Foreign Country I might be inclined to agree. If, however, I had read this book at the time it was first published I doubt whether I would ever have troubled to read any of his subsequent offerings.The basic premise upon which the novel is based is the strained relationship between former spy, Christopher Keen, and his two sons Mark and Ben. Christopher walked out on his family and then went more than twenty years without seeing either of his sons. After meeting Mark he manages a slight rapprochement with Mark but Ben continues to refuse to see him. Christopher now works for a firm of consultants, advising businesses that are trying to establish bases in Russia, and as luck would have it, one of his clients is the company that Mark works for.MI5 Meanwhile Christopher is approached by MI5 who see him as a useful source of intelligence about the Russian mafia, and they ask him to keep an eye on the progress of his son's employer whom they suspect of involvement in drug and/or people trafficking. Christopher is intrigued and, seeing a chance to strengthen his relationship with his son, he agrees.All seems to eb going well … until Christopher is suddenly murdered …This all sounds enticing enough. Unfortunately, however, the plot progresses at a tortuously slow pace, and the characters are, frankly, utterly unbelievable. Cumming's later books were notable for the strength of their plotting and the plausibility and empathy of his characters, but it would appear that he was still learning his art with this book.

Charles Cumming is, in my opinion, currently the best British author of spy fiction. 'The Hidden Man' is a fast-paced thriller involving the intelligence services and Russian gangsters and is every bit as good as his previous offerings. The 'hidden man' of the book's title is Christopher Keen, a retired MI6 operative who left his family when his two sons, Ben and Mark were young. The boys are now adults, and Christopher is desperate to be reconciled to them. However, before he can be reconciled to Ben he is murdered. Several of his ex-colleagues attend the funeral, and Ben and Mark are suddenly thrust into a world where they are unsure who to trust and what to believe.I heartily recommend this superb thriller.

Charles Cumming has been hailed as the new John le Carre and certainly this book is as complex as any John le Carre but strangely has little action, although a film of the book would probably have lots of flash backs with action sequences. It is set in a world so contemporary that the Russians have become the bad guys again, so it is not just post cold war but post the immediate post cold war era. The legacy of war is also a theme as the horrors of what one's own side does in modern war leaves an indelible mark on some of the characters. Difficult to get into but definitely worth sticking with - probably also worth listening to a second time for more of it to fall into place. One down side, for me, is that the voice reading it is English estuarial and not very attractive or easy to listen to. Roll on the next Charles Cumming.

Not one of the best of Cummings' books but still enjoyable.

Really not as good as other Cummings novels, 'The Hidden Man' is over-complex, over-explained and disappointing in characterization. The editing could be better: e.g. several examples of 'Alison and I' as objects of a verb or preposition. 'He gave it to . . . I'? I am glad the later novels are much better.

Annoying author. 2 things:-Main thing: Book seems to be largely about a father and two sons. All frequently mentioned. The father is killed early on and there is a not so clear explanation of who did it (Lots of Russian spies and half spies but too many names to keep up with.)Son 1 gets joe'd by a weak MI5 man. Towards the end he (son1) is killed although not clear who by. No further mention of him.Son 2 - a painter- wife has extra marital with main baddy who turns out near the end to be an SIS spy but who is allowed to do what he likes. Affair ends. Son 1 recruits Son 2 to spydom. regrets it. By the last chapter it's as if we have never heard of any of this family or their wives and girlfriends.The book ends, like so many these days, with a sense you have to buy the next book. I won't be reading any more.I like Mark Dawson best because he keeps up with his characters but having read them all I keep waiting for him to write more.

Most disappointed to receive Kindle version printed in Italics Times Roman, making it difficult to read. It would have been easier to read in a sans serif typeface as most books are on kindle.

I read A Spy By Nature first, and although I found it a bit slow going in the first half, did enjoy the book - I next read this one a few months later and found it much better paced from the beginning and it held my attention right through.Having been an avid reader of Robert Ludlum and latterly, Daniel Silva, could be the reason I found the pace in the first book too sedate at first. Not perhaps fair to compare, as Charles Cumming writes a different type of spy story - at least thus far.I found The Hidden Man very enjoyable and well written. Nice to visualise the various parts of London that I'm a little familiar with too.