I picked up A Shadow Intelligence by chance. It seemed like the sort of thing I'd be interested in. I certainly was. I was fascinated. Oliver Harris is more than a continuation of English spy fiction; he is the next generation. The cyber warfare being waged in A Shadow Intelligence is so deep and complex that much of the time I didn't have a clue what was happening - yet Harris's writing skill and the compelling voice of his protagonist Elliot Kane, kept me hooked for all 438 pages of the ebook.
Kane is MI6 but has wandered somewhat off from the mainstream. He has spent his career under cover in exotic countries far afield. He is back in England when he learns that his colleague and lover Joanna Lake has disappeared in Kazakhstan. Immediately before vanishing she sent Kane a video in which he was in a hotel room with a dubious man. The thing is, it wasn't him, he doesn't recognise the room or know the man. He notices the date on a newspaper in the clip is a couple of weeks hence.
Naturally Kane gives his official spook surveillance the slip and heads off to Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country by area with one of the smallest populations per hectare. A massive oil field has been discovered. International corporations are flooding in - on the heels of their various official and non-official (or 'shadow') intelligence agencies. Kane signs up with one of these and contacts the others. He also brings his own resources to bear. It all comes together in a spectacular climax.
Harris has clearly done his homework. Whether what he describes is feasible or not doesn't matter a hoot. It soon will be and Harris has plugged in to the contemporary AI paranoia. He writes exceptionally well. His pacing is both relentless and extraordinary. A Shadow Intelligence is the first of his spy novels. I shall certainly look out for the next, Ascension (2021). I am also keen to try Harris's Nick Belsey crime novels.
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