Though it wasn’t my favourite Tom Bradby thriller because of my disconnect with the characters, it was nevertheless fast paced at times, (particularly towards the end), and I still enjoyed it. Nothing good ever comes from a midnight phone call, especially from Downing Street. For washed-up spy Harry Tower, it is the worst news at the worst possible time. His son, Sean, has gone missing in troubled Iran after writing an exposé about government corruption. This book was primarily set during the 1953 Iranian coup. It was interesting to learn about this. Yes, I know this is fiction, but if a novel gets you interested enough to look up information on your own it has done its job. A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped. A secret British intelligence agency must find out why. But as the quarry is pursued from grimy Soho to the other side of the world, what seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister. A big thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I loved the last three books he had written in the Kate Henderson series so was very excited to be invited to read Tom Bradby's latest book.

Sean Tower is a reporter for The Guardian. He stayed in Iran, rather than returning to university in England, partly as a rebellion against his distant father. His mother Amanda has recently died, widening the rift between father and son. Neither understands the other. However, Tehran is becoming a dangerous place. I am grateful to the author and Grove Atlantic for granting me access to an ARC in return for an honest review. As a fan of Mr. Bradby's earlier Kate Henderson series, I was disappointed by this story. I knew little about the 50s politics in the Middle East, particularly Iran, so the plot was new to me. It made for a good potential story of the cold war in a different venue. That potential was not realized, with much more of a focus on James Bond-esque action with little character development. I was used to Mr. Bradby's use of moral ambivalence in his previous novels, but this story did not build on its premise. We meet our spy, Harry, as he finds out his son has gone missing in Tehran, but what was he really doing there…Harry makes it his mission to find out with adventures and personal introspective along the way ( re his past ) Riveting...with style and energy, evocative scene-setting and strong characterisation' Financial TimesIt is primarily set in the early 1950s and focuses upon Harry Tower, recently retired British Secret Service agent. In this Cold War era he is considered by his former colleagues as ‘yesterday’s spy’. During his years as a spy, neither his wife nor son were aware of what Tom did for a living. His cover was working for the Board of Trade. It is 1953. Harry Tower has been a talented British SIS officer for many years. So talented that he’s trusted by Winston Churchill. A sunken U-Boat has lain undisturbed on the Atlantic ocean floor since the Second World War – until now. Inside its rusting hull, among the corpses of top-rank Nazis, lie secrets people will kill to obtain.

In my youth I looked for answers with a terrible urgency. I craved certainty. Then I started telling myself that, in the end, we have to accept there’s a vast amount we just don’t know.” Sinister rumors link clandestine Arab arms dealing with the man who led the old anti-Nazi Guernica network. It's time to re-open the master file on yesterday's spy…' Len Deighton's ‘Yesterdays Spy' is the subject of the latest Brush Pass Review on Spybrary Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Twenty years later. Harry is now a fading star in the SIS firmament. He is called to Downing Street because of his expertise in Iran. Harry has served in Tehran and his son, Sean, is still there. Churchill is about to approve British involvement in Operation Ajax, a plan in conjunction with the Americans to oust Iran’s legitimate and popular nationalist prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.Ageing Hollywood star Marshall Stone is scared. Scared that the parts are drying up. Scared of being forgotten. So when he hears an eminent author is writing his biography, Stone siezes the chance of immortality. But painful memories and suppressed scandals soon threaten to destroy the carefully-constructed fiction of his life. The 1953 Iranian coup was one of the seminal events of the 20th century. Its importance is under-appreciated in the US. And accounts of that time tend to focus on the CIA. Even MI6, whose collaboration with the Americans was indispensable, is often overlooked. So is the Soviet involvement.

Their relationship has never recovered since Harry's wife's suicide, for which Sean holds his father responsible. And Harry, with his career on the verge of disintegration, needs to find him and put things right.Do you believe in God?’ Julie asked. ‘No. But I’m old enough to recognize that we simply have no idea what lies beyond the boundaries of our knowledge and to take some comfort from that ignorance.”

Today, with our eyes clouded by decades of history of the Islamic Republic, we may find it difficult to imagine the dynamics of Iranian society in the 1940s and 50s. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. “Without the discovery of an inexhaustible supply of oil in Iran, the British Empire would never have won two world wars.” But the British effectively stole that oil, leaving the large and growing Iranian public hungry and desperate. And the resulting rise of a populist regime under Mohammad Mosaddegh was only one of the threats to the West. The Soviet Union was actively seeking to seize power in Tehran as well. For once, the Eisenhower Administration’s crusade against Communism around the world may have acted against a genuine threat there . . . or at least one that could be more easily rationalized than all the others that followed in Guatemala, the Congo, and Chile. World-weary agent Bernard Samson is losing control of his personal and professional life. Sent to Mexico to aid the defection of a KGB agent to the West, he has a chance to prove his worth. Instead he is torn between conflicting loyalties, and lost in a maze of double-dealing and duplicity. Then Harry gets a call – Sean has gone missing. Yesterday’s Spy springs into action as Harry flies to Iran to find his son. There are people who remember Harry and are hostile to the British presence, the political atmosphere is febrile and the city charged with violence. It’s a mix of a man coming to terms with his life and failings ( as well as success’s ), drama and an insight into spying, foreign policies and how the UK amongst others behaved in Iran at that time

The narrative also contains chapters set during the 1930s-40s that provide more details of Harry’s earlier life and career. Still, he might be considered a has-been by some but in 1953 he is still able to breeze into 10 Downing Street and is on friendly terms with the PM, Sir Winston Churchill. A fast-paced spy thriller located mostly in Iran. The story is set at the time of the coup in 1953. This is an exciting read with lots of adrenaline-filled action with plenty of twists and surprises. The characters are well-drawn and whilst not necessarily likeable, are very credible. It was fascinating to learn about the history of Iran. Or perhaps you might want to indulge your inner secret agent with Deighton’s Bernard Sampson novels? A trilogy of trilogies set in 1980s England featuring secret agent Sampson and his wife Fiona, this exceptional series cemented Deighton as one of the top spy novelists of his time. Harry’s son Sean is a journalist. Sean blames Harry for his mother’s suicide. Harry’s wife suffered from bouts of severe depression and, rather than being there when she cycled into a dark phase, Harry was off saving the world. Harry returned from an assignment and found Sean holding his mother’s body after cutting her from the rope she used to hang herself. Harry understandably blames himself but wishes he could do more for Sean, who wants nothing that Harry tries to give him. I am a big fan of smart espionage, which also makes me a big fan of Tom Bradby. His latest stand-alone outing, “Yesterday's Spy”, provides plenty of action while exposing the moral ambiguities of what we do for king and country.