BOX 88
Published on 1. October 2020
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-0-00-820036-7 (ISBN)
Description
An organisation that doesn't exist.
A spy that can't be caught.
Years ago, a spy was born...
1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. But what Kite uncovers is more terrifying than anyone expected...
Now he faces the deadliest decision of his life...
2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88's existence and go after Kite - but Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier - or watch his family die.
In a battle unlike anything he has faced before, Kite must use all his skills to stay alive.
'A spy for the 21st century'Daily Mail, Books of the Year
'Wonderfully taut, exciting and up-to-date'Spectator, Books of the Year
'An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller'Financial Times, Books of the Year
'BOX 88 is so good. Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers' Ian Rankin
'A wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming's most ambitious - and his best - yet' Mick Herron
'Charles Cumming has breathed new life into the spy novel' Ben Macintyre
'Atmospheric and full of sharply realised characters'
Sunday Times
'A clever thriller'
Sun
'Intelligence, grace, and stunning verisimilitude' Gregg Hurwitz
'An engaging hero' James Swallow
'All the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller' Charlotte Philby
'Sharp-eyed and satisfying' Henry Porter
'A great new spy hero is born' Amanda Craig
'Ideal for anyone nostalgic for their first love and the whiff of Marlboro Lights'
The Times
A spy that can't be caught.
Years ago, a spy was born...
1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. But what Kite uncovers is more terrifying than anyone expected...
Now he faces the deadliest decision of his life...
2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88's existence and go after Kite - but Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier - or watch his family die.
In a battle unlike anything he has faced before, Kite must use all his skills to stay alive.
'A spy for the 21st century'Daily Mail, Books of the Year
'Wonderfully taut, exciting and up-to-date'Spectator, Books of the Year
'An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller'Financial Times, Books of the Year
'BOX 88 is so good. Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers' Ian Rankin
'A wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming's most ambitious - and his best - yet' Mick Herron
'Charles Cumming has breathed new life into the spy novel' Ben Macintyre
'Atmospheric and full of sharply realised characters'
Sunday Times
'A clever thriller'
Sun
'Intelligence, grace, and stunning verisimilitude' Gregg Hurwitz
'An engaging hero' James Swallow
'All the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller' Charlotte Philby
'Sharp-eyed and satisfying' Henry Porter
'A great new spy hero is born' Amanda Craig
'Ideal for anyone nostalgic for their first love and the whiff of Marlboro Lights'
The Times
Reviews / Votes
'The talented Cumming comes up with a spy for the 21st century in Lachlan Kite' Daily Mail, Books of the Year'A wonderfully taut, exciting and up-to-date spy thriller' Spectator, Books of the Year
'An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller' Financial Times, Books of the Year
'BOX 88 is so good. Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers' Ian Rankin
'BOX 88 is a wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming's most ambitious - and his best - yet' Mick Herron
'Atmospheric and full of sharply realised characters' Sunday Times
'With a lavish sprinkling of Bond and more than a teaspoonful of the Circus, this is a high-quality spy story' Daily Mail
'This clever thriller about loss of innocence and the consequences of spying totally rings true' Sun
'Charles Cumming writes with intelligence, grace, and stunning verisimilitude' Gregg Hurwitz
'Great work from Charles Cumming with a multi-layered plotline and an engaging hero' James Swallow, Sunday Times bestselling author of Nomad
'A layered and seamlessly constructed story with all the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller' Charlotte Philby, acclaimed author of A Double Life
'An enviably sharp-eyed and satisfying read. Great!' Henry Porter, author of Firefly
'A fast-paced story that moves seamlessly between the glamour of the South of France in the late eighties and present day London' Holly Watt, author of To the Lions
'Utterly gripping. A great new spy hero is born' Amanda Craig, author of The Golden Rule
'Ideal for anyone nostalgic for their first love and the whiff of Marlboro Lights' The Times
'I felt much of the same pleasure I invariably find in a John Le Carre novel' Nicholas Coleridge, former President of Conde Nast International
"Don't overlook the depth of Charles Cumming's characterisations while you're busy writhing with excitement' Sunday Express
'An ambitious coming-of-age story combined with an enthralling spy thriller' Financial Times
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
730 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-820036-7 (9780008200367)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Charles Cumming was born in Scotland in 1971. Shortly after university, he was approached for recruitment by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), an experience that inspired his first novel, A Spy by Nature. He has written several bestselling thrillers, including A Foreign Country which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller and the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year. He lives in London.