Disorderly Elements

What makes this book enjoyable is how it interweaves two extremely disparate threads in espionage fiction. The rarer thread, whimsical espionage, is best epitomized by Graham Greene's classic Our Man in Havana. Greene's book is about a vacuum cleaner salesman who convinces experts at the highest level of Western intelligence that he is on to something nefarious in Havana. His proof is drawings inspired by his vacuum cleaners for which he is paid increasing amounts of money as the excitement builds about the 'freshness' of his material. John LeCarre's The Tailor of Panama may be more familiar to contemporary readers and follows the same vein, albeit with more a sense of irony and decidedly less farce. The more dominant thread in espionage fiction, is the meticulous cat-and-mouse game of intelligence and counter-intelligence, most recently captured brilliantly in the works of Robert Littell (read anything you can by this author!) Littell is the master of shifting points of view, the subtle introduction of facts which reverse suddenly one's view of the chess game being played out, and the ending with a 'hook.' So what makes Disorderly Elements so interesting is that Bob Cook manages to mix these two threads seamlessly in a quick read that yields a lot of enjoyment. In addition, he conveys a lot of interesting historical knowledge about both MI-6 and the KGB. There's an overdone heavy handedness in how he satirizes the 'experts' at the top of British intelligence, and that kept me from giving this 5 stars. However, you can read quickly past those brief sections as they are obvious and repetitious. The rest of the book is a real delight.

I wish I had known about Bob Cook earlier, when his other books were in print. This charming and very British tale, sly and droll, is a lovely read. Felony & Mayhem, more please!