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At a weekly anti-terrorist meeting, Liz Carlyle, MI5 Intelligence Officer, goes on alert when it is reported that an 'invisible', an unidentified British terrorist, has entered the country. This is the first indicator that something bad may be about to happen. As Liz gets more information and starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together, she realizes that a major terrorist operation is underway. In a race against time, Liz's intuitive skills, her ability to get inside the head of the 'invisible', is the best chance they have to stop them.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Publisher: Arrow Books (2004), ISBN: 0099461390
At Risk is the debut spy thriller written by the former head of Security Service (aka MI 5), Stella Rimington. The author was the first woman to head MI 5, and the heroine of her story still comes up against some of the prejudices that continue to afflict women in traditional male bastions. Not that she is particularly bothered about this - she can afford to, she made it to the top after all - and nor is her heroine, Liz Carlyle.
Carlyle is a veteran with 10 years of service spent on the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorist desks. Her boss, the rather mercurial Charles Wetherby who's still in love with a wife afflicted by some sort of degenerative disease, has quiet confidence in Liz's abilities to tie loose threads of information together into a solid piece of analysis.
That first piece of information comes from Germany where a fake UK driving licence is ordered in the name of Faraj Mansoor, the homonym of a man known to Pakistan security services as a terrorist. Another thread is the chatter of terrorists who are eagerly expecting an "invisible" to come into the UK, a terrorist with the nationality and appearance of a national of the country in which he, or she, operates.
The story develops in a style reminiscent of Dan Brown's writing (The Da Vinci Code), a series of seemingly uncorrelated scenes which gradually morph into a full picture - I guess just like intelligence work. The plot does not let go of you and the author's tradecraft has undoubtedly instilled the story with a sense of verisimilitude. The dénouement is, however, a bit of a letdown - it is just a bit too soppy albeit not soppy enough to feel disappointed about having read the book in the first place.
The story also fails to fully develop Liz Carlyle's emotional past illustrated by her seemingly tumultuous love life (what happens to her lover boy in the end?). We do know, though, that Liz is a dedicated career girl who puts her personal life on the backburner - a reference to the author's chest thumping in her autobiography (Open Secret). Perhaps, Carlyle will be more revealed in the books to come just like Ian Fleming's Bond took several books to reveal us his character.
I did like the innuendos in the passing and not always flattering references to the harmonious co-operation between security services (e.g. MI 6, SAS, corrupt Special Branch officers, lazy officers on the beat), the new MI 5 recruitment procedures, and the brouhaha surrounding ex-agents writing books.
All in all, this reader/reviewer will buy the author's next release just as he read her autobiography. Stella Rimington has developed a writing style which is entirely her own and may disappoint those expecting to read a new George Smiley story by Le Carré. It is not, but it is very good nevertheless deserving a 3-star rating.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed this book. I was a little suspicious seeing the "From the former head of MI5" written on the cover. These marketing ploys by publishers get worse and worse lately. So, I picked it up with some reservations. But, I was not at all dissapointed. The story is wonderfully crafted. A whole lot of apparently unrelated bits and pieces of information get pulled togther, and this story was wonderfully realistic. One wonders if it perhaps comes from some MI5 files that the public will, of course, never get to hear about!!
AT RISK opens with an introduction to Liz Carlyle, the key character in the novel, currently an agent-runner with the counter-terrorism unit of MI5. Liz, while bumping heads with colleagues thanks to the usual inter-offfice, and indeed, intra-office politics in a male-dominated workplace, is also confidently supported by Charles Wetherby, her superior at MI5. We then witness the entrance into the UK of an "invisible", a terrorist and/or terrorist aid who can pass off for a local, and this invisible facilitates the entry into the UK of an arab terrorist. The plot takes off from there, and any further information would be a plot spoiler! It is certainly a fascinating and exciting story. And, with so much coverage of terrorism in the popular fiction today, this was a refreshingly original piece of story-telling (listen up, Vince Flynn!).
One cannot help but wonder how much the key character, Liz Carlyle, is actually Stella Rimmington. Carlyle's character is extremely well developed, and we get to learn a lot about her. In fact, all of the characters in the novel felt very real to me. I wholeheartedly recommend it!
AT RISK opens with an introduction to Liz Carlyle, the key character in the novel, currently an agent-runner with the counter-terrorism unit of MI5. Liz, while bumping heads with colleagues thanks to the usual inter-offfice, and indeed, intra-office politics in a male-dominated workplace, is also confidently supported by Charles Wetherby, her superior at MI5. We then witness the entrance into the UK of an "invisible", a terrorist and/or terrorist aid who can pass off for a local, and this invisible facilitates the entry into the UK of an arab terrorist. The plot takes off from there, and any further information would be a plot spoiler! It is certainly a fascinating and exciting story. And, with so much coverage of terrorism in the popular fiction today, this was a refreshingly original piece of story-telling (listen up, Vince Flynn!).
One cannot help but wonder how much the key character, Liz Carlyle, is actually Stella Rimmington. Carlyle's character is extremely well developed, and we get to learn a lot about her. In fact, all of the characters in the novel felt very real to me. I wholeheartedly recommend it!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Took this book on holiday to Aruba, unsure if I should because it was a large hardback but couldn't wait to start it. Very difficult to put down and continue with various vacation activities. Its well written, thought provoking, fast moving, very exciting, interesting but believable characters and an easy read. What I really liked about the way it was written was that it was discriptive but all the unecessary 'waffle' was left out, that often bulks up novels. Its one of those books that you can't wait to find out whats going to happen and then sorry when its all over. I was lucky to see Richard & Judys interview with Stella Rimington just before we left UK and liked her very much. My husband had met her around 1995 after she became head of M15 so was naturally intrigued by this book and desperate for me to finish so he could get his hands on it. He too read it all in a few days. My son(17yrs) also became interested and has the book now. We maybe didn't get to see as much of Aruba as we wanted to but enjoyed lots of good discussions afterwards and it gave us a much needed relaxing time reading in the sun. In her R+J interview Stella said she had lots of plots to write about so we just can't wait for the next one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Book Loving It
I am half way through reading this book and I can tell you it is fantastic, first one I have read from Stella Rimington and I will definitely be reading the rest of her books as I... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Jools
Very readable yarn
I approached this book with some trepidation and without reading other reviews. I had expected that it would be more in the Le Carre mould with Rimmington using her wider ranging... Read more
Published 2 months ago by RoverP
Worryingly believable
At RiskI really enjoyed this-my first by this author. It was very much a page turner. I found it worryingly believable. Will read more from Stella Rimington.
Published 8 months ago by J. Turner
Not bad for a first novel
"At risk" is the title of the first novel written by Dame Stella Rimington, who received her damehood for running MI5. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Noam Newman
Fast Paced thriller
This lady aure knows what she is talking about. I feel like an outsider given the privelege to look in and see how it's done and what the MI5 team have to face. Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. Thorkildsen
A GOOD STORY
I enjoyed this book. It sums up all the cliches about a book-a page turner-a believable plot-not too many characters-a good conclusive ending. Read more
Published 11 months ago by bibliophile
Well written but doesn't fulfil its promise
For a first novel this is remarkably assured with pretty good plotting, pace and style. Even so, it left me disappointed. Read more
Published 13 months ago by H. Collingbourne
great story,,, but...
Ok , so this author is clearly not a novelist so bearing that in mind its a really great effort. The story is detailed and the scenarios are rich but the problem I have with this... Read more
Published 14 months ago by JrF
good thriller
A good page turning thriller. The author's background meant that whenever I thought the plot was getting slightly far fetched, I recalled that it could be based on a real incident... Read more
Published 17 months ago by John Hopper
A cracking good read
I read this book in the hope that it would be more interesting than Stella's rather bland autobiography. It is much better. Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2009 by Mungo
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