Nicholas Shakespeare is a wonderful author, and he has written some exciting stories based in South America. This, however, is slightly disappointing and I couldn't help feeling unsympathetic towards Thomas Wavery and slightly frustrated by him: if you're expecting another "Vision of Elena Silves", another "Dancer Upstairs" or another "Snowleg", then this book isn't for you.
The book's strength is in its description of Ceuta (named here as Abyla) which is a Spanish enclave on the tip of North Africa. The politics, too, are clear - the Spanish don't really like this dreary place just across from Gibraltar, but politically it's too important for them to hand it back to Morocco.