Tackling terrorists, MI5 style

Close Call
by Stella Rimington.
Bloomsbury. Pages 344. Rs 499.

Liz Carlyle is the head of Counter Terrorism unit in Britain's MI5. It is her duty to keep her country safe from terrorists, and she keeps a special eye on the international arms trade, the illegal one, where there are no end-user certificates.

From a knife attack in the Middle East to chasing suspects in Paris and Berlin, the book takes you on a journey into the world of secret agents and traitors. Yes, there are alliances and dalliances too (albeit in a restrained British fashion) as the counter-terrorism team comes closer to unravelling the mystery of a
jihadi threat.

Even as she confronts the enemy, Carlyle must lose someone she loves, and meet someone she loved once — all the while striving to secure the border and tackle the home-grown terrorists who seek to strike at her country.

This is the eighth Liz Carlyle novel by the former director of MI5 security service and it has an authentic feel. It stands well alone, although it makes one want to go back to the first one and read the series, in
proper order. — RS

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