What do you think?
Rate this book
Spymasters #5
Rogue Spy
Thomas Paxton and Camille Leyland were starving Caché orphans, trained to be assassins for the Revolution. After Pax and Cami confess infiltrating the British Secret Service, they plan to ambush the evil Merchant. Must they go rogue to stay together, overcome secrets of the past? Plus preview.
314 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
About the author
Joanna Bourne
27 books908 followersJoanna lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge with her family, a medium-sized mutt and a faux Himalayan cat.
She writes Historical Romances set in England and France during the Napoleonic Wars. She's fascinated by that time and place - such passionate conviction and burning idealism ... and really sexy clothes.
She writes Historical Romances set in England and France during the Napoleonic Wars. She's fascinated by that time and place - such passionate conviction and burning idealism ... and really sexy clothes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 264 reviews
March 10, 2024
LOVED and recommend this book!!!! Just want to get that out there before I begin my review. I seldom read books in order unless I read them as they are published. The author has an order to read these and it's not as they were published. The first 50% of the book mentioned characters who I vaguely remembered but I spent much of it a bit lost but enjoying it. At the 50% point it kicked into action and I loved...loved all the action, the romance and the Baldoni words of wisdom. Wonderful characters and witty dialogue. FANTASTIC! Loved the "fluffy aunts" I want a fluffy aunt's book! This is more a my feelings rather than a review since the book was written 10 years ago. I feel you should read it!
January 5, 2019
3.5 stars
I've read two books by this author, one I really liked probably because it was my first ever historical romance/spy book (The Spymaster's Lady) and one that I really didn't care for (My Lord and Spymaster). This book fell somewhere in the middle between those two. When the two main characters first meet, it's definitely interesting. However the main spy mission ends up not being as exciting and the romance never builds upon a real relationship, just their shared background and mutual attraction for each other. So this was good, but not quite great.
I've read two books by this author, one I really liked probably because it was my first ever historical romance/spy book (The Spymaster's Lady) and one that I really didn't care for (My Lord and Spymaster). This book fell somewhere in the middle between those two. When the two main characters first meet, it's definitely interesting. However the main spy mission ends up not being as exciting and the romance never builds upon a real relationship, just their shared background and mutual attraction for each other. So this was good, but not quite great.
July 18, 2022
Set mostly in London, this book is set at the same time, or with a little overlap, as The Spymaster's Lady. IMO the whole series is better read in chronological order, which makes this the third book (with Spymaster's Lady the second). It helps you understand the characters and their back stories better, and overall makes it more enjoyable.
Camille has been hiding her real identity for most of her life. When she is suddenly put in danger, she runs into Thomas Paxton, a British spy. And a childhood friend. Like Cami, Thomas has also hidden his past deep within him. Both of them suffered abusive childhoods when they were French 'Caches', made into mini spies by their cruel masters. The events of their childhoods have shaped them.
I liked that Thomas was All of this was revealed gradually, and it did build up interest and richness in the story. I also liked the whole crazy and energetic Baldoni family and their role in the story. Some really great characterisations there.
Overall I enjoyed this book more on this second time of reading it. The characters and plot are a little complicated at times, and I feel as if I understood it all much better this time around. I admire Bourne's writing and the depths of her characterisations, as well as her masterful grasp of the history of the period. I love all of the spy stuff in these books and she writes it so well. It's very convincing. An excellent series and I recommend.
Camille has been hiding her real identity for most of her life. When she is suddenly put in danger, she runs into Thomas Paxton, a British spy. And a childhood friend. Like Cami, Thomas has also hidden his past deep within him. Both of them suffered abusive childhoods when they were French 'Caches', made into mini spies by their cruel masters. The events of their childhoods have shaped them.
I liked that Thomas was All of this was revealed gradually, and it did build up interest and richness in the story. I also liked the whole crazy and energetic Baldoni family and their role in the story. Some really great characterisations there.
Overall I enjoyed this book more on this second time of reading it. The characters and plot are a little complicated at times, and I feel as if I understood it all much better this time around. I admire Bourne's writing and the depths of her characterisations, as well as her masterful grasp of the history of the period. I love all of the spy stuff in these books and she writes it so well. It's very convincing. An excellent series and I recommend.
April 29, 2018
Massive spoilers ahead
3.5 stars
Buddy read with the lovely Lyuda. Thanks for the b-r and for your patience!
So, yesterday I finished Paxton’s book Rogue Spy and wondered whether it would be a good idea to write a review straight away. Here’s the thing. all that went through my head was:
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I, then, went quickly through the ratings of my GR friends, and I can absolutely see why they loved it. And strangely, I still think it’s a brilliant book. But it was one or two too many plot twists for me to enjoy it until the end.
When I was reading the formidable The Black Hawk a few months ago, I can still remember how utterly shattered I was about the shocking revelation at around 60%: Thomas Paxton, a character that has always been there, lurking in the background, quiet, efficient, deadly, but a member of the team around Doyle and Hawker I’d come to love, had been a French spy all along. It was one the of many poignant moments of The Black Hawk, when Hawker gives his old ‘brother in arms’ a head start before turning Pax in.
But, Pax being Pax and knowing Ms. Bourne’s excellent talent, I knew that she’d somehow converge the several story arcs that I’d been following ever since I read my first book of Ms. Bourne’s, The Forbidden Rose, and find a way out of a situation I didn’t see how could be resolved. But I also knew she’d make it work somehow.
So, Rogue Spy begins with Paxton sitting in a pub, only a stone’s throw away from Meeks Street, headquarters of the British Intelligence, ready to turn himself in, when he sees a woman giving a letter to an errand boy to be delivered to Meeks Street.
Something is odd about her, and once he sees the letter delivered, he has a look at it and instantly knows: this letter could have only been sent by a Caché. During the early days of the French Revolution, until Robespierre’s death, a small group of the Police Secrète had started to train a group of orphaned children to become spies who were to be sent to England and placed in strategic households. All these children were to play the role of long-lost last survivors of English citizens killed during the frenzy of the revolution, going back to their relatives or places they know will take them in in England, thus providing the Police Secrète and the Cause invaluable access to information. In Paxton’s case it’s the British Service, as the real Thomas Paxton’s father used to be British Service.
Paxton follows the woman and it is indeed another Caché: Vérité, or now Camille Leyland, ‘niece’ to the elderly Leyland sisters who are England’s best codemakers and codebreakers. Vérité/Cami had shown particular talent in codes during her terrible time at the Coach House, the place where these children were trained under the most horrific conditions.
And as in The Black Hawk: Oh. Wow. What a first meeting after ten years, when Camille and Paxton were nobody else but little Vérité and Devoir, friends and fellow sufferers at the hands of the sadistic men who ran the Coach House. What a surprise for them both? All the memories of the Coach House painfully coming back, but also those memories where Pax and Cami helped each other and the other Cachés, comforted each other. And what a standoff? Because Cami can’t have Devoir/Pax there. She’s being blackmailed and is about to meet this mysterious blackmailer.
Joanna Bourne uses all her talent and skill to evoke the pain, the imagery of suffering children huddled together, Paxton’s shame when confronted with his superiors, the special bond the spies of the British Intelligence have, the shock at the realisation of both, Pax and Cami, that they’re not children any longer and the feeling of mutual attraction. And it is as masterfully done as ever.
The first half of the book had me sighing at the beauty of it all. The prose, the clever setup of the different story arcs of the previous books slowly converging, but also throwing in new twists and turns, Cami and Paxton. Not to forget the beautiful dynamics between Hawker, Doyle, Galba and Paxton. And I thought: ‘Yes, I have a winner!’
Us Germans have a saying: ‘Zu früh gefreut’, which very loosely translates into a Schadenfreude-like ‘You’ve been too quick.’
I’ll not give away the whole plot. Firstly, it would be way too complicated, and secondly and more importantly, Rogue Spy is still a fantastic book, despite my rating. However, I will reveal the two plot points to showcase my frustration.
Let’s begin with the one that really threw me out of the brilliant atmosphere Ms. Bourne had built up. At around 50% the pacing started to stutter a little, with Camille not being forthright about the blackmailer. At this point, Pax and Cami know that he’s the common enemy and that they have to work together, and yet valuable time is wasted on Cami not simply saying what she knows. Still, not a big problem, but at the same time Ms. Bourne introduces us to a sub plot that led to a story that felt forced and convoluted.
See, Camille is not really Vérité. She is Sara Bardoni, member of the infamous Bardoni family, who have their hands in almost every European country, all-knowing, almost a law unto themselves. This twist leads us to the home of the Bardoni’s where the believed-to-be-dead Sara/Vérité/Cami is taken in with open arms. Imagine every Italian cliché you’ve ever seen in commercials advertising Italian products, with a huge family, uncles, aunts, cousins and bambini everywhere, throw in a good measure of The Godfather, Goodfellas and a little bit of The Sopranos, and you get the picture. It beggars belief that a family as supposedly powerful as the Bardonis, had been unable to find Cami in the Coach House, when it’s made clear that nothing escapes their ears and eyes. Hoookay!
I could have lived with that chapter, however. Had it stayed there, a little more in the background, Rogue Spy would have still got a solid four-star rating, if not even more, because one weakness doesn’t have to define the whole book. I’ve given books with that sort of a flaw five stars and never looked back.
The moment where the book lost me is actually a rather insignificant one, but still significant enough for me that I could feel myself disconnect from it, especially from Cami. Shortly after their visit, Cami remarks upon Pax’s hair and how it needs more dye, and then she says the following:
How to explain my reaction? The book had been - up until the Bardoni sub plot - already very heavy on the spy plot. When I read romance, I’m a romance reader at heart, and I want to see the romance. What I wanted to see here is more Cami-and-Pax time. But I knew, with that quote above, that that wouldn’t be the case. The Bardonis would now be filling valuable page time.
Whilst buddy—reading this with Lyuda, I said that I had the impression Ms. Bourne was trying to be a little too clever, too sophisticated. Why put more into the plot and take away time from the romance when everything was going for the book already? Paxton’s betrayal. Doyle and Hawker trying to find a way back for Pax to Meeks Street. Cami’s time at the Fluffy Aunts Leyland. Her incredible talent as a coder/decoder of secret missives. The villain, The Merchant, his background, his connection to the MC’s, the threat he poses.
Additionally, she set her own book up for plot holes. The Bardonis, as I said before, a law unto themselves, with endless connections in every major European city, couldn’t find Sara/Cami in the Coach House in the middle of Paris? Really? And Cami, who is 22, after at least eleven or twelve years, remembers her cousin Maria being better at dying hair? Hm.
The next weakness of the book was the Fluffy Aunts. I’m sure they were meant as a sort of comic relief, just a little. And again: too much, too clever, too demanding on my willingness to suspend my disbelief. Lyuda had a proper - but absolutely justified - rant here (msg 29). But I’ll quote the best bit of what she said, because I couldn’t have said it any better:
Both plot points, the Bardonis and the Fluffy Aunts, were unnecessary, created inconsistencies and took valuable page time away from Pax and Cami.
So, once finished, I was wondering whether to round it up or down. But looking back, despite having actually enjoyed the book very much, I can’t overlook my annoyance at those two sub plots. It simply wanted to see more of Cami and Pax. And there everything had been set up for them perfectly - up until the 50% mark.
What a bummer.
3.5 stars
Buddy read with the lovely Lyuda. Thanks for the b-r and for your patience!
So, yesterday I finished Paxton’s book Rogue Spy and wondered whether it would be a good idea to write a review straight away. Here’s the thing. all that went through my head was:
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I do not want to give Paxton’s book three stars.
I, then, went quickly through the ratings of my GR friends, and I can absolutely see why they loved it. And strangely, I still think it’s a brilliant book. But it was one or two too many plot twists for me to enjoy it until the end.
When I was reading the formidable The Black Hawk a few months ago, I can still remember how utterly shattered I was about the shocking revelation at around 60%: Thomas Paxton, a character that has always been there, lurking in the background, quiet, efficient, deadly, but a member of the team around Doyle and Hawker I’d come to love, had been a French spy all along. It was one the of many poignant moments of The Black Hawk, when Hawker gives his old ‘brother in arms’ a head start before turning Pax in.
But, Pax being Pax and knowing Ms. Bourne’s excellent talent, I knew that she’d somehow converge the several story arcs that I’d been following ever since I read my first book of Ms. Bourne’s, The Forbidden Rose, and find a way out of a situation I didn’t see how could be resolved. But I also knew she’d make it work somehow.
So, Rogue Spy begins with Paxton sitting in a pub, only a stone’s throw away from Meeks Street, headquarters of the British Intelligence, ready to turn himself in, when he sees a woman giving a letter to an errand boy to be delivered to Meeks Street.
Something is odd about her, and once he sees the letter delivered, he has a look at it and instantly knows: this letter could have only been sent by a Caché. During the early days of the French Revolution, until Robespierre’s death, a small group of the Police Secrète had started to train a group of orphaned children to become spies who were to be sent to England and placed in strategic households. All these children were to play the role of long-lost last survivors of English citizens killed during the frenzy of the revolution, going back to their relatives or places they know will take them in in England, thus providing the Police Secrète and the Cause invaluable access to information. In Paxton’s case it’s the British Service, as the real Thomas Paxton’s father used to be British Service.
Paxton follows the woman and it is indeed another Caché: Vérité, or now Camille Leyland, ‘niece’ to the elderly Leyland sisters who are England’s best codemakers and codebreakers. Vérité/Cami had shown particular talent in codes during her terrible time at the Coach House, the place where these children were trained under the most horrific conditions.
And as in The Black Hawk: Oh. Wow. What a first meeting after ten years, when Camille and Paxton were nobody else but little Vérité and Devoir, friends and fellow sufferers at the hands of the sadistic men who ran the Coach House. What a surprise for them both? All the memories of the Coach House painfully coming back, but also those memories where Pax and Cami helped each other and the other Cachés, comforted each other. And what a standoff? Because Cami can’t have Devoir/Pax there. She’s being blackmailed and is about to meet this mysterious blackmailer.
Joanna Bourne uses all her talent and skill to evoke the pain, the imagery of suffering children huddled together, Paxton’s shame when confronted with his superiors, the special bond the spies of the British Intelligence have, the shock at the realisation of both, Pax and Cami, that they’re not children any longer and the feeling of mutual attraction. And it is as masterfully done as ever.
The first half of the book had me sighing at the beauty of it all. The prose, the clever setup of the different story arcs of the previous books slowly converging, but also throwing in new twists and turns, Cami and Paxton. Not to forget the beautiful dynamics between Hawker, Doyle, Galba and Paxton. And I thought: ‘Yes, I have a winner!’
Us Germans have a saying: ‘Zu früh gefreut’, which very loosely translates into a Schadenfreude-like ‘You’ve been too quick.’
I’ll not give away the whole plot. Firstly, it would be way too complicated, and secondly and more importantly, Rogue Spy is still a fantastic book, despite my rating. However, I will reveal the two plot points to showcase my frustration.
Let’s begin with the one that really threw me out of the brilliant atmosphere Ms. Bourne had built up. At around 50% the pacing started to stutter a little, with Camille not being forthright about the blackmailer. At this point, Pax and Cami know that he’s the common enemy and that they have to work together, and yet valuable time is wasted on Cami not simply saying what she knows. Still, not a big problem, but at the same time Ms. Bourne introduces us to a sub plot that led to a story that felt forced and convoluted.
See, Camille is not really Vérité. She is Sara Bardoni, member of the infamous Bardoni family, who have their hands in almost every European country, all-knowing, almost a law unto themselves. This twist leads us to the home of the Bardoni’s where the believed-to-be-dead Sara/Vérité/Cami is taken in with open arms. Imagine every Italian cliché you’ve ever seen in commercials advertising Italian products, with a huge family, uncles, aunts, cousins and bambini everywhere, throw in a good measure of The Godfather, Goodfellas and a little bit of The Sopranos, and you get the picture. It beggars belief that a family as supposedly powerful as the Bardonis, had been unable to find Cami in the Coach House, when it’s made clear that nothing escapes their ears and eyes. Hoookay!
I could have lived with that chapter, however. Had it stayed there, a little more in the background, Rogue Spy would have still got a solid four-star rating, if not even more, because one weakness doesn’t have to define the whole book. I’ve given books with that sort of a flaw five stars and never looked back.
The moment where the book lost me is actually a rather insignificant one, but still significant enough for me that I could feel myself disconnect from it, especially from Cami. Shortly after their visit, Cami remarks upon Pax’s hair and how it needs more dye, and then she says the following:
“My cousin Maria would have done it for you. She’s good at things like that.”Huh.
How to explain my reaction? The book had been - up until the Bardoni sub plot - already very heavy on the spy plot. When I read romance, I’m a romance reader at heart, and I want to see the romance. What I wanted to see here is more Cami-and-Pax time. But I knew, with that quote above, that that wouldn’t be the case. The Bardonis would now be filling valuable page time.
Whilst buddy—reading this with Lyuda, I said that I had the impression Ms. Bourne was trying to be a little too clever, too sophisticated. Why put more into the plot and take away time from the romance when everything was going for the book already? Paxton’s betrayal. Doyle and Hawker trying to find a way back for Pax to Meeks Street. Cami’s time at the Fluffy Aunts Leyland. Her incredible talent as a coder/decoder of secret missives. The villain, The Merchant, his background, his connection to the MC’s, the threat he poses.
Additionally, she set her own book up for plot holes. The Bardonis, as I said before, a law unto themselves, with endless connections in every major European city, couldn’t find Sara/Cami in the Coach House in the middle of Paris? Really? And Cami, who is 22, after at least eleven or twelve years, remembers her cousin Maria being better at dying hair? Hm.
The next weakness of the book was the Fluffy Aunts. I’m sure they were meant as a sort of comic relief, just a little. And again: too much, too clever, too demanding on my willingness to suspend my disbelief. Lyuda had a proper - but absolutely justified - rant here (msg 29). But I’ll quote the best bit of what she said, because I couldn’t have said it any better:
I thought the French side was portrayed pretty stupidly of how they prepared their agents but now the English side...What kind of spy operation is this on the English side where everyone did what they wanted without any rules, leaving others in the dark?And I have no answer to that, other than the author trying too hard to show us what clever characters she'd created.
Both plot points, the Bardonis and the Fluffy Aunts, were unnecessary, created inconsistencies and took valuable page time away from Pax and Cami.
So, once finished, I was wondering whether to round it up or down. But looking back, despite having actually enjoyed the book very much, I can’t overlook my annoyance at those two sub plots. It simply wanted to see more of Cami and Pax. And there everything had been set up for them perfectly - up until the 50% mark.
What a bummer.
October 3, 2014
This is my first book by Joanna Bourne, and I'm glad I've been collecting her books in my tbr pile. She's an excellent writer, with that rich voice I love so much in historical romance. Her characters are complex and the romance drew me in and had me holding my breath. I loved Pax! Cami was a singular heroine, lethal in her own right. This is also an excellent spy novel (I love genuine spy stories).
Definitely recommended!
Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
Definitely recommended!
Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
May 1, 2023
Emotional, suspenseful, exciting, filled with hope and dread, love and hate, all the thrills and chills. And a short, surprising, and surprisingly tender scene where Hawker bares his soul for a nanosecond before he goes back to being Hawk. Don’t blink and miss that.
September 7, 2016
Is anyone surprised when I say I've given this an A at AAR? Thought not.
To say I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Rogue Spy is an understatement of immense proportions. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of the books in Ms. Bourne’s Spymasters series, and given the revelations about Pax made in The Black Hawk I’ve been on the edge of my seat waiting for his story. Naturally, my expectations were very high – and I’m delighted to be able to say that Ms. Bourne does not disappoint, because this is a highly satisfying, multi-layered read that sucked me in and kept me enthralled from first to last.
Thomas Paxton – Pax – has appeared in other books in this series, a trusted member of the British Intelligence Service and, moreover, one of a small group of friends and colleagues within the service who have worked together for a number of years and who have grown to trust each other implicitly.
But in The Black Hawk, everything we knew – or thought we knew – about Pax was blown out of the water when it was revealed that he was a Caché, one of a group of children abandoned and orphaned during the Revolution who were taken in by the Police Secrète. These children were trained as spies and assassins, and were later presented to noble and/or strategic English families as missing family members, their own personalities subsumed beneath the identities they assumed.
Rogue Spy picks up Pax’s story as he returns to the Intelligence Service’s Headquarters in Meek Street bearing a signed confession as to the truth of his identity and a list of the ways in which he has betrayed the Service. He hates himself for what he has done, for deceiving his friends and colleagues, and his sense of honour will allow him to do so no longer. He arrives grimly determined to tell all, fully expecting to be condemned and sentenced to death for treason.
Like Pax, the heroine of this story, Camille Leyland, is also a Caché. A member of the Italian Boldoni family by birth, she has assumed the identity of the niece of the two Leyland sisters, who are code makers and breakers for British Intelligence. Cami is quite content living a quiet existence in the country with her “aunts” until she receives a letter telling her that the real Camille is still alive and demanding that she attends a meeting in London at which she must hand over the key to the most recent and complex code. If she refuses, then retribution will be enacted upon the young woman and upon her aunts as well.
Cami has no alternative but to follow the instructions she has been given. But her past life and training as a spy have given her the ability to do more than simply do as she’s told without making a few contingency plans of her own, so it’s with more than a few sharp metal objects up her sleeve that she departs for London.
Ms. Bourne’s storytelling is masterful, her research impeccable and her plot is skilfully wrought – complex, but not overly so, and most importantly, it makes sense – by which I mean it’s tightly honed and the reader never has the feeling that something has been included simply for effect or to force the story in a certain direction. These are people playing a deadly game without fast cars, mobile phones or the latest gadgetry, their only defence being their intelligence, quickness of wit, and skill at what they do. The sense of peril that is generated by the presence and actions of the villain of the piece is genuine – I’ve said before that the reader really does get the impression that these characters live their lives on a very knife-edge in which the smallest of wrong moves could spell disaster.
The story flows beautifully as we move around the seedier parts of London in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as Cami tries to stay one step ahead of Pax and his colleagues while evading capture – or worse – at the hands of her mysterious blackmailer.
Pax and Cami’s shared history is one of violence, cruelty and deprivation, and it’s clear that they were very close during their years spent being trained and indoctrinated by the French. The bond between them has never really broken despite their years apart, and the strength of that connection just leaps off the page, their move from friends to lovers being completely plausible given the fact that we’re shown over and over that here are two people who know each other almost inside-out.
The characterisation is excellent all round. Pax is a wonderfully complex hero; a deadly assassin with the soul of an artist, truly honourable and deeply troubled by his past. He’s quiet and unostentatious, a man who can blend into the background and just disappear by virtue of his very ordinariness. Cami is resourceful, generous of spirit and clever, and she and Pax make a very well-matched couple.
There is a colourful cast of supporting characters in the form of Cami’s large brood of London-based Italian relatives, and I especially enjoyed going back to meet the young, cocky Adrian Hawker again. His relationship with Pax is brilliantly depicted, their often acerbic dialogue masking a deep respect which underpins one of the most strongly-written male friendships I’ve read. Add the hulking, imperturbable William Doyle to the mix, and you’ve got a formidable team, each of whom who anticipates the other’s moves and thoughts, and each of whom would give their lives for the others.
If you’ve enjoyed other books in this series, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. And if you haven’t read any of them, while there’s enough information in this for it to work perfectly well as a standalone, I think there’s much to be gained from reading (at the very least) The Black Hawk beforehand, although it’s not absolutely necessary.
I can say with complete honesty that Rogue Spy is one of the best books I’ve read this year. There’s plenty of fast-paced action, a tender romance, lots of humour, and a shocking denouement which had me on the edge of my seat. It’s intelligently and beautifully written – and now I think I need to go and read the entire series all over again. Brava! Ms. Bourne.
BONUS: There is a fabulous interview with Joanna Bourne over at AAR, too!
To say I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Rogue Spy is an understatement of immense proportions. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of the books in Ms. Bourne’s Spymasters series, and given the revelations about Pax made in The Black Hawk I’ve been on the edge of my seat waiting for his story. Naturally, my expectations were very high – and I’m delighted to be able to say that Ms. Bourne does not disappoint, because this is a highly satisfying, multi-layered read that sucked me in and kept me enthralled from first to last.
Thomas Paxton – Pax – has appeared in other books in this series, a trusted member of the British Intelligence Service and, moreover, one of a small group of friends and colleagues within the service who have worked together for a number of years and who have grown to trust each other implicitly.
But in The Black Hawk, everything we knew – or thought we knew – about Pax was blown out of the water when it was revealed that he was a Caché, one of a group of children abandoned and orphaned during the Revolution who were taken in by the Police Secrète. These children were trained as spies and assassins, and were later presented to noble and/or strategic English families as missing family members, their own personalities subsumed beneath the identities they assumed.
Rogue Spy picks up Pax’s story as he returns to the Intelligence Service’s Headquarters in Meek Street bearing a signed confession as to the truth of his identity and a list of the ways in which he has betrayed the Service. He hates himself for what he has done, for deceiving his friends and colleagues, and his sense of honour will allow him to do so no longer. He arrives grimly determined to tell all, fully expecting to be condemned and sentenced to death for treason.
Like Pax, the heroine of this story, Camille Leyland, is also a Caché. A member of the Italian Boldoni family by birth, she has assumed the identity of the niece of the two Leyland sisters, who are code makers and breakers for British Intelligence. Cami is quite content living a quiet existence in the country with her “aunts” until she receives a letter telling her that the real Camille is still alive and demanding that she attends a meeting in London at which she must hand over the key to the most recent and complex code. If she refuses, then retribution will be enacted upon the young woman and upon her aunts as well.
Cami has no alternative but to follow the instructions she has been given. But her past life and training as a spy have given her the ability to do more than simply do as she’s told without making a few contingency plans of her own, so it’s with more than a few sharp metal objects up her sleeve that she departs for London.
Ms. Bourne’s storytelling is masterful, her research impeccable and her plot is skilfully wrought – complex, but not overly so, and most importantly, it makes sense – by which I mean it’s tightly honed and the reader never has the feeling that something has been included simply for effect or to force the story in a certain direction. These are people playing a deadly game without fast cars, mobile phones or the latest gadgetry, their only defence being their intelligence, quickness of wit, and skill at what they do. The sense of peril that is generated by the presence and actions of the villain of the piece is genuine – I’ve said before that the reader really does get the impression that these characters live their lives on a very knife-edge in which the smallest of wrong moves could spell disaster.
The story flows beautifully as we move around the seedier parts of London in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as Cami tries to stay one step ahead of Pax and his colleagues while evading capture – or worse – at the hands of her mysterious blackmailer.
Pax and Cami’s shared history is one of violence, cruelty and deprivation, and it’s clear that they were very close during their years spent being trained and indoctrinated by the French. The bond between them has never really broken despite their years apart, and the strength of that connection just leaps off the page, their move from friends to lovers being completely plausible given the fact that we’re shown over and over that here are two people who know each other almost inside-out.
The characterisation is excellent all round. Pax is a wonderfully complex hero; a deadly assassin with the soul of an artist, truly honourable and deeply troubled by his past. He’s quiet and unostentatious, a man who can blend into the background and just disappear by virtue of his very ordinariness. Cami is resourceful, generous of spirit and clever, and she and Pax make a very well-matched couple.
There is a colourful cast of supporting characters in the form of Cami’s large brood of London-based Italian relatives, and I especially enjoyed going back to meet the young, cocky Adrian Hawker again. His relationship with Pax is brilliantly depicted, their often acerbic dialogue masking a deep respect which underpins one of the most strongly-written male friendships I’ve read. Add the hulking, imperturbable William Doyle to the mix, and you’ve got a formidable team, each of whom who anticipates the other’s moves and thoughts, and each of whom would give their lives for the others.
If you’ve enjoyed other books in this series, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. And if you haven’t read any of them, while there’s enough information in this for it to work perfectly well as a standalone, I think there’s much to be gained from reading (at the very least) The Black Hawk beforehand, although it’s not absolutely necessary.
I can say with complete honesty that Rogue Spy is one of the best books I’ve read this year. There’s plenty of fast-paced action, a tender romance, lots of humour, and a shocking denouement which had me on the edge of my seat. It’s intelligently and beautifully written – and now I think I need to go and read the entire series all over again. Brava! Ms. Bourne.
BONUS: There is a fabulous interview with Joanna Bourne over at AAR, too!
November 19, 2014
Before I being gushing, and oh yes there will be gushing, let me note that while this book can be read as a stand alone, I highly recommend reading The Forbidden Rose and The Black Hawk first. Not only for the world and events, but to build up these characters. Joanna Bourne writes the absolute best characters (the gushing has begun!). All three of these books are just fantastic and the wait for a new book literally pains me.
For those that have read the previous books, we found out Thomas Paxton or “Pax”, a well-regarded British Intelligence officer is a traitor in the previous book. And his heroine happens to be one too! But don’t fret, because these two get to keep their hero and heroine title. There are gray areas, complex pasts, revenge and a sexy romance that thrills the reader to the last page. At the age of ten, both Pax and Cami were taken from their homes and forced to live at the Coach House, a french owned house where kids were ruthlessly trained in killing, spying and anything else needed to become French spies. They became very good friends during this horrific period in their lives. But at the drop of a hat, Cami was thrust into the Leyland family consisting of two aunts who were amazing code breakers.
For ten years she’d been safe in the village of Brodemere, playing the part of the Leyland’s nice. But before that, she’d been one of the Caches, one of the terrible, well-trained children sent to England by the fanatics of the Revolution. She’d been a French spy, placed in an English family. Placed with the Leylands, because the two dithering, scholarly old ladies were the codemakers and codebreakers for the British Intelligence Service.
But Cami never succumbed to the French, and never stole a secret for them. Instead she has honed her skills as a codebreaker and has mastered the Mandarin code, wanted by an evil man. When she receives a letter from this man, demanding the Mandarin code, she knows she must go meet him in London, or her aunts will be harmed. This man says he has the real Leyland niece, and if she hands over the code, he will hand over the blood-born niece. Cami’s conscience knows the real niece belongs with her family, and decides to go to London.However, the British Service will hang her if she is found out.
The British Service would not be forgiving. They could not allow a French spy who knew so much to escape. It would not matter to them that she had never stolen secrets. That she had long since shaken free of her French masters. She’d read thousands of documents as she ciphered and deciphered. The British Service couldn’t afford to let her live.
Our hero is in the same boat. Pax was placed right into the British Service, and while he handed over a few worthless documents to the French in his early days, he too shook off the French hold and became a true, and highly regarded British Service agent. But in the previous book, Pax has confessed to being a traitor, and now he finds himself making the journey to London, to what he assumes will be his death. When he sees a woman hand off a letter at the doorstep to the British Service office, his time as an agent will be extended. He recognizes her handwriting from back at the Coach House and knows Cami is in London, but why? When he tracks her down, he eventually realizes the man who is blackmailing her is a man Pax thought dead. A man that he wants to kill more than anything in this world. Along with Hawker (hero from The Black Hawk and one of my favorite heroes ever) they work on a plan to bring this man down, and the fates of both Cami and Pax hang on a very fine thread.
I can’t explain it but the way Joanna Bourne writes just sucks me in. She makes her characters have this quiet, dry wit that I adore. Pax is a little more brute-ish and straight forward, but Cami reminds me a lot of Hawker. You never know what is going to come out of their mouths. They can be in horrible situations with no hope and yet they still are witty. But at the same time Bourne writes serious action and consequences for her characters.
Cami may have been brought up with a brutal hand, but she has compassion and a conscience. I suppose the villain knows this, so he dangles the real niece in front of her. I like the fact that Cami and Pax come from the same background, have fought similar battles, and both face death, and yet for all those reasons they are in love, but trust is so hard to come by. Their romance is complicated and messy, and ultimately joyous and peaceful. It’s a fun journey.
This author also writes such rich spy stories. These guys are amazing spies and it’s just so interesting to uncover their tricks and how their minds work. At one point in this story I paused while reading to think to myself, how does Joanna Bourne come up with this stuff? To me, it’s so realistic and well done – and clever. Oh so clever.
Hawker has a lot of page time in this book which I adored. This book takes place before he has his HEA in The Black Hawk. There is one scene in particular where he breaks down for a few seconds, and it broke my heart. Thank goodness I know he gets his HEA and all will be well.
Rogue Spy is a fascinating, sexy adventure. I really, really hope you guys try this author.
Rating: A
For those that have read the previous books, we found out Thomas Paxton or “Pax”, a well-regarded British Intelligence officer is a traitor in the previous book. And his heroine happens to be one too! But don’t fret, because these two get to keep their hero and heroine title. There are gray areas, complex pasts, revenge and a sexy romance that thrills the reader to the last page. At the age of ten, both Pax and Cami were taken from their homes and forced to live at the Coach House, a french owned house where kids were ruthlessly trained in killing, spying and anything else needed to become French spies. They became very good friends during this horrific period in their lives. But at the drop of a hat, Cami was thrust into the Leyland family consisting of two aunts who were amazing code breakers.
For ten years she’d been safe in the village of Brodemere, playing the part of the Leyland’s nice. But before that, she’d been one of the Caches, one of the terrible, well-trained children sent to England by the fanatics of the Revolution. She’d been a French spy, placed in an English family. Placed with the Leylands, because the two dithering, scholarly old ladies were the codemakers and codebreakers for the British Intelligence Service.
But Cami never succumbed to the French, and never stole a secret for them. Instead she has honed her skills as a codebreaker and has mastered the Mandarin code, wanted by an evil man. When she receives a letter from this man, demanding the Mandarin code, she knows she must go meet him in London, or her aunts will be harmed. This man says he has the real Leyland niece, and if she hands over the code, he will hand over the blood-born niece. Cami’s conscience knows the real niece belongs with her family, and decides to go to London.However, the British Service will hang her if she is found out.
The British Service would not be forgiving. They could not allow a French spy who knew so much to escape. It would not matter to them that she had never stolen secrets. That she had long since shaken free of her French masters. She’d read thousands of documents as she ciphered and deciphered. The British Service couldn’t afford to let her live.
Our hero is in the same boat. Pax was placed right into the British Service, and while he handed over a few worthless documents to the French in his early days, he too shook off the French hold and became a true, and highly regarded British Service agent. But in the previous book, Pax has confessed to being a traitor, and now he finds himself making the journey to London, to what he assumes will be his death. When he sees a woman hand off a letter at the doorstep to the British Service office, his time as an agent will be extended. He recognizes her handwriting from back at the Coach House and knows Cami is in London, but why? When he tracks her down, he eventually realizes the man who is blackmailing her is a man Pax thought dead. A man that he wants to kill more than anything in this world. Along with Hawker (hero from The Black Hawk and one of my favorite heroes ever) they work on a plan to bring this man down, and the fates of both Cami and Pax hang on a very fine thread.
I can’t explain it but the way Joanna Bourne writes just sucks me in. She makes her characters have this quiet, dry wit that I adore. Pax is a little more brute-ish and straight forward, but Cami reminds me a lot of Hawker. You never know what is going to come out of their mouths. They can be in horrible situations with no hope and yet they still are witty. But at the same time Bourne writes serious action and consequences for her characters.
Cami may have been brought up with a brutal hand, but she has compassion and a conscience. I suppose the villain knows this, so he dangles the real niece in front of her. I like the fact that Cami and Pax come from the same background, have fought similar battles, and both face death, and yet for all those reasons they are in love, but trust is so hard to come by. Their romance is complicated and messy, and ultimately joyous and peaceful. It’s a fun journey.
This author also writes such rich spy stories. These guys are amazing spies and it’s just so interesting to uncover their tricks and how their minds work. At one point in this story I paused while reading to think to myself, how does Joanna Bourne come up with this stuff? To me, it’s so realistic and well done – and clever. Oh so clever.
Hawker has a lot of page time in this book which I adored. This book takes place before he has his HEA in The Black Hawk. There is one scene in particular where he breaks down for a few seconds, and it broke my heart. Thank goodness I know he gets his HEA and all will be well.
Rogue Spy is a fascinating, sexy adventure. I really, really hope you guys try this author.
Rating: A
April 30, 2018
Buddy-read with the brilliant Bubu whose review said it all.
I really have nothing else to add except, if you are like me and read the previous story The Black Hawk long time ago, it would be better to reread it before starting this one. Although, be warn - there is going to be inevitable comparison between Hawk and the hero of this story, Paxton, and it will not be in favor of Paxton.
Bourne's prose is masterful as always and the spy arc is quite engaging.
If only the second half of the book was as good as the first one, the story would be another winner for me. As it is, a creeping of peripheral characters whose presence did not only brought stereotypes galore but broke the pacing of the plot was too much of a destruction.
I really have nothing else to add except, if you are like me and read the previous story The Black Hawk long time ago, it would be better to reread it before starting this one. Although, be warn - there is going to be inevitable comparison between Hawk and the hero of this story, Paxton, and it will not be in favor of Paxton.
Bourne's prose is masterful as always and the spy arc is quite engaging.
If only the second half of the book was as good as the first one, the story would be another winner for me. As it is, a creeping of peripheral characters whose presence did not only brought stereotypes galore but broke the pacing of the plot was too much of a destruction.
January 10, 2018
This is the kind of romance that rivals the best popular mainstream fiction in complexity of plot and characters and in writing. I feel like a big girl when I read Joanna Bourne. She gets my brain engaged in addition to the usual heart engagement of most other romances. This is due mostly to her exceptional ability as a writer but also, I suspect, because she doesn't crank out novels at the speed of sound, unlike many other romance authors who shall be nameless.
So far (up to year 2014) there have been only 5 books in Bourne's Spymaster series (not counting Her Ladyship's Companion from 1983 which, although it features Hawk, is not exactly the Hawk of her more recent work). This new one, ROGUE SPY, can be read as a standalone but it's much more interesting and challenging to read each one in the context of the other four. Two things make this challenging:
1) The first Spymaster book was published in 2008 and this latest in 2014. That's a long time to retain information especially when reading 100s of other books at the same time.
2) The books were not written in chronological order of when they actually took place. The Spymaster's Lady: Spymaster 2 was first published in 2008 and takes place in France and England in 1802. My Lord and Spymaster (The Spymaster Series Book 3) was also first published in 2008 and takes place in London in 1811. The Forbidden Rose: Spymaster 1 was first published in 2010 and takes place in Paris in 1794. The Black Hawk: Spymaster 4 was first published in 2011 and takes place in France and England over the years 1794-1818. Now this ROGUE SPY, published in 2014, takes place in London in 1802.
So you see that Bourne has had her readers going back and forth in time, although there have been many recurring figures in the novels. Spies Doyle and Hawker figure in all of them, Grey in two and Paxton, our hero here, can be found in two of the other books (THE SPYMASTER'S LADY and THE FORBIDDEN ROSE).
Paxton has always been a fascinating character. Recruited by the French as a member of the Cache, children trained from early years to become spies for the French Revolution, he later becomes a spy working for the British. Is he a double agent? What is his allegiance? What we do know is that he's a trained killer, working often as a hit man for the British. He's also an enigma. Known as Devoir to the French, he becomes Thomas Paxton to the British and neither name is really his.
Then there's heroine Cami Leyland, aka Verite, who is not really either of those names either. She also was drafted into the Cache and she and Paxton became close when training together at the Coach House in Paris as children to become French Revolutionary spies. They later, of course, go their separate ways and now as adults find themselves together once again.
These two are complicated, conflicted people. The story is complicated and complex as a spy story and at the same time is a beautiful love story of two people who must learn to trust each other again, even when evidence that they shouldn't stands in the way.
There are lots of trust issues and questions here. Should fellow British agents trust Pax? Should they trust Cami? Should Pax and Cami trust each other? What are the true identities of Pax/Devoir and Cami/Verite? Who is the bad guy French spy The Merchant? What does he really want? This spy story has a complex plot that will satisfy the most adventurous reader.
There's really more spy story than romance here, but it's a quality love story running through the pages that is quite lovely and satisfies a romance reader.
So far (up to year 2014) there have been only 5 books in Bourne's Spymaster series (not counting Her Ladyship's Companion from 1983 which, although it features Hawk, is not exactly the Hawk of her more recent work). This new one, ROGUE SPY, can be read as a standalone but it's much more interesting and challenging to read each one in the context of the other four. Two things make this challenging:
1) The first Spymaster book was published in 2008 and this latest in 2014. That's a long time to retain information especially when reading 100s of other books at the same time.
2) The books were not written in chronological order of when they actually took place. The Spymaster's Lady: Spymaster 2 was first published in 2008 and takes place in France and England in 1802. My Lord and Spymaster (The Spymaster Series Book 3) was also first published in 2008 and takes place in London in 1811. The Forbidden Rose: Spymaster 1 was first published in 2010 and takes place in Paris in 1794. The Black Hawk: Spymaster 4 was first published in 2011 and takes place in France and England over the years 1794-1818. Now this ROGUE SPY, published in 2014, takes place in London in 1802.
So you see that Bourne has had her readers going back and forth in time, although there have been many recurring figures in the novels. Spies Doyle and Hawker figure in all of them, Grey in two and Paxton, our hero here, can be found in two of the other books (THE SPYMASTER'S LADY and THE FORBIDDEN ROSE).
Paxton has always been a fascinating character. Recruited by the French as a member of the Cache, children trained from early years to become spies for the French Revolution, he later becomes a spy working for the British. Is he a double agent? What is his allegiance? What we do know is that he's a trained killer, working often as a hit man for the British. He's also an enigma. Known as Devoir to the French, he becomes Thomas Paxton to the British and neither name is really his.
Then there's heroine Cami Leyland, aka Verite, who is not really either of those names either. She also was drafted into the Cache and she and Paxton became close when training together at the Coach House in Paris as children to become French Revolutionary spies. They later, of course, go their separate ways and now as adults find themselves together once again.
These two are complicated, conflicted people. The story is complicated and complex as a spy story and at the same time is a beautiful love story of two people who must learn to trust each other again, even when evidence that they shouldn't stands in the way.
There are lots of trust issues and questions here. Should fellow British agents trust Pax? Should they trust Cami? Should Pax and Cami trust each other? What are the true identities of Pax/Devoir and Cami/Verite? Who is the bad guy French spy The Merchant? What does he really want? This spy story has a complex plot that will satisfy the most adventurous reader.
There's really more spy story than romance here, but it's a quality love story running through the pages that is quite lovely and satisfies a romance reader.
July 24, 2024
Review from 2015
B+ for narration / A for content.
A new book from Joanna Bourne is a Special Event on my calendar. Rogue Spy was one of my most highly anticipated new titles of last year; I’d been desperate for Pax’s story ever since listening to The Black Hawk, and I’m delighted to say that it’s every bit as good as I’d hoped
Thomas Paxton has been a regular secondary character in the other books in this series – serious, unostentatious and deadly – forming, as Ms Bourne points out in this book, the third point of a close-knit triangle of men working for British Intelligence, the other two being William Doyle and Adrian Hawker.
At the beginning of the book, Pax has just returned from France carrying his written confession and fully expects to be condemned for treason. Despite his background, he’s a deeply honourable man, and can no longer face the thought of lying to and betraying the men with whom he has worked for a decade. But before he can meet with the Head of Service, a letter, delivered by a mysterious woman, diverts his and Hawker’s attention and Pax immediately puts his own concerns aside in order to deal with this latest perceived threat. He and Hawker instantly set off in pursuit, their working relationship clearly long-established and deeply ingrained.
Tracking the woman to a city church, Pax is astonished to recognise her as Vérité, a fellow Caché and one with whom he’d formed a strong bond during their brutal indoctrination and training by the French.
In the decade since they last saw each other, Vérité has lived quietly as Camille – Cami – Leyland, the supposed niece of two sisters (collectively known as the “Fluffy Aunts”, a pair of charmingly eccentric and formidable ladies who are one of the many delights of the book), former spies who are now the foremost code-makers and breakers for British Intelligence. Out of the blue, Cami receives an anonymous letter telling her that the real Camille Leyland is alive, and that if the young woman is to survive, Cami must hand over the latest British codes. Knowing that if she does not comply, the blackmailer will undoubtedly come after the aunts next, Cami sets off for London – although not without a plan and an array of lethal weapons.
It’s clear from the moment they set eyes on each other again that Pax and Cami are inextricably bound to each other – not just by their shared pasts, but by the prickling awareness of each other as adults that immediately sparks between them. But much has happened in the intervening decade, and both are wary. Is Pax working for the French? Is Cami? Can they trust each other implicitly as they once did? And if Pax trusts Cami – will it prove to be one further betrayal of the men he has worked with and come to know and respect over the last ten years?
The story is satisfyingly complex, with Cami, Pax and his colleagues playing a cat-and-mouse game through the seedier side of London in an attempt to foil the blackmailer’s plot, which the pair know is likely to be a suicide mission. There’s a colourful cast of supporting characters in the form of Cami’s Tuscan relatives, and both principals are very strongly characterised. Pax, tightly controlled, haunted and deadly, and strong, clever Cami, are a wonderfully well-matched pair whose past association serves to add depth to their romance.
There is much to enjoy in Rogue Spy – masterful storytelling, beautiful prose and superbly written relationships between the main characters. I loved meeting Adrian Hawker again as that cocky lad we first glimpsed in The Spymaster’s Lady . The contrast between the quiet and considered Pax and the flamboyant, mouthy Hawker is brilliantly delineated, and it’s clear that for all the latter’s smart-mouthed comments, their friendship is an unbreakable one, and each would lay down his life for the other. The same is true of their relationship with Doyle, who acts as a kind of father figure for them both.
I’ve enjoyed every audiobook in this series, and this is no exception, although I have to say that I noticed more mispronunciations than normal. For example, Berkeley (as in Square) isn’t pronounced as it’s spelled, but as BARKley, and I have yet to hear an American narrator pronounce the word “aunt” correctly. Given that the Fluffy Aunts appear or are mentioned fairly often, it’s a regular mispronunciation which did get a little distracting after a while.
On the whole, Kirsten Potter does a good job with both characterisations and narrative, especially when it comes to Pax’s low, sometimes clipped tones and Doyle’s gruff unflappability. Her interpretation of Hawker really brings out his studied insouciance, although I felt that most of the time he sounded a bit too posh. I know he’s a chameleon, a kid from the streets who has been educated and who spends his time around gentlemen, but I’ve never thought of him as being overly concerned with his accent among his inner circle. Also, given the action of this book takes place concurrently with the events in the latter part of The Spymaster’s Lady, it’s not consistent with the way he’s portrayed in the earlier audio. And the one time the text has him deliberately drop into his old, cockney accent, I’m afraid he sounds more Antipodean than East End.
While I can’t overlook these issues, I can’t say they spoiled the audiobook or took me too far out of the story, and I’m sure that for some, they will be hardly noticeable. I’m just picky about accents, and as I’ve said before, my personal preference is for British narrators to perform British-set stories. Ms Potter is one of a very small number of American narrators I can bear to listen to switching between American-accented narration and British-accented characterisations – and I suspect that’s as much down to the excellence of the material as it is to the fact that she’s a skilled performer and gets away with it 90% of the time.
Rogue Spy is nonetheless a highly recommended listen. The story is terrific, and while I did have some issues with the performance, it’s still well above the average.
Also - note to art dept. Pax is very, very blonde, not brunette.
B+ for narration / A for content.
A new book from Joanna Bourne is a Special Event on my calendar. Rogue Spy was one of my most highly anticipated new titles of last year; I’d been desperate for Pax’s story ever since listening to The Black Hawk, and I’m delighted to say that it’s every bit as good as I’d hoped
Thomas Paxton has been a regular secondary character in the other books in this series – serious, unostentatious and deadly – forming, as Ms Bourne points out in this book, the third point of a close-knit triangle of men working for British Intelligence, the other two being William Doyle and Adrian Hawker.
At the beginning of the book, Pax has just returned from France carrying his written confession and fully expects to be condemned for treason. Despite his background, he’s a deeply honourable man, and can no longer face the thought of lying to and betraying the men with whom he has worked for a decade. But before he can meet with the Head of Service, a letter, delivered by a mysterious woman, diverts his and Hawker’s attention and Pax immediately puts his own concerns aside in order to deal with this latest perceived threat. He and Hawker instantly set off in pursuit, their working relationship clearly long-established and deeply ingrained.
Tracking the woman to a city church, Pax is astonished to recognise her as Vérité, a fellow Caché and one with whom he’d formed a strong bond during their brutal indoctrination and training by the French.
In the decade since they last saw each other, Vérité has lived quietly as Camille – Cami – Leyland, the supposed niece of two sisters (collectively known as the “Fluffy Aunts”, a pair of charmingly eccentric and formidable ladies who are one of the many delights of the book), former spies who are now the foremost code-makers and breakers for British Intelligence. Out of the blue, Cami receives an anonymous letter telling her that the real Camille Leyland is alive, and that if the young woman is to survive, Cami must hand over the latest British codes. Knowing that if she does not comply, the blackmailer will undoubtedly come after the aunts next, Cami sets off for London – although not without a plan and an array of lethal weapons.
It’s clear from the moment they set eyes on each other again that Pax and Cami are inextricably bound to each other – not just by their shared pasts, but by the prickling awareness of each other as adults that immediately sparks between them. But much has happened in the intervening decade, and both are wary. Is Pax working for the French? Is Cami? Can they trust each other implicitly as they once did? And if Pax trusts Cami – will it prove to be one further betrayal of the men he has worked with and come to know and respect over the last ten years?
The story is satisfyingly complex, with Cami, Pax and his colleagues playing a cat-and-mouse game through the seedier side of London in an attempt to foil the blackmailer’s plot, which the pair know is likely to be a suicide mission. There’s a colourful cast of supporting characters in the form of Cami’s Tuscan relatives, and both principals are very strongly characterised. Pax, tightly controlled, haunted and deadly, and strong, clever Cami, are a wonderfully well-matched pair whose past association serves to add depth to their romance.
There is much to enjoy in Rogue Spy – masterful storytelling, beautiful prose and superbly written relationships between the main characters. I loved meeting Adrian Hawker again as that cocky lad we first glimpsed in The Spymaster’s Lady . The contrast between the quiet and considered Pax and the flamboyant, mouthy Hawker is brilliantly delineated, and it’s clear that for all the latter’s smart-mouthed comments, their friendship is an unbreakable one, and each would lay down his life for the other. The same is true of their relationship with Doyle, who acts as a kind of father figure for them both.
I’ve enjoyed every audiobook in this series, and this is no exception, although I have to say that I noticed more mispronunciations than normal. For example, Berkeley (as in Square) isn’t pronounced as it’s spelled, but as BARKley, and I have yet to hear an American narrator pronounce the word “aunt” correctly. Given that the Fluffy Aunts appear or are mentioned fairly often, it’s a regular mispronunciation which did get a little distracting after a while.
On the whole, Kirsten Potter does a good job with both characterisations and narrative, especially when it comes to Pax’s low, sometimes clipped tones and Doyle’s gruff unflappability. Her interpretation of Hawker really brings out his studied insouciance, although I felt that most of the time he sounded a bit too posh. I know he’s a chameleon, a kid from the streets who has been educated and who spends his time around gentlemen, but I’ve never thought of him as being overly concerned with his accent among his inner circle. Also, given the action of this book takes place concurrently with the events in the latter part of The Spymaster’s Lady, it’s not consistent with the way he’s portrayed in the earlier audio. And the one time the text has him deliberately drop into his old, cockney accent, I’m afraid he sounds more Antipodean than East End.
While I can’t overlook these issues, I can’t say they spoiled the audiobook or took me too far out of the story, and I’m sure that for some, they will be hardly noticeable. I’m just picky about accents, and as I’ve said before, my personal preference is for British narrators to perform British-set stories. Ms Potter is one of a very small number of American narrators I can bear to listen to switching between American-accented narration and British-accented characterisations – and I suspect that’s as much down to the excellence of the material as it is to the fact that she’s a skilled performer and gets away with it 90% of the time.
Rogue Spy is nonetheless a highly recommended listen. The story is terrific, and while I did have some issues with the performance, it’s still well above the average.
Also - note to art dept. Pax is very, very blonde, not brunette.
November 21, 2017
This is part of an ongoing series and I definitely recommend reading at least some of the others first. Personally, I'm going by internal chronological order and that's working out very fine for me. At any rate, many of the surrounding characters are established in other stories and I think there's definite benefit in knowing them before this one starts.
I'm going to lean on the others to keep this review shorter than I might otherwise do. It's like the others in all the right ways—i.e. completely its own story, but enough alike that you know it will be well-written and with lots of juicy intrigue and harrowing adventure. I really loved Camille and Pax is a sweetheart and their relationship was simply outstanding. I think Bourne might have struggled a bit keeping them apart for so long in this story because they have a really strong past that binds them together with more trust than you'd normally have for spies loving spies. I think she managed beautifully, however, and seeing them work together was a real treat. I particularly loved Camille's determination to protect "the fluffy aunts" she has lived with for so long and has grown to love and appreciate. They don't get much screen time, but those aunts stole every scene they occupied (even if often only in Camille's mind).
So this had all the rich competence porn I've enjoyed in the rest of the series and the relationship was probably the best so far. It just worked and while the service drama with Pax felt a bit belabored and Camille's family connections went on a bit past the sell-by date neither intrusion hindered my enjoyment enough to matter much in the end. Okay, enough to make me reluctant to round the 4½ up, but it's still a great story I enjoyed very much.
A note about Steamy: There are a couple explicit sex scenes and they're a bit gratuitous. By which I mean that by the time Pax and Cammi have enough time to, er, indulge . . . their relationship is plenty trusting and strong and we didn't really need the physical intimacy on-screen.
I'm going to lean on the others to keep this review shorter than I might otherwise do. It's like the others in all the right ways—i.e. completely its own story, but enough alike that you know it will be well-written and with lots of juicy intrigue and harrowing adventure. I really loved Camille and Pax is a sweetheart and their relationship was simply outstanding. I think Bourne might have struggled a bit keeping them apart for so long in this story because they have a really strong past that binds them together with more trust than you'd normally have for spies loving spies. I think she managed beautifully, however, and seeing them work together was a real treat. I particularly loved Camille's determination to protect "the fluffy aunts" she has lived with for so long and has grown to love and appreciate. They don't get much screen time, but those aunts stole every scene they occupied (even if often only in Camille's mind).
So this had all the rich competence porn I've enjoyed in the rest of the series and the relationship was probably the best so far. It just worked and while the service drama with Pax felt a bit belabored and Camille's family connections went on a bit past the sell-by date neither intrusion hindered my enjoyment enough to matter much in the end. Okay, enough to make me reluctant to round the 4½ up, but it's still a great story I enjoyed very much.
A note about Steamy: There are a couple explicit sex scenes and they're a bit gratuitous. By which I mean that by the time Pax and Cammi have enough time to, er, indulge . . . their relationship is plenty trusting and strong and we didn't really need the physical intimacy on-screen.
November 28, 2014
There are few tropes in romance I love more than a hero and heroine who are capable of killing each other (am I weird like that?) and Rogue Spy pushed ALL the right buttons for me.
*happy sigh*
I have been stalking the release date for this book for what feels like almost two years and so you can imagine the crazy amount of anticipation I had for it. As I read through the first chapters, I was riveted. The Black Hawk, Adrian's story, ranks as one of my favorite historical romances of all time and the writing in Rogue Spy is incredibly, unbelievably, how is this even possible, better than in The Black Hawk. It's tickle your heart, dramatic, delicious writing.
(For lack of a better method of describing my joy, I am resorting to the overuse of adjectives.)
For the first ten chapters or so, the tension between Cami and Pax is unbelievable. Every description is amazing. I've decided that's what's so sexy about these books. The way that the hero/heroine see each other is clear, concise, distinctive -- no resorting to cliches of hair, eyes, skin...just...stop it already Joanna! It pisses me off (in a good way) how good the descriptions are.
And everyone is a badass -- spy vs. spy and all. And the way the spying techniques are described, I'm totally convinced. Why of course, Joanna Bourne went back in a time machine, found a couple of Napoleonic era spies, drugged them, and made them spill their secrets. This is TOTALLY how spy rings operated back then. The strategy and tactics that you see everyone employ, the fighting techniques, the escape routines -- clever, clever book.
Okay...to come off my high a bit -- once the multitude of characters comes in along with Cami's extensive family...okay, she's part of some Borgia-esque, all powerful Italian multi-national conglomerate who knows everyone and everything, yet they lost track of her and just couldn't find her for all these years? When they're hooked into every underworld crime boss in the world? And the way everyone else is hooked up too--the moment Cami rears her head in any fashion, someone important enough would have clued in on her. Hey, child of the mafioso, someone's looking for you....) Perhaps in this respect the characters were too smart for me to believe they would have let this slip...until now. Too much of a good thing, perhaps?
The book and plot loosened a little bit at the seams from that point for me. Before that it was just razor sharp, every line.
Still it was all a great ride, cool plots and subplots all interwoven.
In the end, I didn't feel Cami and Pax's romance was as hot and swoony as Hawker's and Justine's. The initial tension in Rogue Spy was SO amazing--better than sex amazing, but the final resolution didn't sweep me off my feet as much as in Black Hawk.
So though Rogue Spy didn't ultimately unseat Black Hawk in my Spymasters universe, I would give it a second place. Which is still a lot of love.
It was cool seeing Grey again. And the dry/witty exchanges between Pax and Hawker made me want to laugh out loud.
(A personal note: This book, more than all of the other books, really reminded me of a wuxia plot. Maybe this is why I love the Spymaster series books so much. They're set in France, but everyone has badass fighting skills, everyone is one step ahead of everyone else, no one is as they seem, even the villains have their own code of honor. Training scenes! What can be more wuxia than training scenes? And the hero and heroine are on opposite sides and totally capable and willing (almost) to take each other on as well as take each other out, if necessary.)
*happy sigh*
I have been stalking the release date for this book for what feels like almost two years and so you can imagine the crazy amount of anticipation I had for it. As I read through the first chapters, I was riveted. The Black Hawk, Adrian's story, ranks as one of my favorite historical romances of all time and the writing in Rogue Spy is incredibly, unbelievably, how is this even possible, better than in The Black Hawk. It's tickle your heart, dramatic, delicious writing.
(For lack of a better method of describing my joy, I am resorting to the overuse of adjectives.)
For the first ten chapters or so, the tension between Cami and Pax is unbelievable. Every description is amazing. I've decided that's what's so sexy about these books. The way that the hero/heroine see each other is clear, concise, distinctive -- no resorting to cliches of hair, eyes, skin...just...stop it already Joanna! It pisses me off (in a good way) how good the descriptions are.
And everyone is a badass -- spy vs. spy and all. And the way the spying techniques are described, I'm totally convinced. Why of course, Joanna Bourne went back in a time machine, found a couple of Napoleonic era spies, drugged them, and made them spill their secrets. This is TOTALLY how spy rings operated back then. The strategy and tactics that you see everyone employ, the fighting techniques, the escape routines -- clever, clever book.
Okay...to come off my high a bit -- once the multitude of characters comes in along with Cami's extensive family...okay, she's part of some Borgia-esque, all powerful Italian multi-national conglomerate who knows everyone and everything, yet they lost track of her and just couldn't find her for all these years? When they're hooked into every underworld crime boss in the world? And the way everyone else is hooked up too--the moment Cami rears her head in any fashion, someone important enough would have clued in on her. Hey, child of the mafioso, someone's looking for you....) Perhaps in this respect the characters were too smart for me to believe they would have let this slip...until now. Too much of a good thing, perhaps?
The book and plot loosened a little bit at the seams from that point for me. Before that it was just razor sharp, every line.
Still it was all a great ride, cool plots and subplots all interwoven.
In the end, I didn't feel Cami and Pax's romance was as hot and swoony as Hawker's and Justine's. The initial tension in Rogue Spy was SO amazing--better than sex amazing, but the final resolution didn't sweep me off my feet as much as in Black Hawk.
So though Rogue Spy didn't ultimately unseat Black Hawk in my Spymasters universe, I would give it a second place. Which is still a lot of love.
It was cool seeing Grey again. And the dry/witty exchanges between Pax and Hawker made me want to laugh out loud.
(A personal note: This book, more than all of the other books, really reminded me of a wuxia plot. Maybe this is why I love the Spymaster series books so much. They're set in France, but everyone has badass fighting skills, everyone is one step ahead of everyone else, no one is as they seem, even the villains have their own code of honor. Training scenes! What can be more wuxia than training scenes? And the hero and heroine are on opposite sides and totally capable and willing (almost) to take each other on as well as take each other out, if necessary.)
February 22, 2022
February 2022: I had forgotten how much I loved this one. It reads like a movie and it only took me until this re-read to realize that this book and the events of book 1 were taking place at/around the same time (poor Doyle - trying to keep Grey, Hawk and Pax all alive during this timeframe. IT'S A LOT). I think that is why I love this series so much. It's not linear in the least but it's character driven, fast paced and all together everything just works on multiple levels for me.
August 2017: This book was still great. I love Cami and Pax and all the characters in this little universe. So good. Also Grey FINALLY showed up in here . I have missed him in the last few books so I was thrilled he re-appeared at Meeks Street.
January 2015: This book was probably 4.5 stars but I'm rounding it up just because every time I read a Joanne Bourne book I am blown away by her writing, her characters and the way she dives into history and the world of spies JUST SO WELL. This wasn't my FAVORITE of the series, that honor still belongs to Hawk's book/Maggie&Doyle but damn if this book wasn't great on it's own merit. Cami and Pax were so good together and I loved the slow revealing of their backstories among the present day mystery. Also CRIMINAL FAMILIES? Yes please. I do wish we had seem more of the women from the other books, I mean we got Doyle and Hawker because they work with Pax but we only got mentions of Maggie and Justine. More of those two would always be better.
But I really do love this series. I hope there is still more to be written. *fingers crossed*
August 2017: This book was still great. I love Cami and Pax and all the characters in this little universe. So good. Also Grey FINALLY showed up in here . I have missed him in the last few books so I was thrilled he re-appeared at Meeks Street.
January 2015: This book was probably 4.5 stars but I'm rounding it up just because every time I read a Joanne Bourne book I am blown away by her writing, her characters and the way she dives into history and the world of spies JUST SO WELL. This wasn't my FAVORITE of the series, that honor still belongs to Hawk's book/Maggie&Doyle but damn if this book wasn't great on it's own merit. Cami and Pax were so good together and I loved the slow revealing of their backstories among the present day mystery. Also CRIMINAL FAMILIES? Yes please. I do wish we had seem more of the women from the other books, I mean we got Doyle and Hawker because they work with Pax but we only got mentions of Maggie and Justine. More of those two would always be better.
But I really do love this series. I hope there is still more to be written. *fingers crossed*
May 12, 2018
It took me a month to read this due to various RL interruptions. I enjoyed it regardless however. I loved Pax and have but one complaint. The ending was much too abrupt and was sorely in need of an epilogue. Now on to the final book in the series.
September 16, 2018
The writing in the Spymasters series is unique. When I began with book 1, I found it refreshing and different. However, now it just seems the same. I poured through the first four books pretty quickly, but I had to set this one aside for months before I could continue. I know I will have to take another lengthy break before I finish the final installment.
I love a well-written virgin hero, so this should have been my favorite. I guess I am just a bit tired of the lies, the acting, the duplicity, and all the other facets of this spy world. I also don't like that the stories are out of order chronologically. To anyone who plans to read but has not started, I would recommend reading the books in the order they happened rather than as numbered.
I love a well-written virgin hero, so this should have been my favorite. I guess I am just a bit tired of the lies, the acting, the duplicity, and all the other facets of this spy world. I also don't like that the stories are out of order chronologically. To anyone who plans to read but has not started, I would recommend reading the books in the order they happened rather than as numbered.
November 29, 2014
I have loved this entire series and have read all the previous books twice. Rogue Spy was no disappointment and, though I grew very fond of Pax, I remain devoted to Adrian - who is quite the best male character I've come across in a very long time. Bourne writes her men extremely well. All of them are very clearly defined and the dialogue is good. Her leading ladies, however, are all cast in a similar mould - deadly French spies, most of them. But what really gives these books an edge is the attention to detail and feel for the period.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
November 9, 2014
This one was fine...but Joanna Bourne can do better. She did do so much better, like, one book ago! Cami just seems...slapped together, and her backstory is too convenient to fit well into the tone and mood of this series. It was fine, but it wasn't nearly as captivating as the others. Also, the cover art is a TERRIBLE representation of the hero, and that's on the publisher. BOO PUBLISHER.
August 24, 2022
The writing was beautiful, of course, but the story and characters just never clicked for me. I liked Pax, the hero, in this book and books prior, but I never feel like I connected with him or Cami, the heroine. For the first time I saw where friends who have read Bourne's stuff might be coming from when they say her stories leave them cold. Bourne's prose is so masterful, however, that I'd still take a mediocre story like this over most others.
You know what the highlight of this book was for me? All of the great scenes we got with Adrian/Hawker. He's one of my very favorite book heroes ever, and he was way more interesting to read about than Pax and Cami.
So far in the Spymaster books we've seen an older, nearing-middle age Adrian, who is powerful, and a bit cooler (in terms of temperament) and haunted. We've seen him as a child, playing apprentice to Doyle. We've seen him as a teenager and a young man. So much of the enjoyment in reading this series is in piecing together Adrian's life. He's such a rich and interesting character. In this particular book he is...twenty-one, I'd guess, as it takes place just after the events of the first novel in the series. Justine has just shot him, and Adrian is bitter as hell about it, and understandably heart-broken.
Adrian's always such a wry, chill person in other books...it was interesting to see how he displaced his anger about Justine's betrayal onto the heroine of this book. I guess Pax, his best friend, falling in love with a French spy hit a little too close to home. He was at his shit-talking best in this book, and I enjoyed it a lot! I'd read another three books about Adrian, or a series about him and Justine coming out of retirement to solve crime, if Bourne decided to write them. A girl can dream.
You know what the highlight of this book was for me? All of the great scenes we got with Adrian/Hawker. He's one of my very favorite book heroes ever, and he was way more interesting to read about than Pax and Cami.
So far in the Spymaster books we've seen an older, nearing-middle age Adrian, who is powerful, and a bit cooler (in terms of temperament) and haunted. We've seen him as a child, playing apprentice to Doyle. We've seen him as a teenager and a young man. So much of the enjoyment in reading this series is in piecing together Adrian's life. He's such a rich and interesting character. In this particular book he is...twenty-one, I'd guess, as it takes place just after the events of the first novel in the series. Justine has just shot him, and Adrian is bitter as hell about it, and understandably heart-broken.
Adrian's always such a wry, chill person in other books...it was interesting to see how he displaced his anger about Justine's betrayal onto the heroine of this book. I guess Pax, his best friend, falling in love with a French spy hit a little too close to home. He was at his shit-talking best in this book, and I enjoyed it a lot! I'd read another three books about Adrian, or a series about him and Justine coming out of retirement to solve crime, if Bourne decided to write them. A girl can dream.
September 9, 2016
4.5 stars
I really loved this. I do enjoy how this series is non-linear. This needed to come after Adrian's book even though it covers stuff that happened earlier than the main action in The Black Hawk. I do think you need to read that before you read this. I adored both Pax and Cami. I liked that they were childhood friends (co-survivors?) but still had to do the work of getting to know each other again. The addition of an Italian criminal family into the mix of spies was also a delight.
It was fascinating to see Adrian in this book and see how really gutted he was over Justine shooting him (which was not explored as much in his book).
This series as a whole is fascinating to me because I really feel like the first two books are entirely different from the latter three. I think I'm going to pretend those two don't exist during rereads.
I really loved this. I do enjoy how this series is non-linear. This needed to come after Adrian's book even though it covers stuff that happened earlier than the main action in The Black Hawk. I do think you need to read that before you read this. I adored both Pax and Cami. I liked that they were childhood friends (co-survivors?) but still had to do the work of getting to know each other again. The addition of an Italian criminal family into the mix of spies was also a delight.
It was fascinating to see Adrian in this book and see how really gutted he was over Justine shooting him (which was not explored as much in his book).
This series as a whole is fascinating to me because I really feel like the first two books are entirely different from the latter three. I think I'm going to pretend those two don't exist during rereads.
March 20, 2016
Hmm. I am going to be the oddball on this review. Perhaps it is because I haven't read the other books in the series, but I just don't get all the hype about this book.
The good:
I love both the hero and the heroine. They are both strong, intelligent characters. The heroine I feel was a little flat in comparison to the hero who was clearly the authors favorite IMHO.
I also liked Hawker. He was quite lovable, in fact he seemed more "real" than any of the other characters in the book.
The antagonist "the merchant" was well crafted. Not your typical evil to be evil. The author made him human and not all that entirely bad. Well done!
There was nothing written here that hit any of my triggers.
The bad:
I wouldn't classify this as a romance. It is more of a story about spys, and there just happens to be some romance thrown in. I didn't mind this but it was surprising.
I didn't care at all for the author's writing style. It was filled with so many unnecessary details that didn't add to the story.
There were so many secondary characters that are mentioned once and never heard from again it made my head spin.
I was so bored with the reading I found my mind wander from time to time and I skimmed. I really couldn't wait to be done with it. It took until 30% into the book for it to even get mildly interesting for me. But I kept going.
Loose ends. We are never told what happens to the real Cami. Or was she an imposter?
The H says ILY but the h never returns it. The h obviously loves him, but when the H tells her he loves her right before potentially dying (when she goes to confront "The Merchant") she doesnt say it back.
I also didn't like during the first loving scene how the heroine feels it necessary to talk about her past two lovers to the virgin hero. I hate when characters rub past lovers in the face of the other. Usually it's the other way around. Honestly why would anyone choose to do that? Especially at such a tender momment?
Overall it was ok. Just ok. I would not recommend this one. Not worth 7.99
December 15, 2017
Joanna Bourne does not write typical romance books. She captures the flavor of an age, the essence of danger, then lures you into a twisty, winding road of a tale, that captures all of your interest and refuses to let you go. Thomas Paxton and Camille Leyland are survivors of the revolution, trained as children to the infamous Cache, a secret school for children to be trained in the art of subterfuge and espionage. A chance meeting brings this combustible pair together where they must set aside their distrust and recapture the loyalties of their youth that bind them. Camille is being blackmailed, and Thomas is torn by both his need to protect her, as well as the new country he has betrayed. This is romance for grown-ups, without simpering misses, and silly plots. Don't expect stale cake of Almacks and bored aristocrats. In James Bond fashion, the heroes are almost indistinguishable from the villains. London is gritty, the players experienced in the art of spying. I loved this book. In a sea of boring Regency romps, this stands out like tiger lily among the daisies. Joanna Bourne's books keep you reading all night long, because you can't put down the book. Her stories are never predictable. I keep checking Amazon for her next publication. Keep writing, Joanna! You have saved me from giving up the genre.
August 20, 2018
August 2018: Is this the book where Pax proves his loyalty? Or is it in The Black Hawk, when
Anyway: love, love, love. No idea why I gave this four stars before. Maybe because it doesn’t quite reach the heights of The Black Hawk? It’s close, though. Really close. Reading the two back to back is like reading an epic: intricate and haunting and beautiful.
September 2015: The worldbuilding in this series - the attention to detail - is fantastic. And this book is where I realized how that one little episode, Leblanc jarring Justine while she fired the gun, affected so many stories! Three novels' worth - Grey's and Hawk's and this one, Pax's.
This story almost isn't a standalone; I think I would have been confused had I not reread The Black Hawk right before. But tonally it fits the series really well, and it's a great (if predictable) story. And wow, Adrian's growth between this and The Black Hawk is both noticeable and well done.
Anyway: love, love, love. No idea why I gave this four stars before. Maybe because it doesn’t quite reach the heights of The Black Hawk? It’s close, though. Really close. Reading the two back to back is like reading an epic: intricate and haunting and beautiful.
September 2015: The worldbuilding in this series - the attention to detail - is fantastic. And this book is where I realized how that one little episode, Leblanc jarring Justine while she fired the gun, affected so many stories! Three novels' worth - Grey's and Hawk's and this one, Pax's.
This story almost isn't a standalone; I think I would have been confused had I not reread The Black Hawk right before. But tonally it fits the series really well, and it's a great (if predictable) story. And wow, Adrian's growth between this and The Black Hawk is both noticeable and well done.
January 13, 2015
Really, look no further if regency spy romance is your thing (and even if it's not), this series might just be the best at doing it. Would have liked a few more romantic scenes between Pax and Cami but the story and interweaving of story arcs and characters from previous books in the series was amazing. I also find myself needing to go re-read The Black Hawk to spend more time with Hawker :)
January 15, 2017
At long last I have finished this as an audiobook! ( I only get 2-3 hrs max time a week). loved the story and the narration - review to come!
September 21, 2014
I had the distinct privilege of reading an ARC of Rogue Spy.
Ms. Joanna Bourne does it AGAIN. Let me start by saying that I have loved every one of the books in the Spymasters series. Each has more than earned its place on my keeper shelf and I have reread them all many times.
Rogue Spy is a spectacular addition to the series. It was an engrossing, layered, wonderful read that I know I will pick up again and again. Each of Ms. Bourne's stories seems that way to me--they are like a delicious dessert, where even a bite is rich and satisfying, and where I enjoy each and every morsel. I didn't read this in one sitting (although I was sorely tempted, but life interferes!). Each time I picked the story back up, each little piece, each interlude with it was such a pleasure.
Rogue Spy is Pax (Thomas Paxton)'s story. He was a Cache, a child raised by the French to infiltrate the British Intelligence Service. His past has finally caught up with him, and since he is honorable to the core, he heads back to headquarters with his signed confession.
Camille Leyland, former French spy, is hauled from her quiet rural life by blackmail. She heads to London to confront that threat and finds Pax already on the case.
Ms. Bourne skillfully weaves Cami and Pax's stories together, and also brings back characters we've come to know in prior Spymaster stories. Hers is a well crafted universe of sly and frightening villains as well as clever, strong, and truly heroic men and women on the side of good.
I will content myself with reading and re-reading the series until Ms. Bourne's next release.
Ms. Joanna Bourne does it AGAIN. Let me start by saying that I have loved every one of the books in the Spymasters series. Each has more than earned its place on my keeper shelf and I have reread them all many times.
Rogue Spy is a spectacular addition to the series. It was an engrossing, layered, wonderful read that I know I will pick up again and again. Each of Ms. Bourne's stories seems that way to me--they are like a delicious dessert, where even a bite is rich and satisfying, and where I enjoy each and every morsel. I didn't read this in one sitting (although I was sorely tempted, but life interferes!). Each time I picked the story back up, each little piece, each interlude with it was such a pleasure.
Rogue Spy is Pax (Thomas Paxton)'s story. He was a Cache, a child raised by the French to infiltrate the British Intelligence Service. His past has finally caught up with him, and since he is honorable to the core, he heads back to headquarters with his signed confession.
Camille Leyland, former French spy, is hauled from her quiet rural life by blackmail. She heads to London to confront that threat and finds Pax already on the case.
Ms. Bourne skillfully weaves Cami and Pax's stories together, and also brings back characters we've come to know in prior Spymaster stories. Hers is a well crafted universe of sly and frightening villains as well as clever, strong, and truly heroic men and women on the side of good.
I will content myself with reading and re-reading the series until Ms. Bourne's next release.
November 14, 2014
PREPUBLICATION MUSINGS: joanna bourne is one of the greats; her writing is simply fantastic, which means that this book has become a must-read for me. she's a phenomenal entre'e to the genre for any interested reader.
*** Review ***
one of the weaker of the Meeks Street tales. joanna bourne's prose is really good, but these characters seemed a little like watered-down versions of other, better, more compelling, characters she's already given us. also, the pacing on this seemed off -- lots of flowery asides that didn't so much elucidate psyches and forward plots as they did slow down the action and try my patience.
still, bourne's is lovely prose, and even her second-hand characters are good. and she mostly handled well the weaving together of the myriad plot lines she's constructed for this cast of characters over the years. note, this book takes place simultaneously with the spymaster's lady, and bourne usually successfully hints at other important goings-ons without belaboring the point and distracting us from THIS book. so these mini-cameos came off as lovely gifts to long-time fans as opposed to self-indulgence.
this book will be most interesting to readers who've read and loved the previous books in this series. to others it'll probably be a two-star, forgettable read.
*** Review ***
one of the weaker of the Meeks Street tales. joanna bourne's prose is really good, but these characters seemed a little like watered-down versions of other, better, more compelling, characters she's already given us. also, the pacing on this seemed off -- lots of flowery asides that didn't so much elucidate psyches and forward plots as they did slow down the action and try my patience.
still, bourne's is lovely prose, and even her second-hand characters are good. and she mostly handled well the weaving together of the myriad plot lines she's constructed for this cast of characters over the years. note, this book takes place simultaneously with the spymaster's lady, and bourne usually successfully hints at other important goings-ons without belaboring the point and distracting us from THIS book. so these mini-cameos came off as lovely gifts to long-time fans as opposed to self-indulgence.
this book will be most interesting to readers who've read and loved the previous books in this series. to others it'll probably be a two-star, forgettable read.
November 10, 2014
Ms Bourne writes great books, she really does.
November 2, 2014
Disclosure: I received this review copy via Netgalley. Thank you to Joanna Bourne and Berkley for the opportunity. Yes, this is an honest review.
* * *
What to expect when you read Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne:
1. Expect an unconventional love story told through an unconventional plot structure.
What is amazing about Joanna Bourne is how well she mixes the spy/intrigue element with the romance element in her stories. In Rogue Spy, the first 7 chapters has Pax pursuing Cami. There's very little interaction between the two, but Bourne establishes the connection between our hero and heroine through flashbacks of the time when Pax was Devoir and Cami was Verite of the Coach House in France.
There's such a rich and tragic backstory in our hero and heroine's childhood -- both of them orphaned by the French Revolution and then trained to be deadly and ruthless spies.
Now Pax knows he must finally face his past as a Cache and member of The Coach House and accept the consequences of his "treachery" from British intelligence. Cami has lived a quiet, and peaceful life with the Leyland sisters -- her "Fluffy Aunts" who happen to be England's greatest code breakers. Now a letter threatens to expose her for the impostor that she is, and Cami is caught in a deadly web of international conspiracy.
2. Expect a fast-paced and well-plotted spy story.
Rogue Spy is book 5 in Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and this might be her most action-packed story ever written.
I want to know how Bourne does it and what sort of research she does for this series ... Because it is so well-executed. The writing is impeccable and precise. The action sequences are so well-choreographed and planned out. I also love how the author reveals the inner workings of the world of espionage. It was fascinating reading how Cami and Pax did reconnaissance on Semple Street and how agents were positioned like chess pieces, covering all possible escape routes (Chapter 30).
The central questions that Bourne poses are:
1. Who is The Merchant?
2. What does The Merchant truly want from Cami?
3. Is Pax really a traitor?
4. Is Cami really a traitor?
The last two questions are crucial if our hero and heroine are to have a future together. In other romances, this lack of time with translate into an emotional urgency -- hero and heroine must act NOW because there might not be a tomorrow. Pax and Cami, on the other hand, refuse to act, and refuse to burden the other with the unnecessary pain of heartbreak and possible loss. It is a noble sacrifice to contain their love, desire, emotions, fears. It's actually part of their tragedy that their lives as spies only affords them the present. There is no guarantee of the future: there is only the success of the current mission to contend with.
3. Expect to fall in love with Pax and Cami.
I honestly thought Justine and Adrian had a really amazing love story and it's difficult to match the passion, and conflicting emotions that those two went through -- but, I have to say, Pax and Cami are a strong contender as my favorite Joanna Bourne characters. Like Justine and Adrian, there's an adversarial aspect to Pax and Cami's relationship, but there's also the childhood friends-to-lovers side to their story (one of my favourite tropes). There's a fluidity and vagueness to their current situation: are they enemies? Do they have the same goals?
And it's wonderful and incredibly sad how love develops amidst the doubts -- it's very clear that their love is a choice ... a conscious decision that both Cami and Pax make. Despite all the questions and uncertainty, they have chosen to love and to feel right now. I also loved how very single-minded and determined Pax and Cami were to keep each other alive. As agents and as survivors of the French Revolution, their lives have been surrounded by death -- both necessary and unnecessary.
4. Expect to get excited for more.
Joanna Bourne has a wonderful way of writing interesting characters, and she introduces a few of them in Rogue Spy. I've become intrigued by the children of the Coach House and am very curious about the names they were given when they were there: Pax was Devoir (duty) and Cami was Verite (truth). I am still reflecting on this and on why Bourne has presented these two concepts in "opposition" or in "sameness" -- and I'm certain there's a reason (and a story) for it. ^_^
I also loved, loved, loved the Fluffy Aunts and would love to read more about them and, maybe about their previous dealings with Galba, head of the British Service. (I am crossing my fingers and hoping they get a book or a novella, or something. Joanna Bourne's stories aren't written chronologically and Pax's story actually happens before Hawker's story, so I am very, very hopeful about this.)
The whole game of counter-intelligence (and intelligence) was so, so engrossing that I actually forgot to make a lot of notes about this book (for this review) -- but, this book is that memorable and leaves that kind of infinitely deep (and positive) impression on me. After I read this book, I felt a rush of inspiration and was able to work out an outline for this review and write it on the 35-minute plane ride home from my family's holiday.
Rogue Spy is Book 5 in Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and will be released on November 4, 2014.
* * *
What to expect when you read Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne:
1. Expect an unconventional love story told through an unconventional plot structure.
What is amazing about Joanna Bourne is how well she mixes the spy/intrigue element with the romance element in her stories. In Rogue Spy, the first 7 chapters has Pax pursuing Cami. There's very little interaction between the two, but Bourne establishes the connection between our hero and heroine through flashbacks of the time when Pax was Devoir and Cami was Verite of the Coach House in France.
There's such a rich and tragic backstory in our hero and heroine's childhood -- both of them orphaned by the French Revolution and then trained to be deadly and ruthless spies.
Now Pax knows he must finally face his past as a Cache and member of The Coach House and accept the consequences of his "treachery" from British intelligence. Cami has lived a quiet, and peaceful life with the Leyland sisters -- her "Fluffy Aunts" who happen to be England's greatest code breakers. Now a letter threatens to expose her for the impostor that she is, and Cami is caught in a deadly web of international conspiracy.
2. Expect a fast-paced and well-plotted spy story.
Rogue Spy is book 5 in Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and this might be her most action-packed story ever written.
I want to know how Bourne does it and what sort of research she does for this series ... Because it is so well-executed. The writing is impeccable and precise. The action sequences are so well-choreographed and planned out. I also love how the author reveals the inner workings of the world of espionage. It was fascinating reading how Cami and Pax did reconnaissance on Semple Street and how agents were positioned like chess pieces, covering all possible escape routes (Chapter 30).
The central questions that Bourne poses are:
1. Who is The Merchant?
2. What does The Merchant truly want from Cami?
3. Is Pax really a traitor?
4. Is Cami really a traitor?
The last two questions are crucial if our hero and heroine are to have a future together. In other romances, this lack of time with translate into an emotional urgency -- hero and heroine must act NOW because there might not be a tomorrow. Pax and Cami, on the other hand, refuse to act, and refuse to burden the other with the unnecessary pain of heartbreak and possible loss. It is a noble sacrifice to contain their love, desire, emotions, fears. It's actually part of their tragedy that their lives as spies only affords them the present. There is no guarantee of the future: there is only the success of the current mission to contend with.
... He turned her hand over and touched the centre of her palm, holding all her thought, all her intention and awareness, right there, in that spot.
She closed her hand around the sensitivity, around the little fireball of excitement. Her voice was rock steady. "I don't have time to want you."
- lox 1990
3. Expect to fall in love with Pax and Cami.
I honestly thought Justine and Adrian had a really amazing love story and it's difficult to match the passion, and conflicting emotions that those two went through -- but, I have to say, Pax and Cami are a strong contender as my favorite Joanna Bourne characters. Like Justine and Adrian, there's an adversarial aspect to Pax and Cami's relationship, but there's also the childhood friends-to-lovers side to their story (one of my favourite tropes). There's a fluidity and vagueness to their current situation: are they enemies? Do they have the same goals?
"The problem is, we're both lying about some things. We're lies within lies within lies, you and me, like Chinese puzzle boxes. Boxes within boxes." She shifted from one foot to the other. "You're loyal to somebody. That's your nature. Loyalty. I just wish I could figure out which side you're on."
- loc 1257
And it's wonderful and incredibly sad how love develops amidst the doubts -- it's very clear that their love is a choice ... a conscious decision that both Cami and Pax make. Despite all the questions and uncertainty, they have chosen to love and to feel right now. I also loved how very single-minded and determined Pax and Cami were to keep each other alive. As agents and as survivors of the French Revolution, their lives have been surrounded by death -- both necessary and unnecessary.
Let Pax live through this. If you'll just let Pax live ... She caught herself bargaining with God, promising to light a hundred candles in gratitude. She knew better than to haggle with God like a fruit seller in the market. God expected her to pay attention to the business at hand.
But she'd light flocks of candles if Pax lived.
- loc 3511
4. Expect to get excited for more.
Joanna Bourne has a wonderful way of writing interesting characters, and she introduces a few of them in Rogue Spy. I've become intrigued by the children of the Coach House and am very curious about the names they were given when they were there: Pax was Devoir (duty) and Cami was Verite (truth). I am still reflecting on this and on why Bourne has presented these two concepts in "opposition" or in "sameness" -- and I'm certain there's a reason (and a story) for it. ^_^
I also loved, loved, loved the Fluffy Aunts and would love to read more about them and, maybe about their previous dealings with Galba, head of the British Service. (I am crossing my fingers and hoping they get a book or a novella, or something. Joanna Bourne's stories aren't written chronologically and Pax's story actually happens before Hawker's story, so I am very, very hopeful about this.)
The whole game of counter-intelligence (and intelligence) was so, so engrossing that I actually forgot to make a lot of notes about this book (for this review) -- but, this book is that memorable and leaves that kind of infinitely deep (and positive) impression on me. After I read this book, I felt a rush of inspiration and was able to work out an outline for this review and write it on the 35-minute plane ride home from my family's holiday.
Rogue Spy is Book 5 in Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and will be released on November 4, 2014.
January 4, 2023
3.5 ☆
Review of the entire series --
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review of the entire series --
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 264 reviews