So, from peril in the Underworld I moved on to peril in the UK in the form of 'Soldier, Spy', memoir of former soldier and MI5 surveillance officer Tom Marcus.
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| 'Soldier, Spy' by Tom Marcus (Penguin Books, 2017) |
'Soldier, Spy' is a brutally, no-nonsense memoir. After a necessarily self-sufficient childhood, Marcus joined the Army as soon as he was able, eventually becoming the youngest person selected for Special Operations in Northern Ireland. In this role, the particular skills he'd acquired while growing up on the streets were noted by his superiors and he was recruited to MI5 soon after the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London. He became an able but gradually more and more maverick officer, completing team operations across the country to tackle everything from international spies to home-grown terrorism. It's a dark, dangerous and low profile business, and, eventually, a lifetime on high alert starts to take its toll on Marcus's mental health. But in a world of half-truths and suspicions, how do you tell what's right and what's wrong?
