Watchman by Ian Rankin

 

Miles Flint is a British spy.  He has been for years and he has let his job take over his life, even to the detriment of his marriage.  These days he is mostly a 'watchman', spending his nights on stakeouts watching those whom the government suspects of being terrorists.  

His most recent assignment didn't go well.  Miles made an amateur mistake and it resulted in the death of a foreign agent from Israel.  Then he compounded it by getting caught in the garden of one of his assignments ending up in prison.  There's a real sense that perhaps Miles is past his time, that he is at his end of usefulness.  When he is sent to Ireland on an obscure assignment that quickly becomes deadly, Miles knows that his only salvation will be to investigate his own agency and determine if their is treachery and treason going on. 

Ian Rankin is best known for his Rebus series.  This is an early novel before that series became so popular.  The reader will be lost at times and that is a purposeful choice as it echoes the ambiguity of the agencies that work undercover to insure the nation's safety.  Flint is a man whom the agency has given up on, as has his wife and even Miles himself.  But when threatened, his early skills come to the fore and he manages to discover things hidden from those he works with and that threaten the agency itself as well as the nation he has sworn to protect.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy espionage.