Gabriel Dax is orphaned at the age of six in a house fire. Since then he is haunted by bad dreams and insomnia. Now an adult, Gabriel is a writer and, on a trip to the recently liberated Congo, he interviews the President - shortly afterwards there is a coup and the President is executed. Gabriel finds himself the unwitting participant in an espionage plot in which he does not know the game but he is learning fast. What happens when an outstanding writer of very human fiction decides to try his hand at a spy thriller? The answer is this book! The plot is suitably twisty and very rooted in the early 1960s but what sets it apart as more than just a very good thriller is the quality of the writing - it's an all round great read.

Thanks to PRH for the proof. With more than a nod to Ian Fleming and Bond(Drax) and written in a Le Carrie style thus is about a 'useful idiot' who is traumatised by his mother's book and being a travel writer of renown he visits the world and on one trip to the Congo he gets unwittingly drawn into the eyes of MI6. Gabriel Drax is recruited by his brother to collect a picture from a Spanish artist which now appears to be a rest, he is handled by Faith Green a high up agent and he is drawn deeper into the espionage network. As this is an uncorrected proof cannot go into specifics but I liked it, would like to give it full marks but the constant mention if him smoking gitanes was a little cloying.

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd When travel writer Gabriel Dax, survivor of a major childhood trauma that took his mother, is offered the coup of a lifetime;to interview Patrice Lumumba, prominent African politician,his literary credentials are on the up. This however is the 1960’s Cold War era as Gabriel stumbles in to the shady world of international espionage. Despite its timing, this is no grey faceless novel, but one flushed with colourful characters, locations,trepidation and suspense. It is told with beautiful fluidity and most importantly is proper storytelling-a wonderful book to spend time with. #docs.reading.room

Gabriel Dax is the right man in the right place—or is he? Travel writer, Sixties man about town, orphan—spy. Drawn into a murky world of international politics, in a time when Britain juggled its many roles as American ally, Cold War enemy, colonial figurehead and post-colonial “advisor”, Gabriel is a deniable pawn who gets his head very much in deep water. In a deceptively breezy book that never shies away from Gabriel’s deep trauma or the dangerous world he now finds himself in, Boyd presents us with a hero—sub-hero? Non-hero?—and a fully realised milieu that is the antithesis of Bond, and yet not quite Smiley’s world. His family and friends are full-on characters and the real spies he interacts with, maybe-spies, probably-spies, are as exotic yet plebeian in layers upon layers as they need to be. And in all this, is Gabriel in as much control as he thinks he is? I thoroughly enjoyed this brilliantly entertaining book, with its spare but evocative reimagining of the early Sixties, and Gabriel Dax in all his infuriating, crossword puzzling obtuseness. He’s not someone I’d like to call a friend but his adventures and misadventures made me gasp and smile and nod in appreciation. Well played, Mr Boyd, well played. Four and a half stars.

A troubled soul forever marked by the accidental death of his father when he was very young followed two years later by the catastrophic death of his mother and his own miraculous rescue from their burning home. Twenty years later our chief protagonist lives a quit uneventful life by the beat of his own drum whilst simultaneously struggling with insomnia and difficult childhood memories. The scene is set for a totally unexpected and complex storyline of intrigue, politics, espionage shrouded in a mystery that defies explanation, expectations or understanding. A three dimensional character that dominates every page with his quiet unassuming character as he weaves his way through the trial and tribulations that nothing could have prepared him for. A writer who delivers each stage of his mystery with words and actions that demand further involvement from the reader which is then rewarded in the way only a superb storyteller can deliver from a hugely rewarding book. A five star read on every level from an author at the top of his game. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.