First book I have read by this author. I had had a token to spend and wanted to explore something new. This had great reviews so I got myself a copy. What a great read with compelling, interesting characters and a storyline line that mot only takes the reader on a journey but also acts as a history lesson. I really enjoyed this and will certainly read more by Boyd. A great storytelling craftsman.

This is an excellent book, which I read in less than a week. Very fast paced, it pulls you through, switching narrator and period. The characters are amazing, making you love them from the start. One of the best books I've read this year.

Fantastic female spy thriller. Feels very real and is very pacy - a really good read

William Boyd has always provided me with plenty of escapist fun over the years. Notably Any Human Heart (despite its occasional bloatedness in plot and contrivance) and Stars and Bars (underrated). Restless, however, strikes out a little from the tone of previous work, and was refreshing to read. The modern style has become this mixing of the political/conspiratorial with the personal. I've seen it done in crumby ways in recent years (I'm thinking of Chris Pavone's The Accident), but Boyd pulls off the 3D quality one comes to expect from his characters. I found it eloquent, elegant, and a brisk reimagining of the spy story that provides CPR to a done-to-death genre. Warmly recommended.

I'm a fan of Boyd anyway (Any Human Heart is one of my favourite books) and I loved this too. It follows the adventures of a Second world war spy - Eva - beautiful, intelligent and determined, and how the paranoid world of espionage comes to dominate her life. Boyd's prose is deceptively simple, and some passages are brilliantly redolent of Ian Fleming. It's a fast, exciting novel which will also make you think.