William Boyd once wrote a Bond novel, Solo, but Gabriel Dax, the spy in The Predicament, is, unlike Bond, only reluctantly in the espionage business and really would like to devote himself full time to his other job, as a travel writer. Right now he’s finishing off his book on rivers, which serves as a useful cover for whatever country he’s being sent to by his beautiful MI6 boss, with whom he’s having an intermittent affair.
To begin with, it’s Guatemala, whose capital does have a river but is also the scene of deplorable CIA skulduggery in the interests of global capitalism. Dax is, in fact, an unwitting stooge, and as if that wasn’t enough he’s also being watched in London by his Russian minders (he’s a double agent), who at least have taste: they pay him in banknotes (this is 1963) inserted into Tolstoy novels. Quite how the Russians never notice his dealings with his MI6 boss, the very woman they are interested in, is a mystery that is never quite resolved.
Dax, who was introduced in Gabriel’s Moon last year, is an adorably complicated character. His parents and his brother died in tragic circumstances, which is one reason why he has regular sessions with his psychoanalyst, an attractive woman to whom he tells absolutely everything. I mean, if you were a double agent, would you be sharing details of all your assignments with a woman of unknown loyalties, on the basis she’s able to help you sleep better? Me neither, but that’s Dax for you.
It’s the Cold War, obviously — you can tell that it’s 1963 because you can rent a studio in Chelsea for £10 a week — which means the Berlin Wall is still standing, and the Commies are up to no good, but the same would seem to be true of parts of the CIA. Dax is sent to Berlin at the same time that JFK is due to visit, and all I will say is that The Day of the Jackal may or may not come to mind. The Predicament is, in short, an immensely enjoyable, undemanding read. Bring on the next.
Niamh O’Keeffe is a writer at The London Standard
