REVIEW: THE BRITISH AGENT by Simon Conway, published by Penguin 20/8/2026
There are a few writers I will always follow. For years I’ve been an avid reader of Michael Connelly. I will never turn my nose up at a Mick Herron. But then there is Simon Conway.
Simon is not someone I’ve ever met or even spoken to on the phone, but he is a writer with a fabulous writing style. His prose is sharp enough for the most dedicated thriller writer, his use of language is superb, he can write humorous scenes as smoothly as action. He’s also brilliantly inventive with his plots.
This book is an interesting departure for him, following a female agent going deep undercover in the US, trailing a group of terrorists. Yes, it gets gritty. It begins with the war in Ukraine, giving some very satisfying insights into that conflict and the use of modern munitions (let’s not forget that Simon was himself a British Army officer, and after that worked extensively with charities removing and destroying munitions all over the world – he knows what he’s writing about, and it shows). However, his technical understanding of people and of their reactions under stress are convincing and engaging, as are his ideas for twists and turns, keeping the reader guessing all the way through the story. Of course, it’s difficult to know how much of a storyline to put down on paper in case it gives away too much, so I’ll hold back here. But if you are interested in modern world politics, in the US political system, and similar affairs, this book will grab you from the first page.
It’s the plot, the characterisation, and the scenes and concepts he puts into his books that makes them so utterly compelling. The folks populating his stories are entirely convincing and believable, and the situations into which they are thrown are so utterly consistent and plausible, that it’s damn difficult to put the book down.
I think Simon Conway is probably the best thriller writer on war that we have today. As an ex- British Army officer, as a man living in the USA currently, as someone fully engaged in the military and political situations around the world, I would say that Simon Conway has taken on Frederic Forsythe’s mantle, and it fits him perfectly. If Forsythe was alive today, I think he’d crown Simon as his successor.
Buy a copy of Simon’s latest – and then go and buy his earlier works too. They’re all excellent!
Highly recommended!
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