Sometimes, you just want a rock solid spy story, like John LeCarre or Frederick Forsyth might write…recently, I did, and fortunately (thanks to Penguin Group/ G.P.Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley) I had a copy of Forsyth’s latest novel, The Fox, provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

The protagonist is the former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service,  Adrian Weston. One night, in a middle of the night call from the Prime Minister, he is awakened with the news that the Pentagon, the NSA, and the CIA have all been hacked at once, despite the incredibly strong security and supposedly impenetrable firewalls. It turns out the hacker is a young teenager from the UK, code-named “The Fox.”

Weston has an idea that he runs past both the U.S. President and the British Prime Minister, to use “The Fox” and his talents to hack into the systems of other countries, to the benefit of the UK and the US.

The story has the typical Forsyth attention to details and knowledge of international espionage, as well as some fascinating characters, and plotting that will likely make the reader wonder “what if…”.

Great escapist fiction, 4 stars.