Superbly constructed and written with flair ... this might be the best spy novel of the year Sunday Times

My thanks to Netgalley and publishers, Penguin, Michael Joseph, for my advance digital copy, freely given in return for my honest review. Thanks to Matthew and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Scarlet Papers before the publication date. Both of these errors seemed like they were either deliberately planted so as to be revealed as such later—or, simply the result of somewhat superficial research. Because while there is clearly research in this novel, it feels like a stone skipping across a lake rather than a deep dive. Hence my feeling that there was too much distance, as a result, probably, of too much telling as opposed to showing. Addictive, original and outrageously entertaining . . . Matthew Richardson proves himself a writer of huge talent and skill CHARLOTTE PHILBYMy thanks to Penguin Random House Michael Joseph for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Scarlet Papers’ by Matthew Richardson.

So the twists and turns, when they arrive, are the result of withholding information rather than inserting disinformation. There's just another chapter in which something else is revealed that we weren't told about earlier. The narrative moves between the present and a number of time periods and locations in post WWII Europe; weaving together aspects of Scarlet King’s long career in MI6 and her involvement in various Cold War intelligence operations. The Scarlet Papers has received from endorsements from Peter James, who praised it as a “breathtaking thriller” and a “classic in the making”. There are a few twists and turns along the way. Some very clever, others predictable. And also some quite worthy obfuscation. As with My Name Is Nobody (the other book by this author that I have read) the story and all its interconnected parts flowed very well. Culminating in a satisfying ending.

Another part of the blurb speaks of 'high stakes thrills', to which my response is… what? Because it didn't seem particularly thrilling to me, and the stakes didn't ever come across as particularly high. Which is not because the in-universe stakes aren't given to be high, but they did not come across viscerally to the reader as such. I think that's something to do with style, and a distancing effect which arises from the sheer familiarity of much of the material. At 42, Dr Max Archer is an Associate Professor of Intelligence History at LSE. Having published 2 books which were not very successful, his career has stalled. Meanwhile he sees his peers having successful careers and financial stability. To add to his misery, his lawyer wife has petitioned him for a divorce, leaving him homeless and in debt.