Review: Appearances Have Their Price...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 5, 2012
Most Americans are familiar with the concept of the witness protection program and this book presents that idea on a larger scale.  Set in Great Britain at the British intelligence agency, Nigel, who is normally assigned to archives, is tasked one day by his boss Mr. T., to create some new legends for their inventory as the result of a loss from a mission gone awry.A legend, for the intentions of this book, is an identity so thoroughly setup, that at any time an agent could assume the identity to carry out a specified mission and then disappear without being traced.  Legends take lots of work to keep them useful, and this book presents a wonderful story of how much work that can be to keep a legend from becoming `discovered' by the KGB before they can even be used in a mission.It's very interesting to read how Nigel, after accepting the assignment, gets so involved with the `characters' he creates and the amount of detail he goes to `keep up appearances' for each of his assigned legends.  After believing one of his legends has been compromised, Nigel has to make a tough decision on whether to let the legend die, or convince his boss to keep funding the legends identity.  The end result is unexpected and really gripping.This book is presented in a diary format spread across an eleven-month period.  Short enough to be read in less than an hour, with text to speech on I was able to finish the book in about 25 minutes.  I love a good story about what governments could be, or are doing in their secret affairs with spies and the story in this book is believable; although the story itself being a fiction based work.  In sum, this is a well written short story of a man, who lets his job and desire for perfection, overtake his life.Disclosure: I received a digital review copy of this book from the author.  A review in exchange for the review copy was not promised. The views and opinions expressed in this review are my own, and in no way represent the views or opinions of the publisher, distributor or author.