The Skripal Files: The life and near death of a Russian spy by Mark Urban

I have to confess to having been a little dubious of a book published on the Skripals this soon after the events surrounding their near death. At the time of publication, the online investigators of Bellingcat had only just unearthed the identities of their alleged GRU poisoners and I doubted this would make it into the narrative (I was correct on that). But the author, Mark Urban, is a highly respected journalist and author, a number of his books on the SAS in particular being essential reading. 

Once I started The Skripal Files, any concerns I had were allayed. It turns out the author had been in conversation with Sergei Skripal long before the attack on him, having been speaking to him for a book project on post-Cold War spying. So, much of this book consists of information the author had already researched, and thus this is far from a tabloid tome rushed out to cash in on a headline news story.

The Skripal Files is in many ways a biography of Sergei Skripal himself, a biography that helps illuminate the history of the post-Cold War Russian intelligence apparatus, with a particular focus on the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. Skripal, a military engineer by training, had joined the army airborne corp, from which many members of the elite Spetznaz are drawn (while the Spetznaz have often been compared to the SAS or US Navy Seals, the author Mark Galeotti argues that they are not actually comparable). Skripal was then taken on by the GRU and was posted abroad to Malta, then later Madrid. Perhaps ironically given what was to come, his job was to recruit agents to spy for Russia, though he does not appear to have achieved much success. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Skripal suffered the same crisis of purpose as many Russian intelligence officers and was ripe for recruitment by MI6.

Mark Urban outlines all this in fascinating detail, before going on to explain how Skripal’s cover was finally blown to the FSB, the Russian internal intelligence service; how he was arrested, interrogated and sent to the gulag; how he was eventually traded in a spy swap; his life in the UK; and what might have led the Russian state to target him. Apart from being interesting in itself, this all gives a good insight into the decline of Russia’s intelligence agencies in the early 90’s, how MI6 and other western agencies targeted officers within those agencies for recruitment, and how post-Putin’s rise, Russia has tried, often brutally, to stop the rot.

What I found most interesting about this title however, was the insight it gave into Skripal himself. Pictures of him from his life in retirement in Salisbury prior to the poisoning give the impression of a rather harmless, slightly overweight, elderly man. This is misleading. Skripal was tough, indeed in other circumstances he might well have been the one doing the poisoning. Prior to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when Skripal was with the airborne forces, he was sent into the country on an assassination mission. While not spelt out, it’s clear they did what they were asked. Other anecdotes scattered throughout the book make it clear that on occasion Skripal was more than happy to rely on his fists. None of this of course means we should have any less sympathy for Skripal, his attempted poisoning was without a doubt a serious crime, but again it gives an insight into the kind of people that make up the GRU.

Alongside the Bellingcat revelations, which this book was completed prior to, and so does not feature in the narrative, Mark Urban’s writing leaves little doubt as to the GRU’s complicity in Skripal’s poisoning, and thus that of the Russian state. This is a fascinating account of both Skripal’s near assassination, the GRU organisation he was once a part of, and the ongoing war Russia is engaged in with the West. 

4 out of 5 stars

I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

While much of what I read is crime and thrillers, I am partial to a little horror. I came across the writing of John Ajvide Lindqvist with his debut novel, Let The Right One In. This vampire tale went on to be a bestseller and inspired two films, a Swedish language version and an American remake. Until now I had not read anything of his work since, though I was aware he had written a number of books after his debut success. 

I Am Behind You is a very different tale to Let The Right One In and might best be described as a surreal supernatural chiller. Four families, strangers to each other, staying at the same campsite, wake up one morning to find that the campsite is gone, that they’re all alone in an endless field of grass. There’s nothing else as far as the eye can see; the grass is all of uniform length; the sky is a pure and featureless blue - not a cloud, not the moon, not the sun.

The four families are from starkly different backgrounds and the reader can guess that they provide fertile ground for conflict. There’s Peter and Isabelle, he a former footballer and now a successful personal trainer, she a catwalk model. They have a six-year-old daughter, Molly. A camping holiday is something Isabelle in particular is unused to, preferring a villa or a five-star hotel, but their marriage is in difficulty and Peter has insisted. Then there’s Stefan, his wife, Carina, and their nine-year old son Emil. Stefan and Carina run a small-town store and Stefan in particular might be seen as boring and a bit of a geek. Lennart and Olof, two farmers, are camping together having co-habited in a non-sexual, companionable relationship, since both their wives ran off. Finally, there is retired couple Majvor and her overbearing husband Donald. Like Lenart and Olof, their children have all grown up and are not with them on the camping trip. Donald and Majvor have brought their dog, Benny, while Lennart and Olof have brought their cat.

There is no main character in I Am Behind You, rather the novel is told from alternating viewpoints, including those of the dog and cat. The story begins with the characters waking up on the morning their lives have changed, discovering their surreal and unsettling new reality. At first, apart from the sheer disconcerting weirdness of their situation, the characters main concerns are practical: where are we? How can we get back to civilisation? Where can we get food and water, for they only have limited supplies. It’s not long though before things start to happen and as the story pans out this environment they’ve been transported to becomes more threatening. Along the way we learn of the characters’ back stories, the emotional and psychological issues they have feeding into the narrative and how they respond to their ever-creepier circumstances.

I Am Behind You is not a particularly gory book, rather this is a tale of psychological and supernatural suspense. Some reviewers on Amazon have complained the book is just too odd and that they weren’t able to get into it, but I didn’t find this an issue. The author is often compared to Stephen King and I can see that here. This is like a much more unsettling version of King’s novel The Dome. I Am Behind You is the first in a trilogy, the second of which has just been translated into English. In fact, I bought and read this book precisely because I have received a review copy of the next in the series, titled I Always Find You. Needless to say, I will read and post a review of that title shortly.

4 out of 5 stars

An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire

This is a novel that is tangentially about the brutal murder of a twenty-five year old woman. In life, Bella Michaels was beautiful and vivacious, the kind of woman who’s killing dominates the news media. Some people reading this description might be tempted to sigh, for crime fiction is full of beautiful young women - often blonde with blue eyes - butchered by violent serial killers. The treatment of women in crime fiction has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, some complaining their portrayal is tittilation, others like the crime writer Val McDermid, arguing it reflects the violence women all too often face. Regardless of where one sits on this argument, reading An Isolated Incident one quickly comes to realise that Bella Michael’s death isn’t actually the novel’s focus at all. Instead, this book can best be seen as a meditation on grief.

An Isolated Incident is told from the perspective of two women: Bella’s sister, Chris, and May Norman, an aspiring crime reporter. Chris is a barmaid at the local pub who’s still deeply in love with her ex-husband, Nate. May works for a website and has persuaded the editor to let her work the Bella Michaels’ story, hoping it will be her big break. As the novel unveils we learn much about both women - that Chris drinks too much and takes men home with her, many of whom leave money on the dresser the morning after; that May has been having an affair with a married man who she’s only just realised will never leave his wife, that she’s bulimic. As May tries to investigate the crime, we also learn that Nate has a conviction for beating up a former partner and is a prime suspect for Bella’s murder.

As indicated, all this is in many ways beside the point. The real power of An Isolated Incident comes from seeing events pan out from Chris’s perspective. Chris and her sister were extremely close and she is devastated by her sister’s death. Through deeply moving and beautifully poetic prose we see this etched out painfully. This is not a depressing tale, though at times it is difficult to read, the sheer emotion of someone so bereft by loss speaking from the page. 

May Norman is a more ambiguous character than Chris. In some way she is sympathetic, but her journalistic ambitions make her prey on Chris’s vulnerability. She’s not the bloodsucking journalist of cliché, the author is too accomplished a writer to opt for easy stereotypes, but it’s true to say that the media are invasive into the lives of those who suffer tragedy and May, while not as cynical as some of her colleagues, is determined to get the story.

There are other elements to the novel; a light touch of the supernatural, Chris convinced she is hearing from Bella’s spirit, but whether she is or suffering the madness of grief, the reader is left to decide; the small town of Strathdee where the murder takes place is blue collar, the kind of place that in the US might be dismissed as redneck by suburbanites. The misogyny and male chauvinism that both Chris and May face is vividly portrayed. 

This is a poignant novel, more an examination of the consequence of violent death, rather than the death itself and subsequent investigation. Indeed, when the killer is revealed it is almost irrelevant, Chris making clear herself that it won’t bring her beloved sister back. Regardless of how one views the violence portrayed in crime fiction, it’s undoubtedly true to say that too few examine the aftermath, the effect such events have on those left behind. An Isolated Incident does this and is well worth a read.

4 out of 5 stars

Trust No One by Anthony Mosawi

If one looks at the Amazon listing for this title, it get’s surprisingly ambiguous reviews. At last glance it had 15% 5 Star reviews, 35% 4 Star, 39% 3 Star, and 11% 2 Star. I point this out because I don’t understand it, having considered gripping and great fun.

Trust No One can best be described as a sci-fi conspiracy thriller. The book blurb describes it as I Am Pilgrim meets Orphan X. I’m yet too read Orphan X but it’s bit more in the sci-fi camp than I Am Pilgrim which was straight up espionage thriller.  The protagonist of Trust No One is Sara Eden a woman who can remember nothing of her past. The book flips between timelines, Sara as a young girl where we see her in a dilapidated house in a sensory deprivation tank guarded by a drug addict, and as an adult where she tries to discover why her memories were wiped.

Throughout both timelines she’s chased by forces she doesn’t not understand, men who want to do her harm. As the narrative plays out we discover Sara has almost supernatural powers, speed, strength and combat abilities that make her a match for almost anyone, intuition that is almost psychic in it’s foresight.

A lot of people reviewing this title have argued that it’s chronology is confusing, the twin timelines are disjointed and that seemingly unconnected events take a while to fit in to the wider plot and the whole thing come together. Personally I didn’t find any of this a problem and felt it was incredibly well written. Some scenes, such as one with feral dogs (I’ll resist divulging spoilers) are jaw-dropping in their intensity and extremely cleverly put together.

Personally I found this a gripping read, a real rollercoaster of a ride. My only concern is that it is clearly meant as the start of a series and I’m not sure whether the concept can carry it. The ending of Trust No One in particular felt like a cop out and I fear as the series continues my ability to sustain disbelief will be stretched. That said, I enjoyed this so much I will certainly pick up any sequel with eagerness.

4 out of 5 stars

An Inconvenient Death by Miles Goslett

 

In 2003 I was working as a researcher on the now defunct Jonathan Dimbleby Programme, produced by Granada and broadcast on ITV on Sunday, the programme was a Question Time type format (indeed, Question Time was hosted by Jonathan’s brother David) with a panel of political figures taking questions from a live audience. 2003 was an eventful year, the war in Afghanistan still ongoing after the US invasion of 2001 and the drumbeats of a new war on the horizon, with the administration of George W Bush set on a controversial invasion of Iraq. In July of that year, Dr David Kelly died, setting the scene for the Hutton Inquiry and all the fall out that came after, an event that was the focus of many an edition of the Jonathan Dimbleby Programme.

One thing I well remember is the drama of waiting outside the Royal Courts of Justice on 28^thJanuary 2004 for the Hutton Inquiry report to be officially published, collecting multiple copies for the office and carrying them back, the team then proceeding to pour over the 750-page volume. So, perhaps then I can be forgiven for being fascinated with the case ever since.

Others are equally fascinated, for Miles Goslett’s An Inconvenient Death is in fact the third book to be published on the death of Dr David Kelly. The first, titled The Strange Death of David Kelly, was written by then-Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, and hit the bookshelves in 2007. The second, Dark Actors by the novelist Robert Lewis, was published in 2013. Finally, there’s An Inconvenient Death by Miles Goslett, a respected journalist who’s written for the Evening Standard, Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday.

Apart from their subject, all these titles share one overarching theme: a scepticism of the official narrative. Indeed, as yet, there is no book published that supports that narrative. Of course, critics might explain this by arguing that conspiracy theories sell, which might well be true. One can fill bookcases with tomes suggesting JFK was killed by the CIA, the Cubans, the Russians, the mafia; just a shelf with those that lay the blame at the door of a lone, deranged gunman. But while this point has some justification, it also reflects something wider: a widespread concern in both cases that the official story just doesn’t stand up.

Dr David Kelly was a scientist and leading authority on biological warfare. He had been a weapons inspector in Russia and Iraq (indeed, the book Dark Actors by Robert Lewis goes into some depth on his work as a weapons inspector) and was due to return to Iraq with an inspection team. Most recently, he had been advising on the dossier being drawn up by the Joint Intelligence Committee regarding the threat of Iraq’s WMD programme and it was this work that was to seal his fate.

Kelly regularly met with journalists and he briefed the journalist Andrew Gilligan on the dossier. Gilligan, in a radio broadcast for the BBC Today Programme, went onto claim that a source had said that Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s spin doctor, had “sexed up” the dossier. Campbell took this badly and in the ensuing protracted showdown between the government and the BBC, Kelly was outed as Gilligan’s source. Interestingly, Dr Kelly always denied being Gilligan’s source, something which Goslett examines and gives credence to. I have to admit to having never seriously considered the prospect that Gilligan might have had a second, more authoritative source, and the author makes a good case that this might in fact have been so

In the following weeks, Kelly’s home was besieged by journalists, he was compelled to give evidence before two select committees - one of which was televised - and if one believes the official narrative, finding the pressure too much to bear, coupled with a belief that he would never again be allowed to continue work as a weapons inspector, he made his way to nearby Harrowdown Hill, where he took an overdose of Co-Proxamol tablets and slashed the ulnar artery of his left wrist.

Goslett’s book outlines all this in fair detail before going onto discuss the problems with this story. First and foremost, he takes issue with the Hutton Inquiry itself, which stopped an inquest from ever being held into Kelly’s death. Inquests in UK law are supremely independent bodies with the power to summon witnesses and have them give evidence on oath, conversely the Hutton Inquiry was entirely voluntary, with no actual legal powers. I have to confess to not having realised that at the time, so this was a revelation. Goslett implies that this was why the inquiry was set up in the first place, to ensure a less than adequate examination of Kelly’s death.

Goslett also discusses all the inconsistencies with the evidence, the fact that many medical experts’ query whether slashing the ulnar artery would be sufficient to bleed to death (it’s very thin, like a fine thread, and might well clot) and whether he had enough Co-Proxamol in his system to cause a fatal overdose. Combined with the evidence that he had difficulty swallowing pills and that due to an arm injury he had such weakness in the right arm that he found it difficult to cut a steak, let alone cut through the flesh, muscle and tendons of his left wrist (Kelly was right handed), it is not difficult to understand why Goslett and others have doubts.

A book review doesn’t give one enough space to go through all the evidence that Goslett marshals to support his case, for that one needs to read the book, but needless to say there is much more. But does it all mean that Kelly did not in fact take his own life? And if not, how did he come to die? Frustratingly, the author does not reveal his beliefs on the matter, preferring to argue that there is a need now for a proper inquest to discover the truth. This feels unsatisfactory in the extreme. Bearing in mind that most people who read this title will have followed the case to a greater or lesser extent, will have an opinion either way, the least Goslett can do is put his forward.

While his arguments for the need for an inquest are sound (would it not put the matter to rest, at least? Surely, regardless of whether one believes Kelly committed suicide, all can agree the Hutton Report was flawed) I personally feel he overstates his argument that the Hutton Inquiry was an effective means of silencing the matter. For surely coroners and inquests can be got at? The Hutton Inquiry became an international televisual spectacle, something that came to define Blair’s legacy, and it was obvious this was going to be the case at the time. Would it not have been easier to have the inquest and try and fix the result, perhaps by influencing what witnesses would say? That said, as he points out, Blair ordered the inquiry the very night Kelly’s body was discovered, and the Hutton Inquiry - both its commission and process - were curious to say the least. 

For the record, I’m personally in two minds as to whether Dr David Kelly committed suicide or was murdered, and if the latter, by who. I do agree with the author that there should be an inquest and that the Hutton Inquiry was a whitewash, but equally I am both doubtful that this will ever come to pass or that we will ever definitively have the truth, not least due to the fact that Lord Hutton ordered much of the evidence - including Dr Kelly’s post-mortem report - be sealed for seventy years.

4 out of 5 stars