The Silent War by Andreas Norman

I first came across Andreas Norman, the author of this Swedish spy thriller, back in 2014 when I read his debut novel, Into a Raging Blaze. Norman, a former Swedish diplomat, had written a prescient novel at a time when Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass NSA surveillance were rocking the world. In Into a Raging Blaze, his protagonist, Bente Jenson, the head of Swedish Intelligence’s station in Brussels, had to contend with a devious MI6 and the impact of mass surveillance. I gave the book three stars – there was a little too much detail of the workings of the EU for my liking – but thought it strong enough to want to read anything else the author went on to write.

Fast forward to 2019 and finally there’s a sequel, The Silent War. Featuring many of the same characters from the previous title, not least protagonist Bente Jenson and calculatingly sinister antagonist, MI6 man Jonathan Green, this is yet another topical thriller. This time the plot surrounds the torture of terror suspects - ISIS members being tortured in an MI6 safe house just across the border from Syria in Turkey - and how reliable the intelligence gleaned from them can be.

Bente has a war to fight on two fronts in this novel. On the domestic front she has suspicions concerning her husband’s fidelity, while her son is playing up at school and has anger issues. On the professional front she has been passed a USB drive exposing MI6’s involvement in torture in Syria, and when she passes it up the line to her superiors it is unwelcome. Sweden relies on intelligence from MI6 and thus does not want to rock the boat. Jonathan Green, for MI6’s part, wants the information back and is willing to countenance anything to get it.

Whereas the author’s debut, Into a Raging Blaze, was a solid and worthy, albeit plodding affair, The Silent War is a much more assured effort. This is a much better novel than the first in the series; it’s gripping yet cerebral, a page-turner, yet one that maturely grapples with important issues that face the intelligence services and their masters to this day. It’s a cliché when writing a review of a spy thriller to compare the author to John Le Carré, but with his background in diplomacy and security matters which shines through in his research and the narrative of his novel, in this case the comparison seems apt.  

The Silent War is a brilliant novel that really holds its own in the annals of the modern espionage thriller. The author has really come into his own with this novel and it will be interesting to see what he does next. Without divulging spoilers, the novel ends on a note that could see the end of Bente Jenson’s journey (and that of MI6 man Jonathan Green) or might lead to a third outing for the characters. Either way, whether the author writes a third in the series or something new, on the strength of this outstanding novel I’ll be reading it.

5 out of 5 stars