At Risk, Stella Rimington
At Risk, Stella Rimington
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At Risk

Author: Stella Rimington

Narrator: Kate Reading

Abridged: 5 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/11/2005


Synopsis

An announcement is made at a meeting of the British Intelligence Joint Counter-Terrorist group: “The opposition may be about to deploy an invisible.” An “invisible” is CIA-speak for the ultimate intelligence nightmare: a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country and who can therefore cross its borders unchecked, move around the country unquestioned, and go unnoticed while setting up the foundation for monstrous harm.

Intelligence officer Liz Carlyle has had to prove herself in countless ways as she’s come up through the ranks of the traditionally all-male world of Britain’s Security Service, MI5. But this announcement marks the start of an operation that will test all her hard-won knowledge and experience–and her intelligence and courage–as nothing has before. Having analyzed information from her agents, she realizes that there is indeed an imminent terrorist threat. She may even have the invisible’s point of entry. But what she cannot draw out of all the “chatter” is the invisible’s identity and intended target.

With each passing hour, the danger increases. As the desperate hunt continues, it becomes clear that Liz’s intuitive skills, her ability to get deep inside her enemy’s head, are her best hope for tracking down the terrorist. But will that be enough? And can she succeed in time to avert a disaster?

Drawing from her experience as the first woman director general of MI5, Stella Rimington gives us a story that is smart, tautly drawn, and suspenseful from first to last. At Risk is a stunning debut novel that plunges us headlong into today’s shadowy and fever-pitched battle between terrorism and Intelligence.

About The Author

Stella Rimington joined MI5 in 1965 and during her career worked in all the main fields of the organization – counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism – and became successively Director of all three branches. She was appointed Director-General of MI5 in 1992. Her autobiography Open Secret was published by Hutchinson in 2001.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mal on April 06, 2017

Ex-spooks with a modicum of writing ability sometimes turn to writing spy thrillers once they’ve left the world of espionage. Rarely, though, do we see fictional treatments of the game come from anyone who retired at the very top of the game. Dame Stella Rimington is one of what must be only a handf......more

Goodreads review by Sara on June 16, 2009

If you enjoy spy intrigue stories you will love this book. The plot is captivating and of course extremely realistic considering the author's previous career with MI5. My only complaint was that I needed a "British-English / American-English" dictionary to help me with a lot of the lingo. Also, ther......more

Goodreads review by Anne on February 12, 2015

"In any campaign, the first stronghold that you have to occupy is your enemy's consciousness" - Feliks Dzerzhinsky KGB founder p 424. "They make a wilderness, and call it peace" - Tacitus, Roman Empire p 554. Quotations show the breadth of heroine Liz (and author Stella's) education. I may continue se......more

Goodreads review by Mark on March 26, 2011

Stella Rimington really grabs the reader from the very beginning. Characters and plot are intertwined like strands of string in a cord, each heading toward a final event that has anti-terrorist agents worried. Along the way, we grown closer to intelligence officer Liz Caryle, who has spent a lifetim......more

Goodreads review by Abhinandan on March 22, 2018

The only reason this book could have been a bestseller was because the author being a Former Operative of MI5. A Director General at that. And the first woman Director General. That's it. No, I'll admit, I bought this book for exactly those reasons. I wanted to read some "inside stuff" , from the other......more


Quotes

Praise for Stella Rimington’s autobiography Open Secret:
“The story of MI5’s transformation is fascinating. So too is Rimington’s account of her rise in what was very definitely a man’s world.”
Guardian