The story of an internal investigation into the past of a British spy suspected of having been turned by Russian agents. British intelligence is in a state of panic. Cracks are appearing, or so a run of disciplinary cases would suggest. To cap it all, Willa Karlsson, a retired secret services officer collapses, the victim of what looks like a Russian poisoning. Leonard Flood is ordered to investigate – and quickly.
Establishes [Wolff] as a memorable voice in the genre ... Wolff’s prose [is] all sharp edges and abrupt surprises, keeping the reader in a state of edgy discomfort.
The Man in the Corduroy Suit reads like a classic spy story shaped by what Graham Greene called the "human factor." It’s also a warning against losing one’s perspective in the intelligence world’s infinity of mirrors ... Whimsical, inventive and shape-shifting.
Wolff is particularly good at making his lead, who could have been a colorless figure in lesser hands, sympathetic, and delivers some truly knockout twists.
