When the oppressively hot and humid days of a New York summer arrive I find it impossible to focus on “serious” fiction, so I asked a publishing friend to recommend some light, summer-friendly reading.  He sent me two spy novels by Stella Rimington.  Rimington is practically a household name in the UK, having been the first woman to lead its Security Service (MI5) and one of the first Director Generals to be publicly named by that notoriously secretive organization.

Both books proved to be easy, undemanding reads – just what I wanted.  Rimington’s world is a simple, clear-cut, and slightly old-fashioned one in which hard-working, dedicated intelligence officers outwit the bad guys, whether they’re home-grown British jihadis or old-style Russian spies.  The stories are simple enough (this isn’t Le Carré’s world of moral complexity and divided loyalties) and occasionally more-than-a-little implausible.  Who cares?  This is the kind of fiction where you suspend disbelief and go along for an enjoyable ride.