MI6 HQ – Beyond Enkription (intentionally misspelt) is the first stand-alone spy thriller in The Burlington Files autobiographical series by Bill Fairclough. It’s a raw and noir matter of fact pacy novel that Len Deighton and Mick Herron could be forgiven for thinking they co-wrote. Coincidentally, a few critics have nicknamed its protagonist, Bill Fairclough aka Edward Burlington, “a posh Harry Palmer”.
This elusive and enigmatic novel is a true story about a maverick accountant (Edward Burlington in Porter Williams International aka Bill Fairclough in Coopers & Lybrand in real life). In 1974 in London he began infiltrating organised crime gangs, unwittingly working for MI6. After some frenetic attempts on his life he is relocated to the Caribbean where, “eyes wide open” this time, the CIA recruit him and he is soon heading for shark infested waters off Haiti.
If you’re an espionage cognoscente you’ll love this monumental book but just because you think you know it all don’t surf through the prologue: you may miss some disinformation. If you felt squeamish when watching Jaws, you may find the savagery of the opening chapter upsetting, but it soon passes and can be skimmed through without detrimentally affecting reading the rest of the book.
This epic is so real it made us wonder why bother reading espionage fiction when facts are so much more exhilarating. Atmospherically it's reminiscent of Ted Lewis' Get Carter of Michael Caine fame. If anyone ever makes a film based on Beyond Enkription they'll only have themselves to blame if it doesn't go down in history as a classic thriller … it’s the stuff memorable films are made of.
Whether you’re a John le Carré connoisseur, a Deighton disciple, a Fleming fanatic or a Herron hireling odds on you’ll read this titanic production twice. For more detailed reviews visit the Reviews page on TheBurlingtonFiles.org website or see other independent reviews on your local Amazon website.
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