A SPY BY NATURE: CHARLES CUMMING ***

A very different kind of spy book, set in London, during the 1990's. This is Cumming's first book with Alec Milius as the anti hero, followed over the years by six more, a surprise for me after how the book ends.  As the novel opens, Alec has a dead end job, after the university, a tyrant of a boss, and has just broken up with his girl friend.  A chance meeting with a friend of his mother's begins his second life. He's given the opportunity to join the Secret Service, or MI5, a lark so to speak.  We go through the process of interviews and exams with Alex, and four other mates.  We feel the pressure, the rivalry between the five, their need to work together though also compete with each other.  At the end of it, Alec is crushed to learn that he did not make it.

Despondent, jobless, girl friendless, he gets a call from another branch of the Secret Service, a group seemingly involved in business espionage, though it's control seems to be with the government.  Alex, of course, accepts the position, is promised if his assignment works out well for both him and his company, he will stand a chance of joining MI5.  He works for Abnex, a British petroleum exploration company, presently interested in  the vast oil reserves in near the Caspian Sea.  He works long hours for Abnex, but his real task is to befriend two Americans, Katherine and Fortner, who work for a rival American oil company also interested in the oil reserves.  The idea is that he will make himself seem unhappy with his job, with his government, short of cash, a perfect individual for the two Americans, to woo and to turn.  The Americans both work for the CIA, as well as the oil company, and Alex hooks them like a couple of trout.  Their friendship builds, and they finally ask if he's willing to trade Abnex secrets for money and he, of course, acquiesces.  Eventually, they are after Abnex's blue print for their exploration of the Caspian region.  Alec, after much angst and uncertainty, copies the report (which has been altered by MI5), and gives it to the Americans.  A good part of the book up to this point explores the doubts, the insecurity, the fears that Alex feels about his assignment.

After passing on the plans, a colleague, Cohan, confronts him, accuses him of spying for the Americans, wants the truth from Alec, but will be gone for a few weeks.  When he gets back, he wants the truth from Alex.  Alex, of course, has to tell his masters who don't seem too worried, suggesting it will be taken care of.  A week later, Alex finds out that Cohen has been beaten, almost killed by toughs in the Caspian region.  Alec quickly knows what happened, that MI5 stepped in, to stop any problems. He feels not only guilt but also fear for his life, and he finds that the Americans, for some reason, seemed to have found out that the plans were false.

In a state of depression, Alec turns to his old girl friend, the only person he has left he can trust, tells her the whole story.  She is appalled by his lies, his becoming a double agent, and he leaves, wondering why he ever told her.  A few days later, he calls up Katherine and Fortner, trying to find out what the Americans have lost interest in the Caspian oil fields.  In a conversation with Katherine, she tells him the truth, that they had put listening devices in his old girl friend's apartment, which exposes the fraud and Alex's treachery.  Alex cannot believe it, ends the conversation, goes home and gets a phone call to meet with his masters.  He's confronted by them, explains why he confessed to his girl frien, which they already know.  He is immediately fired from Abnex, has no chance of being part of MI6, and is told to basically leave the country.  He knows that both MI5 and the Americans fear he may spill the beans,  go to the newspapers, to the Internet, so he fears for his life.  The following day he goes off for a weekend with his best friend, Saul, to the country, and the entire trip he keeps looking to see if he's being trailed.  The morning after his arrival Saul gets a phone call telling him that Alec's old girl friend and her boy friend have been killed in a car accident?

The novel ends with Alec telling Saul that he knows what happened to his girl friend...but then the novel ends.  We don't know what happens next, whether MI5 finds him, whether he leaves the country. All we know is he is in trouble, in fear of his life.

A very different sort of book because Alex is no James Bond.  He's never comfortable with his role, second guesses himself, makes terrible mistakes, lives in fear and anxiety most of the time, so different from the Jack Reacher kind of guys who never doubt themselves.  I enjoyed it and am anxious to see what Cumming does with him in the next novel.