The Dark Clouds Shining

A LitHub Most Anticipated Crime, Mystery, and Thriller Title of 2018

In the series’ final installment, Jack McColl is sent to Soviet Russia, where the civil war is coming to an end. The Bolsheviks have won, but the country is in ruins. With the hopes engendered by the revolution hanging by a thread, plots and betrayals abound.

London, 1921: Ex–Secret Service spy Jack McColl is in prison serving time for assaulting a cop, so when his former boss offers him an unofficial assignment in Russia to escape jail time, McColl accepts. He will be spying on other spies, sniffing out the truth about MI5 meddling in a high-profile assassination plot. The target is someone McColl cares about and respects; the MI5 agent involved is someone he loathes. With the knowledge that he may be walking into a death trap, McColl sets out for Moscow, the scene of his last heartbreak. Little does he know that his mission will throw him back into his former lover Caitlin’s life—or that her husband will be one of the men he is trying to hunt down.

“[A] fitting conclusion to [Downing's] superior quartet of WWI-era spy thrillers … As always, Downing’s intelligently constructed characters complement a plausible and pulse-pounding plotline.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review