It took a few pages to get into the flow of the 'here and now and then' but was soon a page turner. Well written spy mystery that has political tones. One might even wonder if such events occur or have occurred with the general population unawares. I usually don't read this genre but I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. The opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for the adventure!

The start can be a bit off putting but stick with it and it develops slowly gathering speed to a satisfying crescendo before reaching a gentle promising future to follow. The hero is a writer of spy stories on his way to an author’s event in morocco when he is recruited by the secret service to deliver some money to an agent in morocco and to find a girl to give a package to who might be at the event that he is attending. He somehow manages to survive not knowing who is friend or foe. He finds the girl who he discovers is hiding from assassins and manages to escape with her to safety. They part and when he gets back to his humdrum life in England he becomes an unwitting a pawn in an attempt to find the girl and kill her which he fouls and gets recruited as a career spy. Quite a good read.

It took me a very long time to get interested in this story. The formatting seemed to be off in my e-copy and it was annoying to have to work to figure out which words were part of the story and which were not. However, this is not the author, Charles Cumming’s, fault. I kept going and I’m very glad I did.

Kit Carradine is a writer and gets pulled into the spy world he writes about. He gets used by more than one side in this multinational tale, and his life is put in danger. I loved this book. I think the plot is great and more intriguing than many of the spy novels I’ve read. I did not expect the ending and, once I got into it, couldn’t put this down.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charles Cumming and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Spy novels aren't usually my cup of tea, but I enjoyed this novel. Very entertaining read.

I don't read many spy novels, but the book description intrigued me and The Moroccan Girl sounded like an enjoyable read. It is an interesting premise, that revolves around Kit, who writes spy novels being recruited to be an actual spy. I loved the exotic locales and to be perfectly honest found myself daydreaming about what it would be like to be an international spy(so the author touched something in me I didn't even know existed).
If this is what most spy stories are like, I should read them more often, since all the political intrigue, double agents, and double-crosses kept me trying to figure out who was telling the truth and who was a liar. What seems like an easy mission to Kit, handing Lara Bartok a package if he happens to see her is anything but simple and straightforward and a journey full of twists and turns begins. No spoilers here, but I was drawn into this story in a good way, and though I haven't seen anything that suggested there will be a sequel, I did think that the ending made that a possibility. I believe I will indulge my 'inner spy' and read more by Charles Cumming.
I received a DRC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

A Stellar Novel
I’ve been a regular reader of Charles Cumming’s novels and was delighted to see this latest book arrive. Moroccan Girl does not let us down and takes us on a journey with writer/spy Kit Carradine that has its’ fair share of twists and unexpected events.
For anyone interested in the spy genre I commend this book and others by Cumming.
This book was provided as an advance copy by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Note :
I intend to provide the above on Amazon when the book is released on 12 Feb 2019

This is an excellent espionage thriller.

Charles Cumming has again written a believable espionage thriller in the tradition of John LeCarré. His story involves a thriller writer who is recruited to work for British Intelligence. His thriller writer protagonist seems very real, flaws and all. He is certainly a refreshing break from the superhero military operative so prevalent in today's thrillers. Cumming's strength is to create a feeling of paranoia experienced by an ordinary person with some training or knowledge of intelligence who is thrust into a situation far more dangerous than he had anticipated. Like LeCarré,. Cumming's plot has many twists and turns. His protagonist sometimes does foolish things that a normal person might do. Sometimes the protagonist does not read the situation correctly. The reader is never sure of exactly who the villain is. To me, this makes for a very good espionage story, and I enjoyed "The Moroccan Girl" very much.

As the title indicates, much of the story is set in Morocco, and Cumming does enough research to make this setting come alive and provide additional richness to the story.

My only criticism is probably the result of the fact that I read a galley proof of this book on a Kindle. I found the use of various interview reports spaced throughout the book a little difficult to deal with. The switch from narrative to the document was a little confusing to this reader. I am sure this issue can be fixed with some clever formatting to make the transition a little easier for the reader to follow.

Other than that small issue, I found this book very enjoyable, and look forward to read many other books written by this author.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book appealed to me because I've always enjoyed mysteries and spy thrillers and the main character is a writer. What's not to like?

The protagonist Kit is a writer who is recruited by England's Secret Service to help find a woman who is/was part of a modern resistance movement that has turned violent. With no formal training, he's sent to Morocco in the hopes of finding the woman by chance. Several other operatives from England, America and Russia are in play and Kit doesn't know who to trust. The book features an interesting cast of characters set in an exotic location (although Morocco didn't feel like such a big part of the plot as the title implies). Overall, it's a well-written, enjoyable spy thriller, reminiscent of Ian Fleming/James Bond.

I loved the description of this book; it is different than anything I have read before. I would recommend this book.

I was so excited to read this book after reading the description. I don’t know if my expectations were too high, but for a thriller, I didn’t find The Moroccan Girl as captivating as I had hoped. The storyline was plotted to be fast-paced, but to me, it felt like it took forever to reach any true tension in the book that had me wanting more. The last 15-20 percent of the book was far closer to what I had expected.

Most of the characters felt two dimensional. I didn’t care for Kit. For a writer that specializes in spy thrillers, he makes so many decisions that had me wondering if he had a death wish. I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about Lara. The romance that developed between the two was unnecessary. It felt hasty and ultimately it didn’t add to the story. I would have been happy for them to form a simple friendship.

While I have some complaints about the book, I truly enjoyed the descriptions of Morocco. The author spent a considerable amount of time making sure the reader “saw” the cities as he did and not just a rose-colored view of Casablanca. It almost made me want to visit but not enough to pack my bags. I do want to know more about the other agents brought into play.

While I don’t think I will be waiting with bated breath for the release of Kit’s next adventure, I do have some friends and family that will enjoy this series.

At first I had a difficult time following the format of this book but soon got into the rhythm of it. This story was too political for me. I should have known that from the description, but I thought there would be more excitement and the spy aspect would balance it out, but it just didn’t. The story seemed to drag and I just didn’t feel invested in the characters or the plot.

I think the lack of the spy element may have come from the fact that the main character wasn’t technically a spy. He was a likeable character, but I was hoping for more James Bond type excitement.

Overall I enjoyed the descriptions of Morocco the most. They setting was vivid and enjoyable.

Overall, this is a good book. Ivan Simakov, Russian idealist, created an international resistance movement called Resurrection to target and expose individuals in positions of influence or power -- journalists, bankers, politicians, lobbyists -- who espoused, promoted, or enabled illiberal ideas, policies, and governments. Resurrection was intended to be different from Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Occupy, and other groups, who were only interested in civil disorder for its own sake and virtue signaling without bringing about any meaningful change. However, the Resurrection movement did not retain its nonviolence policy, instead resorting to terrorist activities. Simakov died in a bomb explosion in Moscow when a home-made bomb detonated early. His former girlfriend, Lara Bartok, had grown disillusioned with the movement and had left him and disappeared, but the intelligence services of multiple nations were trying to find her.

Enter C.K. (Kit) Carradine, writer of spy novels and son of a former British spy whose career was cut short when his name was among those given to the Russians by Kim Philby. Out for a walk, he is approached by a man who identifies himself as Robert Mantis and implies he works for British intelligence (the Service). Kit was going to be participating in a literary festival in Marrakesh, Morocco. Mantis wanted him to make contact with agents in Morocco and pass along some items, as well as keep an eye out for a woman the Service was trying to find and who they believed was in Morocco and who had a well-known love of books that might make her risk attending the literary festival. Kit had a perfect cover, as he could explain that he was doing research for his next book if asked about his activities/behavior. Kit was seduced by the idea that he would be helping his country, obtaining priceless first-hand knowledge for future books, and the Service might seek to utilize him for future projects if this trip went well. If he had had more time to think about the offer or had been thinking more rationally, he might have made a different choice, but he agreed to perform the requested services.

However, things quickly become more complicated and confusing, as Kit finds out the true identity of the woman for whom he is supposed to be on the lookout (Lara Bartok), meets people who seem overly interested in him and his activities, attracts the attention of someone he suspects is CIA, and questions whether he can really trust Mantis. Interwoven in the story is a series of interviews/interrogations of Lara Bartok by British intelligence and the CIA, which makes it clear that Kit and Bartok eventually meet.

The Resurrection backstory is creative and potentially plausible. The English writer recruited as a spy is a predictable plotline, as it is based on historical events, with the author having Kit think about other writers, such as Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, who had worked as support agents for the Service. The characters are interesting. The story has plenty of twists and turns, including some rather significant surprises late in the book. There is a point in the book where it becomes too cliché and I feared I was going to be ultimately disappointed, but the author manages to return the story to solid ground and craft a strong (albeit somewhat rushed) finish. If you like thrillers, especially ones that revolve around current events and offer commentary on the state of society, but also contain plenty of action and intrigue, this might be the book for you.

I am glad I had the opportunity to read a copy of the e-book through NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I was not sure since the story line of an "amateur" playing and playing well with professionals can be sophomoric but even with the usual suspects of CIA, MI6, SVR agents I was pleasantly surprised with the pacing and details of the numerous locales. A nice read for me.

2.5

I decided to read this one because I love spy novels, but I had a hard time getting into this one. The formatting seemed to be off centered and wasn't helping my reading experience .Unfortunately, I was confused early on and had to keep re-reading sections.

Kit is looking for a M16 agent. He is an author of spy novels and has been recruited to spy on a woman, Lara, who is part of a resistance group. Kit eventually had to choose whether he would abandon Lara or save her, while putting himself at risk..

The characters and the plot were not compelling enough for me to ever become invested in the overall story. The setting of Morocco was my favorite aspect of the novel., The premise was interesting, but this one failed to grab me.

I love reading fiction and non-fiction books revolving around the world of espionage. "The Moroccan Girl" by Charles Cumming is one spy novel you wouldn't want to miss if your preferences are same as mine.

With an intriguing plot involving the intelligence agencies of the superpowers of the world, the novel delivers that sense of excitement one seeks when reading such stories. And even though it is being presented as a standalone novel, the way it is concluded begs to differ. Pretty sure a sequel is in the works.

I'd like to note two things though. Firstly, the title is disappointing. Even though the 'girl' referred to in the title is a major part of the plot, the story does not revolve around her as much as it does around our protagonist (which is expected). So something depicting that must have been more appropriate. This thought led me to Google, where I discovered that this is the US title. The book is already out in the UK (and possibly a few other countries) with the title "The Man Between". Then it hit me. This title somehow appeals more to the readers of the West, hence the well-thought marketing move to adapt it.

Secondly, the storyline consists of events ranging from highly predictable to highly unpredictable. It may be just me, a consequence of reading too much detective fiction. "I saw that coming", I had said more times than I can remember. Whenever that happened, I was split between feeling elated with a sense of accomplishment, or sad for having picked up a story that was failing to amaze. On the contrary, there were a few events that completely took me by surprise. Overall, the author maintained a healthy balance, the result being a fast-paced story I loved to read.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

What happens when a spy novelist gets recruited to be an actual spy? This novel explores what might happen in such a scenario. I quite liked the character of Kit and enjoyed reading about how he got started in the espionage world. The character of Bartok felt a tiny bit tired to me, like I've read this kind of character before and there's not much new here. However, THE MOROCCAN GIRL is adeptly plotted and well written with a nice vintage feel to it. If you enjoy what some might call "old fashioned" or "classic" spy novels, you would probably enjoy this one. Perhaps it has slightly less action but it's certainly very entertaining. I like the way Cumming leaves open the possibility for a sequel.

The idea behind the book sounded really good when I read the blurb.
Yet when it came time to read it - with so many expectations of this. Yet I was sadly disappointed- just couldn’t get into it- to me it lacked depth, weak characters.
Thank you to both NetGalley and St Martin Press for my eARC. This was in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Another twisty, compelling and fiercely timely espionage novel from a young master of the genre, this time with a tantalizing love story at the heart of it.

A fantastic modern day spy tale that fits in so well with what is happening in the western world. Conspiracy theorists will have a great time with this offering comparing it to what they hear/see in the news. I enjoyed the story and the author/amateur untrained spy showed a lot of moxie and raw courage in order to complete his assigned task.

I have rated this book 4 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Very good read! I was highly impressed with the writing style of Charles Cumming. The plot was great and I definitely think it was awesome! The characters are impressive as well. Go for it and read!