I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Not my usual genre but really enjoyed this

This was a new author for me and Yesterday's Spy ended up being kind of a mixed bag for me. I liked the characters well enough and was definitely drawn in by the plot. The journey was exciting and kept me turning pages. I also appreciated learning about a time and place in the world I was not very familiar with. That being said, sometimes I lost the political plot threads. Things were always explained well enough that I could hang on to the gist, but I'm sure I lost many details due to my unfamiliarity. Also, without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that the ending was somewhat unsatisfying for me. I'm not sure I'll run to grab another by this author, but Yesterday's Spy was a fun, quick, read.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this ARC!

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on August 2, 2022

Yesterday’s Spy is set against the background of the 1953 coup in Iran that displaced Mossadegh and elevated the Shah to power. The coup was planned and assisted by the American and British governments. The British wanted to assure that British oil companies would continue to earn the lion’s share of revenues from Iranian oil. The CIA supported the coup because of its obsession with communism. Neither government considered the long-term consequences of backing the Shah. Western meddling is largely responsible for the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Harry Tower is a British spy. Lacking a British public school pedigree, he knew he would always be regarded as an outsider by the SIS. Fortunately for Harry, Churchill noticed him and had his back. During World War II, Churchill decided to support Tito. With Churchill’s support, Harry and another SIS agent ran anti-communist operations in Yugoslavia, where Harry got to know KGB agent Oleg Vasilyev. One SIS operation involved British troops parachuting into the country. The operation went sideways because Russia learned of the plan before it began. The deaths of the paratroopers sit heavily on Tower’s conscience.

Harry’s son Sean is a journalist. Sean blames Harry for his mother’s suicide. Harry’s wife suffered from bouts of severe depression and, rather than being there when she cycled into a dark phase, Harry was off saving the world. Harry returned from an assignment and found Sean holding his mother’s body after cutting her from the rope she used to hang herself. Harry understandably blames himself but wishes he could do more for Sean, who wants nothing that Harry tries to give him.

Much of that background is developed through flashbacks. The novel begins in the planning stages of the coup. Harry learns that Sean has been kidnapped. He immediately heads to Tehran, where he meets Sean’s girlfriend, Shahnaz Salemi. Harry has had dealings with Shahnaz’s father. Shahnaz bonded with Sean in part because she and Sean both despised their fathers. Father-child relationships are at the heart of the novel.

The plot is typical of a decent spy thriller. Harry spends the novel chasing down leads (most of which suggest that Sean is dead or will be soon) and figuring out why Sean was kidnapped. Was it his reporting about the drug connection between the Iranian police and the French? Did he learn about the planned coup? Or was the kidnapping part of a plan to lure Harry back to Iran, a plan that involves a suspected mole in SIS? Harry connects with various spies (including Vasilyev), cops, criminals, members of the military, arms dealers, information brokers, and various players in Iranian government, gathering conflicting information as a noose seems to be tightening around Harry’s neck.

Yesterday’s Spy delivers the suspense that readers expect from a spy novel. The clock keeps ticking, both because there may be little time to save Sean if he still alive and because the fate of the Iranian government may change at any moment. Harry is involved in fistfights and shootouts, but his actions seem plausible. Harry is well trained but far from the super-heroic tough guy that is such a common thriller protagonist. It isn’t easy to warm up to Harry, in part because the background that shapes his characterization has made Harry insular and self-absorbed. Still, Tom Brady structured the novel to make it possible for the reader to appreciate the story without liking the protagonist.

As is typical of spy novels that incorporate a mole, the reader is asked to guess the mole’s identity. I guessed wrong, so Bradby scored a point for his surprising reveal. The ending is not only surprising, it is redemptive and satisfying.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you to the author, Grove Atlantic and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This historical spy thriller is very strong on location and setting, giving insight into the turbulence that gripped Iran in the 1950s and background on how Western nations contributed to the chaos. The jumps back and forth in the timeline were not always easy to follow, and the characters, while well-written were opaque and unknowable - which I would assume is par for the course in spycraft. The protagonist, Harry Tower, comes across as mild-mannered and a bit bumbling - but has a long history of working in various countries (and some spectacularly horribly fails), and this comes home to roost with a vengeance here, as he gets involved in trying to find his journalist son, who has been disappeared in Iran. Why, by whom, and what the consequences are, are things we discover step by step along with Harry. A fascinating, if at times a bit confusing read.

‘In another time and place…’

Mr Bradby’s latest novel takes us back to 1953, to the involvement of the USA and the UK in an historic coup in Iran. Harry Towers, a recently retired British intelligence officer has been recently widowed. One night, after drowning his sorrows, he is awakened by a phone call. His estranged son Sean has gone missing in Tehran. Sean, a journalist, had recently written an article about the involvement of government officials in the opium trade. Tom travels to Iran in search of his son. Here, he finds that Sean’s girlfriend Shahnaz Salemi is the only person who seems concerned about Sean’s disappearance. Tehran is seething with the rivalry between those who back the Shah who is sympathetic to the West and those who want a fairer deal for the Iranian people. At the heart of the struggle: access to oil.

Has Sean been taken because of the story he wrote, or because of a story he has planned? Or could his abduction be related to Harry’s own intelligence activities? Harry has history in Iran, and enemies. Harry’s travel to Iran 1953 may have been unofficial but his presence is noticed by both friends and enemies.

Harry realises that he knows very little about Sean’s life and it becomes clear that while Shahnaz cares for Sean, she has some secrets of her own. Tension builds as does the civic unrest. Can Harry find Sean? Can either of them survive? While the main story is set in Iran in 1953, there are flashbacks to Harry’s life as a student in Germany in 1933. A fast-paced story, with well developed characters and plenty of tension.

I have enjoyed each of the Tom Bradby novels I have read so far and would certainly recommend this one. Not only is this a finely crafted spy novel, I also learned something about the 1953 coup in Iran. Names and countries may differ, but political duplicity seems to be one constant in international affairs.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this new historical spy story.

Deception has a nasty habit of eating away at people. Lying about your job to your family and neighbors. Lying to your co- workers about the work that you are doing. Lying about the work to your government who is lying about the work they don't want to know what you are doing. Lying to yourself about the importance of what you do, though all everything that exists around you is built up on a very precarious pedestal, and can fall all away with just one truth. Tom Bradby in the historical thriller Yesterday's Son shows the price of deception on one man and his attempt to fix a legacy of wrongs for his only son's safety.

Harry Towers is a spy with British intelligence who has reached the end of his career, and has also lost his wife to suicide, and his son to both neglect and apathy. Harry receives a call from that his son has gone missing in Iran, a country that Harry had some dealings with in the past, and knows from current work at his job, is ripe for revolution. With American help. Harry travels to Iran, finding the country much worse than he expected, and also much more dangerous. For his son was writing articles about powerful people, who might not like what is being said about them. The more Harry digs the more he wonders if the many sins of his past are catching up with him, and that he and his son are in much more danger than he thought.

A very taut, very historically interesting thriller with real world actions taking place as the story develops. Real world actions that are still giving writers story ideas for thrillers today. The writing is very good, all from Harry's point of view, and the story never snags, or drags almost from the the first chapter. The author plays semi- fair, certain characters know more than they are telling, but the clues are there, and the story doesn't make any surprise jumps. Harry is very well written, and well developed. The other characters are also, sleazy when meant to be, earnest when needed, all with secrets and very well written. Also the country of Iran is a major character in the story, described well with a nice background and history that doesn't bog the story down, or hold things up.

A very good spy thriller, almost a throw back to the old Eric Ambler stories, though Harry is more of a seasoned professional rather than a lucky amateur. A very enjoyable read, and recommended for fans of Eric Ambler, David Ignatius, Charles Cumming and Joseph Kanon. This is the first book that I have read by Tom Bradby, and look forward to reading other books by him.

What a fascinating read and a very interesting history lesson as well!
Tom Bradby is a master storyteller and his books are always highly entertaining.
If you are a fan of historical spy thrillers this is a must-read. The story transports you from Germany to the UK and you end up in Tehran. It is a dual timeline story jumping between 1933 and 1953. We meet a young student called Harry and find out how he meets his wife. Then it is 20 years later and Harry is working for the Secret Intelligence Service. His wife is dead and his relationship with his son is strained. When he gets news that his son, who is a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian went missing in Tehran he knows he's the only one who will be able to find him. Who took his son or is this a trap for Harry? Slowly the layers are being pulled back until the shocking conclusion.
Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I am a big fan of smart espionage, which also makes me a big fan of Tom Bradby. His latest stand-alone outing, “Yesterday's Spy”, provides plenty of action while exposing the moral ambiguities of what we do for king and country.

The titular spy of the novel is Harry Towers, recently retired from MI5, a widower ready to put the past behind him. The year is 1953, and Harry receives a phone call telling him that his son Sean is missing in Iran, a journalist who has written an expose about corruption among the national police force. Iran in 1953 is seething with a bitter rivalry among those who back the Shah (and his foreign allies) versus those who want a fairer deal for the Iranian people; even back then the coup was all about who controls (and profits) from the oil. Unfortunately for Harry, he has a long history in Iran as a British agent back in the 1930s, which we get glimpses of throughout the story.

Harry quickly sneaks into Iran to find his son. He quickly realizes that he knows very little about Sean’s life, made clear when he teams up with his son’s Iranian girlfriend Shahnaz, who has her own secrets and her own agenda. Was Sean kidnapped due to his expose, or was he about to tell another story that may shift the power in the country? Or even worse for Harry, was this kidnapping all because of him and his history?

Well written, Mr. Bradby takes us to a time and place we know very little about, but that helped shape today’s world. The action is fast-paced and intense, the plot believable, the characters well formed. Another fine read by Mr. Bradby.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I knew nothing at all about Iran in 1953 before reading this book, which I assume referred to actual historical events, given that it featured a cameo appearance from Winston Churchill. I found this ignorance an insurmountable obstacle to getting to grips with the plot, which was detailed and complex and referred back to other historical events from 1933 onwards. There were entertaining bits where Harry managed to evade whoever was currently following him by employing spy craft, but mainly I failed to engage with him or with Shahnaz, his son's fiancee, who seemed to act with remarkable autonomy for an Iranian woman in 1953, but as I said, what do I know about Iran in 1953...?

Exciting book set in Tehran in 1950’s during an American inspired coup. This Spy thriller is very good and it’s good to have a book set in the Middle East instead of Russia or. Europe. Great descriptions of the cities and people. Very tense and pacy

I am grateful to the author and Grove Atlantic for granting me access to an ARC in return for an honest review. As a fan of Mr. Bradby's earlier Kate Henderson series, I was disappointed by this story. I knew little about the 50s politics in the Middle East, particularly Iran, so the plot was new to me. It made for a good potential story of the cold war in a different venue. That potential was not realized, with much more of a focus on James Bond-esque action with little character development. I was used to Mr. Bradby's use of moral ambivalence in his previous novels, but this story did not build on its premise.

The mix of timelines and backstories kept me interested to the point of completing the book, but the ending was foreshadowed and it was hard for me to muster up much in the way of sympathy.

This one didn't work for me, but I will watch for future efforts by this author.

This provided a good concise history of the US/GB machinations in Iran in 1953. Set against this turbulent background our here – Harry Tower- sets off to find and rescue his only son. The restrained relationship between Harry and his son was well portrayed.
Harry turns out to an all action hero as the plot unfolds. It’s much easier to suspend belief when watching these heroics on TV a lot harder with the written word. The role of Shaznah didn’t feel believable.
There was only one way for this to end and predictably it did.

A fast-paced spy thriller located mostly in Iran. The story is set at the time of the coup in 1953. This is an exciting read with lots of adrenaline-filled action with plenty of twists and surprises. The characters are well-drawn and whilst not necessarily likeable, are very credible. It was fascinating to learn about the history of Iran.
This is the first book by Tom Bradby that I have read. His writing style is polished and easy to read. I will certainly be reading more books by him.
A highly recommended read.

A father travels to Tehran to find his missing journalist son. I am not generally a fan of espionage thrillers, but I really enjoyed this. Firstly, it is set in a place and time I wasn't familiar with, the days surrounding the 1953 coup in Tehran. Secondly, the main character, Harry, a former British intelligence officer, isn't a one-note testosterone-laden force of nature, but a fully fleshed out character. We learn his backstory and his struggles, particularly the suicide of his wife which led to the estrangement with his son. A well-written, interesting story.