Rating of 4.5.

One of Australia’s fastest rising thriller authors, Tim Ayliffe, returns with the fourth book in his outstanding John Bailey series, Killer Traitor Spy, which sees Cold War espionage re-emerge right in the heart of modern day Australia.

After a sex worker is accidently poisoned by a deadly neurotoxin, it quickly becomes clear that someone is trying to kill Russian millionaire Dmitry Lebedev. As Dmitry disappears into the wind, reporter John Bailey finds himself drawn to the mysterious events, especially as his old friend, Scarlett Merriman, was the unintended victim. As Bailey begins to dig into the circumstances around Scarlett’s poisoning, he soon discovers a hidden world of spies, espionage and secret deals, all tied to his long-time friend, CIA agent Ronnie Johnson.

It soon becomes apparent that Dmitry was an undercover spy secretly working with Ronnie and providing insights into Russian espionage efforts in Australia. His latest bit of intelligence could expose a deadly traitor working at the highest echelons of the government, and many people wanted him dead to keep that a secret. As Ronnie attempts to bring him in, he finds himself being targeted as well, as whoever tried to kill Dmitry has just framed Ronnie for murder.

Now on the run from the authorities and with no official backup to help him, Ronnie has no choice but to call on Bailey to help him investigate the attempted assassination and uncover the traitor. But the more Bailey works with Ronnie, the more he discovers the dark side of the espionage business and the fact that nobody is what they seem. Moving from the deadly urban sprawl of Sydney to the secretive suburbs of Canberra, can Bailey and Ronnie find the truth before it is too late, or will they be the latest victims of an insidious intelligence plot threatening to undermine the entire country?

This was another great book from Ayliffe, who continues to impress me with his intense and addictive reads. Killer Traitor Spy served as a brilliant fourth book in the series, and I had such a wonderful time getting through this captivating and clever story that I ended up reading this book in a single day.

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This is book four in a great series. John Bailey, reporter and reformed alcoholic is back. This time is CIA agent friend Ronnie Johnson is in trouble as he is framed for the murder of a Russian in Sydney. John is working on a story about a disappeared Russian who was almost poisoned by Novichok, a chemical weapon that appears to be in the hands of terrorists. Bailey is made aware of the event by the involvement of his friend, Scarlett who is a high end prostitute.
The story moves quickly and it appears that a Russian organised crime group may have infiltrated the Australian government and the race is on to see who can put together the missing pieces first. Is Ronnie working with Bailey or setting him up to take some of the heat? Who can Bailey believe as he gets drawn further and further into this nightmare.
Thank you Simon & Schuster Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this digital ARC.

5★
“Bailey was solid too, but he was a different kind of solid. He was good at exposing bad people when they did bad things. But the rules that governed Bailey’s methods were no good to Ronnie. Guys like Ronnie were tasked with stopping bad things from happening. “

John Bailey is a Sydney investigative journalist who has a wide brief and a pretty long leash. Ronnie Johnson is a big American bruiser, as smart as he is big and strong. They are an unlikely pair, Bailey being a stickler for fact-checking investigating and Ronnie being more a seat-of-the-pants, I-know-what-I-know guy who isn’t going to wait for proof to stop someone he thinks needs stopping.

This can easily be a stand-alone. Although the characters were introduced in earlier books, the story doesn’t hinge on their previous escapades. Ayliffe fills in any details as necessary.

The book opens with the attempted murder of a Russian man in a hotel. His sex worker visitor is the accidental victim. Bailey happens to know the girl, because he helped her when a friend of hers was murdered, and he’s stayed in touch, just to make sure she stays safe.

Ronnie Johnson is CIA, American through and through. He and Bailey met in Beirut in 1989, which is where Bailey also met his current partner, Annie Brooks, a correspondent. They’d had a wild fling back then that ended, but after all this time, they’re more or less back on again.

Ronnie’s been called to a meeting in the Oxford Tavern by another old friend who works in ASD.

“[He] worked for the Australian Signals Directorate, or ASD, the spy agency responsible for foreign intelligence involving military operations and cyber warfare. His psychological profile would have contained similar words used to describe the American sitting opposite him. Ideological. Secretive. Ruthless.”

The guy mentions inner-west hipsters, and Ronnie cracks up.

“Ronnie laughed, his barrel chest rocking against his jacket. He’d lived in Sydney long enough to know the geographical stereotypes that defined the place. Surfing tradies on the Northern Beaches. Yuppies in the east. The ‘squinters’ in the west who copped the sunrise and the sunsets on their city commutes. Australians loved nicknames and Sydney had plenty.”

It’s true about the nicknames and shorthand, and it can be hard to keep up (in real life, I mean, not the book). Mercifully, this is not one of those Aussie books that splashes around a lot of quirky lingo. In fact, there were a few words that struck me as American, like ‘elevator’ rather than ‘lift’. But I haven’t been in Sydney in years, so perhaps it’s becoming even more Americanised. Or maybe the author is thinking of his American market.

I also appreciate that any abbreviations are either spelled out, like the ASD above, or at least explained. This is very current politics and modern action. But it still relies on old-school smarts - the experience and intelligence of both journalist Bailey and spook Johnson.

What they are up against is Russian infiltration. A retired spook steps in. This will give you a sense of how Ayliffe gives us background.

“‘Ronnie said I could trust you.’

‘You can.’

‘I won’t stand by and do nothing as the GRU conducts a major operation on Australian soil.’

The GRU.

Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency. Bigger, more powerful and more ruthless than the KGB’s successor, the FSB.

‘GRU operatives are here?’

[He] waved his hand dismissively. ‘They’ve always been here. Hiding in plain sight behind bland job titles in the embassy, most likely. They’re everywhere.’

Bailey sat quietly, not wanting to interrupt the flow of information from the man sitting opposite, hoping that a dam was about to burst.

‘It’s not just the GRU, by the way. There are more foreign spies operating in Australia than ever before,’ Staples said. ‘The infiltration of our university campuses by the Chinese has already been well documented. Some of them aren’t even paid intelligence operatives. Like the Russkiy Mir, they’re more focused on influencing opinion here in Australia to be sympathetic to the autocratic ways of their leaders back home.’”
. . .

“ ‘Do you know want to know why people call the GRU’s headquarters in Moscow, “The Aquarium?”’

Bailey stopped in the open doorway. ‘Enlighten me.’

‘Shark-infested waters. These people are trained killers. Be careful.’

‘Thanks for the advice.’ Bailey couldn’t help thinking the old spook had just hooked him to the end of a drum line.”

It’s fascinating, thrilling, and a great addition to the Greater Good series. As I said before, you don’t need to have met any of these people before. You don’t need to know Australian politics or Sydney, either, although I loved revisiting my old stomping grounds. Spies are spies and the hunt is the hunt!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the copy for review, from which I’ve quoted.

Russian millionaire Dmitry Lebedev living for many years in Australia with his wife has been caught money laundering for the Russians. In exchange for his freedom from prosecution he offers to give the CIA the name of a high placed Russian mole in Canberra. However, when high class call girl, Scarlett Merriman, is poisoned in his hotel room, with a nerve agent he believes was meant for him he decides to disappear and run for his life.

Scarlett once helped investigative reporter John Bailey out on a case and the two have remained friends, so when he receives a tip off about her poisoning in Lebedev’s hotel room his investigator’s nose tells him he might be on to a big story, especially when the anonymous caller identifies himself as a friend of CIA agent Ronnie Johnson’s. Ronnie and Bailey met years ago when both were working in Middle East war zones, and after Ronnie saved Bailey’s life, became friends, more recently working together to expose terrorist groups in Australia. However, they will have their work cut out in this high-stake investigation and both will be putting their own lives at risk.

In this gritty, intense thriller full of spies, traitors, blackmail and political corruption, there is a race against time to identify the Russian infiltrators and hackers trying to access Australian intelligence and security secrets. Although it’s a complex tale, Ayliffe’s brilliant writing makes it clear and easy to follow. Incorporating many of the issues facing the world today in terms of hacking, terrorism and espionage, the novel is action packed and with suspense climbing to a nail-biting ending.

Killer Traitor Spy is the 4th book in the fast-paced and oftentimes brutal John Bailey series. The first three books in the series have established Bailey as a hard-nosed, dogged and determined investigative journalist with all kinds of front as he pursues a story. Once again he’s prepared to take a few hits as he chases down a politically explosive story.

In his past he has worked all over the world, particularly in war ravaged regions and has survived some of the most brutal conditions but in this case, the danger is much closer to home. From a relatively quiet start he is dragged into an intriguing situation that threatens to explode into an internationally dangerous encounter. After all, Bailey has been through the wringer a couple of times and he’s already prone to suffering flashbacks from previous close calls, so his initial reluctance is understandable.

But it’s a little personal because Scarlett Merriman, a friend of Bailey’s, is poisoned with what appears to be a nerve agent after drinking from a glass of vodka while visiting with Russian millionaire Dmitry Lebedev. She’s in an induced coma, Lebedev has disappeared and Bailey wants answers.

Ronnie Johnson, another longtime friend of Bailey’s and a CIA agent, is involved. He calls in a favour from Bailey, asking him to run an investigation on the Russian man, along with another suspicious death that has shone a spotlight on Johnson himself.

When Bailey digs further he uncovers suspicions of a Russian agent who has infiltrated the Australian government at the highest level. Secrets are being passed out of the country, sensitive material is being stolen and people are dying in an effort to keep it all covered up. It’s a matter of working out who’s behind it all and proving that it’s going on.

From Sydney to Canberra and back again, dealing with secretive local operatives and Russian nationals, there’s a lot for an investigative journalist to take in. And even with Ronnie Johnson on his side, there’s a whole lot more danger involved than you would expect a scribbler to usually be faced with.

Like most good spy novels it’s difficult to nail down good, solid information about the bad guys. Spies tend not to pass on information, so whenever Bailey asks a question the answers are generally evasive and non-committal. This means we’re left to make assumptions about the whats, whos and whys of what’s going on. Yes, it can be a little frustrating, but it also heightens the anxiety levels and makes for a much more exciting read.

Killer Traitor Spy is a deeply involved spy novel set within the borders of Australia. The pace is furiously fast and relentless and there are numerous moments of near misses and tense stand-offs. In short, it delivers the kind of action that kept my attention fully for the entire book.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this as a digital ARC so I could enjoy and review this book.

Set mostly in Sydney Australia, investigative journalist John Bailey and Canberra's CIA agent, Ronnie Johnson, joined forces after discovering Dmitry Lebedev's sex worker companion had been poisoned in the luxury hotel room they'd been in. Would their suspicions that Dmitry was the target after he contacted Ronnie, prove to be correct? Dmitry had evidence of corruption in the Australian government, with Russian spies having infiltrated Canberra, sharing top secrets with Russia. Bailey was determined to have a front page story while helping Ronnie oust the traitors.

But when Ronnie was framed for a murder, with video evidence, Bailey was uncertain. Could he still trust Ronnie? Digging deeply into the lives of those individuals who kept just on the right side of the law saw Bailey uncover secrets, corruption and murder. Would Bailey need to cross a line in this investigation?

Killer Traitor Spy is the 4th in the John Bailey series by Aussie author Tim Ayliffe, and the first I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Gripping and intense, it's also an easy read. Bailey found himself in an awkward situation, one that he'd be lucky to get out of. He's a great character, as is Ronnie. I have #1 on my kindle, so I'll definitely read more of this series, and watch out for #5. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

First I must say I am a huge Tim Ayliffe fan and love Bailey as a character.

This book, like the previous ones, was a book I just couldn't out down. I contained the regular characters from previous books but was a new story so can be read as a stand alone novel.

This is full of espionage, spying, traitorous craziness and even though it is full on and intense it is quite easy to follow along with the story and to read. It is so well written that you don't need to be into politics and all the craziness going on in the world to read this one.

John Bailey is more than just an investigative reporter and gets into so many difficult situations. This book is such a great crime, mystery, thriller with a few twists and turns and is well worth reading. I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced review copy of this book.

I’m not real good at following espionage and coverup’s, but in this case I followed the story very well. Says a lot about the writing style of the Author when you can follow the story and all the different characters.
Investigator John Bailey is pursuing the story of a poisoning of a Lady friend of his. This takes him way out of his usual investigation’s when he works along side a former cia agent and friend of his, who does thing’s a lot different than John.
What if John crosses the line? Is he ever going to come to turns with it.
Read on for a very good book.

When a sex worker takes a sip of vodka intended for her rich client it sets off a hunt for the perpetrator that crosses Sydney and Canberra with journalist John Bailey at the centre of it all.

This. Oh my lord. This was a page turner! I could not put it down.

As a journalist Bailey is dealing with PTSD and addiction from previous assignments and with his buddy from the CIA playing a key part in this mystery where the bodies keep piling up during the hunt for a Russian double agent who has infiltrated Australia’s defence department.

From liberal politicians having illicit affairs and being blackmailed for it. To secret weapons being used outside an office in Canberra, I could never guess what was going to happen next.

The way that this was all wrapped up in a bow of journalistic investigation and the story Bailey finds himself loving through, Killer Traitor Spy has everything that a good crime thriller needs. And the ending. Oh boy I did not see that coming!