The Trinity Six

By: Charles Cumming

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year

The most closely guarded secret of the Cold War is about to be exposed—the identity of a SIXTH member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring. And people are killing for it, in Charles Cumming's bestselling thriller The Trinity Six.

London, 1992. Late one night, Edward Crane, 76, is declared dead at a London hospital. An obituary describes him only as a 'resourceful career diplomat'. But Crane was much more than that—and the circumstances surrounding his death are far from what they seem.

Fifteen years later, academic Sam Gaddis needs money. When a journalist friend asks for his help researching a possible sixth member of the notorious Trinity spy ring, Gaddis knows that she's onto a story that could turn his fortunes around. But within hours the journalist is dead, apparently from a heart attack.

Taking over her investigation, Gaddis trails a man who claims to know the truth about Edward Crane. Europe still echoes with decades of deadly disinformation on both sides of the Iron Curtain. And as Gaddis follows a series of leads across the continent, he approaches a shocking revelation—one which will rock the foundations of politics from London to Moscow…

"Cumming's novel is characterized by a gripping sense of realism. He displays a vast knowledge of spycraft and Cold War history, and the dense, three-dimensional world he crafts comes complete with seedy hotels and smoky nightclubs. The result is absolutely gripping. Taut, atmospheric and immersive—an instant classic." – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Trinity Six

Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Thrillers.

©2011 Charles Cumming (P)2011 Macmillan

Critic reviews

“Brilliant…scene after scene crackles with excitement, tension, and suspense. The novel's ingenious plot is almost as complicated as real life…the book is all but impossible to put aside. Cumming joins Alan Furst, David Ignatius, and Olen Steinhauer among the most skillful current spy novelists, and he bears comparison with masters such as John le Carré and Graham Greene.” —The Washington Post

“Intelligent and briskly paced…comparisons to John le Carré and Len Deighton continue to gild [Cumming's] reputation as a premier writer of espionage thrillers.” —USA Today

“With its mix of old-school espionage and present-day duplicities, The Trinity Six is a smashing Cold War thriller for the twenty-first century.” —People

Terrific story.

Great plot, very exciting. Beautifully told too.
if you like Charles Cumming, you’ll love this one.

Slow and a bit boring

The novel was sluggish and a bit boring. The author spends a lot of time inside the head of the very flat main character. In a novel with very little action, character development is critical, yet Cumming squanders just about every opportunity his main character has to grow through meaningful relationships with others. There wasn't a single character in the box that was fully flushed out or endearing. Even the "shocking revelation [which] will rock the foundations of politics from London to Moscow" left me saying, "Is that all?" Overall, just a ho-hum of a book. My advice would be to skip this one.