Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: London Station: A Novel by David McCloskey

 

The fifth book about CIA agent Artemis Aphrodite Procter, London Station (Norton, September 2026) by David McCloskey is plainly inspired by recent events in the United States. There’s a new president in the White House, who it was rumored intended to lower the boom on the CIA. His pick for CIA director was an unconventional one. Bobby Jerome started a home building company with three employees and now it has more than 15,000 personnel. He has vowed to bring a business perspective to the running of the agency, despite his complete lack of knowledge or experience in the field, and reduce the budget which he considered bloated. To do so, he brought several of the senior managers of his corporation to fill the upper level slots, all as clueless as he is.

One of Jerome’s first acts is to examine how much money the CIA is spending to support its fellow agencies in other countries and sees the balance is heavily weighted on the U.S. side. He unfortunately decides to withdraw support from the British Secret Intelligence Service to better balance the relationship financially, leaving some of their agents dead as a result. The SIS is in an uproar and, after Jerome offends the chief of SIS in a meeting, he fires the CIA’s head of London Station because he is too supportive of the British. In his place Jerome appoints Artemis, despite her disinterest, and tells her she is in charge of rebalancing the relationship.

Artemis is an espionage agent to the core and she knows that all intelligence agencies work together to assess threat and defend against it. After a few more demented instructions from Jerome and his buddies, she decides she has to find a way to aggressively protect the U.S.-British relationship and its agents while she protects herself.

In the meantime the abruptly terminated former head of London Station, whose pension is being threatened by Jerome, has gone to work for a private intelligence agency run by an eccentric billionaire for a purpose as yet unclear. The former CIA chief of station still has an active Rolodex and he can draw on internal sources to help him in his new work.

Artemis has her work cut out for her in this galloping story of boots-on-the-ground tradecraft and political maneuvers punctuated with wisecracks. One of Jerome’s henchmen annoys her so severely she establishes a swear jar every time she’s tempted to smack him. By the time the book ends, she’s graduated to a large wastebasket that is overflowing with cash. McCloskey’s background in the agency and his first-hand knowledge of the work show in every scene. A very good read. Especially for fans of espionage thrillers.

 

 

·         Publisher‏: W. W. Norton & Company

·         Publication date:‎ September 29, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎432 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1324123214

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1324123217

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/4iRyofB 

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night