Alan Bardos reviews the new Second World War spy thriller from Alex Gerlis, The Second Traitor.
The Second Traitor is the latest novel in Alex Gerlis’s Double Agent quartet, which follows the trials of two Soviet spies in the British Secret Service from the 1930s to the late 1950s; from the rise of Nazism to Stalin’s purges, the Second World War and the start of the Cold War.
Charles Cooper is a hapless writer who finds himself in the British Secret Service while on the run, having mistakenly joined the NKVD (the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs). His loyalties are to Britain and he ruthlessly seeks to keep his past antecedents secret.
The other spy is only known by his codename, Agent Archie, and is a shadowy figure at the heart of the British establishment. He does his best to carry out the bidding of his Soviet handlers as a means to further his own agenda. For now they are both on the same side as Britain faces catastrophe.
The novel is set in September 1940, against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain and Churchill’s ‘finest hour’. The Germans are masters of Europe and are gathering a huge fleet of river and canal barges in preparation for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain.
Cooper now works for the Invasion Warning Sub-Committee, a branch of MI5. He starts to come into his own as he investigates a fifth-column organisation called The Group, made up of British Nazis and Irish Republicans who are working to undermine the British war effort and aid the Germans in any way they can.
Agent Archie, an analyst for MI6, carries out a more offensive operation to gather information about the German plans for the coming invasion. At the behest of his Soviet handlers Agent Archie undertakes an intelligence operation in the field, something that goes very much against the grain.
The Soviet intelligence chiefs are determined to keep the Germans entangled in the West, as they know their country will be next if Britain is defeated, and Agent Archie is their instrument. Archie, as ever, has his own motives for complying with their demands.
However, while Charles Cooper and Agent Archie go about their business, the net is starting to close in on them. The mandarins of the British Secret Service are becoming increasingly aware that there is a mole amongst their ranks with the codename Archie, and take elaborate steps to seek him out, bringing unwanted attention to Charles Cooper.
The two spies are also becoming aware of each other’s existence and the threat that they pose to their respective survival. As tensions rise, Cooper and Agent Archie circle one another as they attempt to discover the identity of the other and eliminate the threat.
The Second Traitor is a multi-layered story of deception, double agents, intrigue and treachery that only Alex Gerlis could weave. It is a thoughtful and witty novel which flows smoothly between satire and the tension of a spy thriller; continuing the gin-dry humour of Every Spy A Traitor, the first novel in the series.
It very much feels as if Alex Gerlis has established himself as a benchmark for quality in the historical thriller genre.
The Second Traitor by Alex Gerlis is published on 14 August, 2025.
Find out more about this book.
Alan Bardos is the author of the Johnny Swift series of novels set during the First World War. His new series, this time based on Second World War events, follows the adventures of spy Daniel Nichols. Rising Tide, the first, was published on 6 December, 2023, and a second is out later this year.
Read From Taranto to Pearl Harbor – spies and inspiration, Alan’s Historia feature about the historical events behind Rising Tide and what he found so intriguing about them.
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Historia interviews: 2021 Non-fiction Crown Award winner Alan Allport, author of Britain at Bay, by Frances Owen
Images:
- Detail from the cover of The Second Traitor
- Heinkels flying over water (the English Channel?): Das Bundesarchiv via Wikimedia (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
