Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Back in April, we described "The Last Supper", a political thriller by Charles McCarry, as "a Cold War masterpiece and its heart is in the right place". Although this is our Book of the Year, The Last Supper wasn't published this year. It was in 1986 that it first saw the light of day, but Overlook Press has taken to republishing McCarry's Cold War espionage tales and it was "new" to us when we came across it. What makes McCarry's writing special? Well, he's a superb storyteller and the years he spent doing CIA undercover work add an essential element of authenticity to his work. That's what.

And another thing. The truths he learned in the field remain valid, which makes a book like The Last Supper a rewarding read and re-read. Consider this passage: After the spymaster Wolkowicz is grilled by the "Outfit", as the American intelligence service is termed, he turns to his interrogators and declares: "The Russians are out to kill people like you. They'll use you, but you don't count. Look at the Brits. Philby, Burgess, MacLean, Blunt — all members of the bourgeoisie. Sacrificial lambs. The Russians didn't give a shit for them, they didn't give a shit for British intelligence. The Outfit was the target because America is the target."

There was no talk of polonium 210 back then, but McCarry understood what was at stake. The Last Supper is a classic and a worthy winner of the Rainy Day Book of the Year award.