One Man’s Flag by David Downing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second Jack McColl novel’ by David Downing, which continues his spying, adventures this time inside enemy lines on the continent. Europe engulfed in the war to end all wars. There is continuation from the first novel, Jack of Spies, but enough to read this on its own. Since the first yarn, McColl has now become a spy being formally part of the fledgling British secret service. Previously he may more accurately described as an amateur spy. He has and troubled relationship with Caitlin a journalist from the US who is sympathetic to the Irish republican cause. She comes from a strong Irish-American family.
The story explores the war on the western front as well as issues on the home front in the United Kingdom. This becomes entwined with the 1915 uprising in Dublin where there was an attempt to overthrow the British. The plot moves between the Irish uprising and McColl’s troubles behind enemy lines in Western Europe. The background to the Irish uprising is interesting as are the escapades of Caitlin and Jack.
I really enjoyed David Downing’s Station novels, which I felt were more immersive than the McColl series. That has not to say I do not like them but enjoyed the Station novels more. It could be that the period that the McColl novels are set does not hold the same appeal. There are another two to come and I will definitely be reading