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Gabriel's Moon
In his most exhilarating novel yet, Britain’s greatest storyteller transports you from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw, as an accidental spy is drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession.
Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into a web of duplicities and betrayals.
As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into the shadows. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy�, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story. .
Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into a web of duplicities and betrayals.
As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into the shadows. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy�, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story. .
272 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2024
583 people are currently reading
11k people want to read
About the author
William Boyd
58Ìýbooks2,279ÌýfollowersNote: William^^Boyd
Of Scottish descent, Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana on 7th March, 1952 and spent much of his early life there and in Nigeria where his mother was a teacher and his father, a doctor. Boyd was in Nigeria during the Biafran War, the brutal secessionist conflict which ran from 1967 to 1970 and it had a profound effect on him.
At the age of nine years he attended Gordonstoun school, in Moray, Scotland and then Nice University (Diploma of French Studies) and Glasgow University (MA Hons in English and Philosophy), where he edited the Glasgow University Guardian. He then moved to Jesus College, Oxford in 1975 and completed a PhD thesis on Shelley. For a brief period he worked at the New Statesman magazine as a TV critic, then he returned to Oxford as an English lecturer teaching the contemporary novel at St Hilda's College (1980-83). It was while he was here that his first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), was published.
Boyd spent eight years in academia, during which time his first film, Good and Bad at Games, was made. When he was offered a college lecturership, which would mean spending more time teaching, he was forced to choose between teaching and writing.
Boyd was selected in 1983 as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in a promotion run by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in the same year, and is also an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has been presented with honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of St. Andrews, Stirling and Glasgow. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.
Boyd has been with his wife Susan since they met as students at Glasgow University and all his books are dedicated to her. His wife is editor-at-large of Harper's Bazaar magazine, and they currently spend about thirty to forty days a year in the US. He and his wife have a house in Chelsea, West London but spend most of the year at their chateau in Bergerac in south west France, where Boyd produces award-winning wines.
Of Scottish descent, Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana on 7th March, 1952 and spent much of his early life there and in Nigeria where his mother was a teacher and his father, a doctor. Boyd was in Nigeria during the Biafran War, the brutal secessionist conflict which ran from 1967 to 1970 and it had a profound effect on him.
At the age of nine years he attended Gordonstoun school, in Moray, Scotland and then Nice University (Diploma of French Studies) and Glasgow University (MA Hons in English and Philosophy), where he edited the Glasgow University Guardian. He then moved to Jesus College, Oxford in 1975 and completed a PhD thesis on Shelley. For a brief period he worked at the New Statesman magazine as a TV critic, then he returned to Oxford as an English lecturer teaching the contemporary novel at St Hilda's College (1980-83). It was while he was here that his first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), was published.
Boyd spent eight years in academia, during which time his first film, Good and Bad at Games, was made. When he was offered a college lecturership, which would mean spending more time teaching, he was forced to choose between teaching and writing.
Boyd was selected in 1983 as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in a promotion run by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in the same year, and is also an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has been presented with honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of St. Andrews, Stirling and Glasgow. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.
Boyd has been with his wife Susan since they met as students at Glasgow University and all his books are dedicated to her. His wife is editor-at-large of Harper's Bazaar magazine, and they currently spend about thirty to forty days a year in the US. He and his wife have a house in Chelsea, West London but spend most of the year at their chateau in Bergerac in south west France, where Boyd produces award-winning wines.
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December 9, 2024
Plotwise this novel is one of the most intriguing books by William Boyd.
Childhood is a prologue to life� Gabriel is a child and the world is enigma�
Thus the tale of Gabriel’s Moon ²ú±ð²µ¾±²Ô²õâ€�
Now in 1960 he is a full-grown man and a travel writer� Hot times� Hot spots� Congo� Interview with Patrice Lumumba� On returning to London he is offered a strange job � to go to Spain and to buy there a picture�
Gabriel finds himself in the thick of things� He feels being used by the parties unknown� Everything turns more and more complicated�
Mysteries of the past� Secrets of the present� They exchange places� They intermingle�
The undercover activity is like a subterranean stream � it’s invisible but it incessantly continues its eroding exertion.
Childhood is a prologue to life� Gabriel is a child and the world is enigma�
‘Why isn’t there a full moon every night?� he asked. ‘I don’t understand.�
‘Neither do I. There must be a reason. An astronomical reason, I suppose. We’ll look it up in the encyclopaedia tomorrow.�
Thus the tale of Gabriel’s Moon ²ú±ð²µ¾±²Ô²õâ€�
Now in 1960 he is a full-grown man and a travel writer� Hot times� Hot spots� Congo� Interview with Patrice Lumumba� On returning to London he is offered a strange job � to go to Spain and to buy there a picture�
‘He’ll be extremely glad to sell you a drawing � but it must be a drawing: ink, pencil, pastel, not a painting,� Faith said. ‘You can over-pay to keep him sweet. You’ll have a budget of two thousand pounds but he’ll be happy with a thousand, I guarantee.�
Gabriel finds himself in the thick of things� He feels being used by the parties unknown� Everything turns more and more complicated�
‘All your conspiracy theories are ridiculous,� she said. ‘Fantasies. Don’t ignore the obvious explanations for events, things, situations. That’s why they’re obvious.�
‘Of course, you would say that. I’d expect you to say that. I’m just a useful idiot.�
Mysteries of the past� Secrets of the present� They exchange places� They intermingle�
‘You’ll get your usual wages. I’ll bring this back tomorrow,� she said, holding up the small drawing, ‘And tell you what’s going to happen.�
‘All right,� Gabriel said, a little sulkily. ‘I am your subject-slave.�
‘No, you’re not,� she said. ‘You’re my spy. Remember?�
The undercover activity is like a subterranean stream � it’s invisible but it incessantly continues its eroding exertion.
September 2, 2024
'He was like a man in an ever-widening, ever-vermiculated labyrinth, he decided, but one with no exit'.
Gabriel Dax, 30 something-year-old travel writer, based in London, tragically orphaned at 6 years old, lives a pretty vanilla life, when his latest article takes him to the Congo. It's 1960 and Patrice Lumumba is the newly elected prime minister, and although Dax isn't a political journalist he's been asked to tape an interview with Lumumba about Congo's newly found independence. Soon after, in fact, starting on the plane trip home, a series of odd events begin to unfold, 'How had this happened to him? How had his happy, unremarkable existence taken this swerve'? Dax becomes caught up within a web of espionage, but just like the elusive mouse, evading capture in his flat, Dax quickly sharpens his wits in this world of double-crossing, lies, and illusion, 'He wasn't going to be their useful idiot anymore'.
This was my first Boyd book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Dax, the reluctant, whisky-loving spy and unwitting pawn. Full of Cold War fears and 60s flair, this story will keep many types of story lovers entertained.
'Writing stabilized thoughts; it allowed you to see connections that thoughts alone didn't'.
Gabriel Dax, 30 something-year-old travel writer, based in London, tragically orphaned at 6 years old, lives a pretty vanilla life, when his latest article takes him to the Congo. It's 1960 and Patrice Lumumba is the newly elected prime minister, and although Dax isn't a political journalist he's been asked to tape an interview with Lumumba about Congo's newly found independence. Soon after, in fact, starting on the plane trip home, a series of odd events begin to unfold, 'How had this happened to him? How had his happy, unremarkable existence taken this swerve'? Dax becomes caught up within a web of espionage, but just like the elusive mouse, evading capture in his flat, Dax quickly sharpens his wits in this world of double-crossing, lies, and illusion, 'He wasn't going to be their useful idiot anymore'.
This was my first Boyd book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Dax, the reluctant, whisky-loving spy and unwitting pawn. Full of Cold War fears and 60s flair, this story will keep many types of story lovers entertained.
'Writing stabilized thoughts; it allowed you to see connections that thoughts alone didn't'.
March 16, 2025
I’ve always enjoyed the way that Boyd takes historical events and builds a fictional story around them. In Sweet Caress, The New Confessions and Any Human Heart he focuses on the life of an individual who lived through, and often personally experienced, many of the great events of the 20th Century. In this novel, he introduces us to Gabriel Dax, a travel writer and journalist who happens to be in Léopoldville, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1960. He’s invited to interview the country’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, courtesy of an old university chum who is a member of his cabinet. It’s a major coup, and he jumps at the opportunity. The interview is taped by Dax, using an old reel-to-reel device, and shortly after the interview, he returns home with the tapes.
The interview is to become something of significance some months later as Lumumba is first forced out of office and then a little later assassinated. He’d alluded to his fears of such an outcome during his interview. Might the tapes include information of some consequence? Dax is perturbed by the news but at this point he’s more preoccupied by minor troubles caused by a girlfriend who’s keen to move in and spoil his bachelor lifestyle and an idea he’s come up with for his next travel book. He’s a pretty laid-back fellow who drinks too much and sleeps little, but he enjoys his freedom; he's not keen to be tied down with a live-in partner on the scene.
Gabriel's sleeping issues stem from constant nightmares of raging fires. He’d escaped a house fire at an early age, a tragedy that claimed the life of his mother. In fact, he’s been persuaded to seek the help of a psychoanalyst who has suggested that he gather as many facts as he can surrounding the fire as this might lead to an unlocking of his memory block of the incident and in turn resolve his insomnia. To further complicate his life, he’s also been persuaded by an attractive older woman, Faith Green, to fit in a brief trip to Spain. His only task will be to purchase a drawing from an artist. He’ll be given precise instructions and rewarded handsomely. Enough, in fact, to finance some trips to places he’s chosen to feature in his next travel book. In this way he’s gradually drawn into the world of cold war spy craft, by the mysteriously alluring Faith, a woman he’s to become somewhat obsessed with.
The author does a great job of describing the places featured in this story, both at home in London and abroad during Gabriel’s various trips. I really felt that I was there with him, experiencing the sights and smells, and utterly aware of the emotions his adventures were invoking in him. This is a real skill that Boyd demonstrates time and again in his writing. Also, although there are plenty of strands to this tale, they are handled with skill to the extent that I never felt that I was lost in a puzzle that I simply couldn’t comprehend or resolve. I didn’t know how they fit together yet, but I always had a clear view of all the pieces.
It’s a somewhat lighter piece than some of Boyd’s earlier novels, but none the worse for that. Dax is an interesting and beguiling character, and I enjoyed my time with him. The story is also wrapped up well with a surprise or two along the way. But Boyd has consciously left a few loose ends, which leave the promise that we’ll no doubt meet up with Gabriel again. I, for one, will certainly be looking forward to that.
The interview is to become something of significance some months later as Lumumba is first forced out of office and then a little later assassinated. He’d alluded to his fears of such an outcome during his interview. Might the tapes include information of some consequence? Dax is perturbed by the news but at this point he’s more preoccupied by minor troubles caused by a girlfriend who’s keen to move in and spoil his bachelor lifestyle and an idea he’s come up with for his next travel book. He’s a pretty laid-back fellow who drinks too much and sleeps little, but he enjoys his freedom; he's not keen to be tied down with a live-in partner on the scene.
Gabriel's sleeping issues stem from constant nightmares of raging fires. He’d escaped a house fire at an early age, a tragedy that claimed the life of his mother. In fact, he’s been persuaded to seek the help of a psychoanalyst who has suggested that he gather as many facts as he can surrounding the fire as this might lead to an unlocking of his memory block of the incident and in turn resolve his insomnia. To further complicate his life, he’s also been persuaded by an attractive older woman, Faith Green, to fit in a brief trip to Spain. His only task will be to purchase a drawing from an artist. He’ll be given precise instructions and rewarded handsomely. Enough, in fact, to finance some trips to places he’s chosen to feature in his next travel book. In this way he’s gradually drawn into the world of cold war spy craft, by the mysteriously alluring Faith, a woman he’s to become somewhat obsessed with.
The author does a great job of describing the places featured in this story, both at home in London and abroad during Gabriel’s various trips. I really felt that I was there with him, experiencing the sights and smells, and utterly aware of the emotions his adventures were invoking in him. This is a real skill that Boyd demonstrates time and again in his writing. Also, although there are plenty of strands to this tale, they are handled with skill to the extent that I never felt that I was lost in a puzzle that I simply couldn’t comprehend or resolve. I didn’t know how they fit together yet, but I always had a clear view of all the pieces.
It’s a somewhat lighter piece than some of Boyd’s earlier novels, but none the worse for that. Dax is an interesting and beguiling character, and I enjoyed my time with him. The story is also wrapped up well with a surprise or two along the way. But Boyd has consciously left a few loose ends, which leave the promise that we’ll no doubt meet up with Gabriel again. I, for one, will certainly be looking forward to that.
April 13, 2025
This will sound extremely snarky, but if you ignore how horny the main character is all the time, Gabriel’s Moon is almost like a children’s book about Cold War spies. “Spy Kids 2 - Coup in the Congo� or something. Le Carré this is not.
Travel writer Gabriel gets the chance to interview Congolese prime minister Lumumba in 1960. Lumumba tells him the Americans, Brits, and Belgians want him dead and then gets overthrown and executed by the intelligence services of those three countries shortly after. Gabriel remains blissfully naive about what it might mean for him that he knows this and promptly gets roped into doing a “favour� for the MI6, which turns into becoming something of a MI6 errand boy. Cold War stuff ensues. There’s also some backstory about the house fire that killed Gabriel’s mother when he was a small boy and Gabriel going to a charlatan “psychoanalyst� whose session transcription we also get for whatever reason - they’re the most boring and on the nose psychoanalysis sessions you can imagine and contribute nothing to the plot, but considering we learn his therapist was never academically trained and just thinks she’s naturally good at being a psychoanalyst, maybe that tracks.
The book started off pretty well, but the longer it went on, the less believable it became. It just doesn’t seem very well researched and it doesn’t feel like we’re authentically in the early 60s at all - which is extra weird because the author was already alive back then!
It’s little things like a woman randomly wearing jeans (in 1960?? And the main character doesn’t think that’s noteworthy?) or talk of a �999 call� being placed in 1936 or Gabriel asking a non-smoker if it’s okay that he smokes (I’m pretty sure smokers wouldn’t even have thought twice until the 90s).
And then there’s the Cold War spy stuff. Maybe Le Carré movies have given me a wrong sense of things, but the lack of secrecy on display by everyone is just soooo weird. Gabriel’s MI6 handler literally tells him, “oh yeah I’m with the MI6, we’re uncovering double agents. We’ll pay you to go to Spain to do secret service stuff. Oh and that guy’s with the CIA. Also, we got Lumumba assassinated�. Gabriel then goes and tells his uncle, “I’m going to Spain as a MI6 asset!�
Excuse me?!
Everyone is constantly blabbing to this super easily manipulable civilian who cannot keep a secret about what exactly is going on on the secret service front. I mean, maybe they were that incompetent, what do I know. Bay of Pigs says hi, I guess. But, like� really?
The main character, Gabriel, was sadly not convincing at all (bonus lol at the big bad CIA guy telling this absolute idiot “you’re too clever for your own good, has anyone ever told you that� - no one has ever told him that mate, because he’s an idiot!). It felt a bit like self-insert wish fulfilment about an unremarkable guy getting thrown into the thick of it during the Cold War and becoming A Person Of Consequence.
His female handler, who’s supposed to be this alluring mysterious femme fatale, was also wholly unconvincing and don’t even get me started on his weird sexual obsession with her. Ick!!
I’ll give it 3* because it’s a very quick read and isn’t excessively long, so even when I literally got to a point where I was just laughing at the plot two-thirds in, I kept reading simply because I knew I was only a few dozen pages away from the resolution. I was somewhat entertained but very incredulous throughout, let’s put it this way.
Travel writer Gabriel gets the chance to interview Congolese prime minister Lumumba in 1960. Lumumba tells him the Americans, Brits, and Belgians want him dead and then gets overthrown and executed by the intelligence services of those three countries shortly after. Gabriel remains blissfully naive about what it might mean for him that he knows this and promptly gets roped into doing a “favour� for the MI6, which turns into becoming something of a MI6 errand boy. Cold War stuff ensues. There’s also some backstory about the house fire that killed Gabriel’s mother when he was a small boy and Gabriel going to a charlatan “psychoanalyst� whose session transcription we also get for whatever reason - they’re the most boring and on the nose psychoanalysis sessions you can imagine and contribute nothing to the plot, but considering we learn his therapist was never academically trained and just thinks she’s naturally good at being a psychoanalyst, maybe that tracks.
The book started off pretty well, but the longer it went on, the less believable it became. It just doesn’t seem very well researched and it doesn’t feel like we’re authentically in the early 60s at all - which is extra weird because the author was already alive back then!
It’s little things like a woman randomly wearing jeans (in 1960?? And the main character doesn’t think that’s noteworthy?) or talk of a �999 call� being placed in 1936 or Gabriel asking a non-smoker if it’s okay that he smokes (I’m pretty sure smokers wouldn’t even have thought twice until the 90s).
And then there’s the Cold War spy stuff. Maybe Le Carré movies have given me a wrong sense of things, but the lack of secrecy on display by everyone is just soooo weird. Gabriel’s MI6 handler literally tells him, “oh yeah I’m with the MI6, we’re uncovering double agents. We’ll pay you to go to Spain to do secret service stuff. Oh and that guy’s with the CIA. Also, we got Lumumba assassinated�. Gabriel then goes and tells his uncle, “I’m going to Spain as a MI6 asset!�
Excuse me?!
Everyone is constantly blabbing to this super easily manipulable civilian who cannot keep a secret about what exactly is going on on the secret service front. I mean, maybe they were that incompetent, what do I know. Bay of Pigs says hi, I guess. But, like� really?
The main character, Gabriel, was sadly not convincing at all (bonus lol at the big bad CIA guy telling this absolute idiot “you’re too clever for your own good, has anyone ever told you that� - no one has ever told him that mate, because he’s an idiot!). It felt a bit like self-insert wish fulfilment about an unremarkable guy getting thrown into the thick of it during the Cold War and becoming A Person Of Consequence.
His female handler, who’s supposed to be this alluring mysterious femme fatale, was also wholly unconvincing and don’t even get me started on his weird sexual obsession with her. Ick!!
I’ll give it 3* because it’s a very quick read and isn’t excessively long, so even when I literally got to a point where I was just laughing at the plot two-thirds in, I kept reading simply because I knew I was only a few dozen pages away from the resolution. I was somewhat entertained but very incredulous throughout, let’s put it this way.
November 1, 2024
Gabriel Dax (a name that could surely have come out of a James Bond novel) is a drifter who makes his living as a travel writer. It’s an occupation that suits his unwillingness to get tied down and it’s brought him moderate success, enough at least to keep him in Scotch. He’s also been able to combine it with doing small clandestine errands for his elder brother, Sefton, who does something connected with the security services, although Gabriel doesn’t know quite what.
There are three women in Gabriel’s life. The first is his girlfriend, Lorraine, whom he finds sexually exciting but is less keen for their relationship to become a long-term commitment than she is.
The second woman is his therapist, Dr Katrina Haas, whom he consults because of his insomnia and the nightmares about the fire that killed his mother when he was six years old. His memories of that night differ from the official verdict about the cause of the fire � a moon-shaped nightlight in his bedroom (the ‘Gabriel’s moon� of the book’s title.) Dr Haas convinces him the key to curing his insomnia is to discover the truth of what happened that night which enables the author to introduce a secondary storyline.
The third and, as it turns out, the most influential woman in his life is the mysterious Faith Green who draws Gabriel deeper and deeper into a web of intrigue. She knows just how to play him, starting from their very first encounter. ‘Was it that she understood him better than he understood himself? Maybe.� Gabriel finds her alluring but it’s only very much later he realises how deep he’s become immersed in a dangerous conspiracy through his attraction to her. ‘Perhaps that was how she managed to make him do her bidding, keeping him wandering in the special labyrinth she’d constructed, baffling and tormenting � and where there were no exits�. The author creates a brilliantly intriguing relationship between Gabriel and Faith. At one point, he describes her as ‘the sorceress, the puppet-mistress of his life�. Later she’s both ‘his tormentor and his solace�.
Gabriel may consider himself a good liar � the essential gift of a good spy � but it turns out he’s an amateur compared with those around him, even people he believed he could trust. And situations in which he considers himself safe are often fraught with hidden dangers.
For lovers of espionage thrillers there’s plenty of spycraft: counter-surveillence techniques, coded messages, safe houses and clandestine meetings. You really get a sense of the Cold War era, a time of global tension epitomised by the Cuban missile crisis. And the various locations to which Gabriel travels, such as pre-unification Germany, are skilfully evoked. I also loved the author gives us an opaque ending and the neat little conceit at the end.
Gabriel’s Moon is an absorbing and assured spy thriller, highly recommended if you’re a fan of the novels of John le Carre.
There are three women in Gabriel’s life. The first is his girlfriend, Lorraine, whom he finds sexually exciting but is less keen for their relationship to become a long-term commitment than she is.
The second woman is his therapist, Dr Katrina Haas, whom he consults because of his insomnia and the nightmares about the fire that killed his mother when he was six years old. His memories of that night differ from the official verdict about the cause of the fire � a moon-shaped nightlight in his bedroom (the ‘Gabriel’s moon� of the book’s title.) Dr Haas convinces him the key to curing his insomnia is to discover the truth of what happened that night which enables the author to introduce a secondary storyline.
The third and, as it turns out, the most influential woman in his life is the mysterious Faith Green who draws Gabriel deeper and deeper into a web of intrigue. She knows just how to play him, starting from their very first encounter. ‘Was it that she understood him better than he understood himself? Maybe.� Gabriel finds her alluring but it’s only very much later he realises how deep he’s become immersed in a dangerous conspiracy through his attraction to her. ‘Perhaps that was how she managed to make him do her bidding, keeping him wandering in the special labyrinth she’d constructed, baffling and tormenting � and where there were no exits�. The author creates a brilliantly intriguing relationship between Gabriel and Faith. At one point, he describes her as ‘the sorceress, the puppet-mistress of his life�. Later she’s both ‘his tormentor and his solace�.
Gabriel may consider himself a good liar � the essential gift of a good spy � but it turns out he’s an amateur compared with those around him, even people he believed he could trust. And situations in which he considers himself safe are often fraught with hidden dangers.
For lovers of espionage thrillers there’s plenty of spycraft: counter-surveillence techniques, coded messages, safe houses and clandestine meetings. You really get a sense of the Cold War era, a time of global tension epitomised by the Cuban missile crisis. And the various locations to which Gabriel travels, such as pre-unification Germany, are skilfully evoked. I also loved the author gives us an opaque ending and the neat little conceit at the end.
Gabriel’s Moon is an absorbing and assured spy thriller, highly recommended if you’re a fan of the novels of John le Carre.
August 6, 2024
I enjoyed this latest Boyd much more than The Romantic. It felt, to me, more like earlier works which I preferred.
The story centres around Gabriel Dax, a travel writer who, whilst in the Congo, is asked to interview the new Prime Minister and architect of independence, Patrice Lumumba. On his return to England however he finds himself becoming embroiled in the work of a shadowy organisation through contact with the beautiful and mysterious Faith Green. Having done various "errands" previously for his brother Faith persuades Gabriel to do several jobs which leads him into increasingly dangerous situations.
Boyd also provides us with an entertainjng sub-plot dealing with Gabriel's family background and the loss of his mother at the age of 6 for which he has always blamed himself.
Both stories are equally interesting and the writing is excellent. It's a truly engaging book and I looked forward to reading it. I certainly didn't want to rush through it and miss anything. Gabriel is an unlikely hero and the other characters are wonderfully shady.
For me this was a return to the Boyd of Ice Cream Wars and a Good Man in Africa. Highly recommended.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance review copy.
The story centres around Gabriel Dax, a travel writer who, whilst in the Congo, is asked to interview the new Prime Minister and architect of independence, Patrice Lumumba. On his return to England however he finds himself becoming embroiled in the work of a shadowy organisation through contact with the beautiful and mysterious Faith Green. Having done various "errands" previously for his brother Faith persuades Gabriel to do several jobs which leads him into increasingly dangerous situations.
Boyd also provides us with an entertainjng sub-plot dealing with Gabriel's family background and the loss of his mother at the age of 6 for which he has always blamed himself.
Both stories are equally interesting and the writing is excellent. It's a truly engaging book and I looked forward to reading it. I certainly didn't want to rush through it and miss anything. Gabriel is an unlikely hero and the other characters are wonderfully shady.
For me this was a return to the Boyd of Ice Cream Wars and a Good Man in Africa. Highly recommended.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance review copy.
January 4, 2025
Boyd rarely disappoints, whichever genre he chooses to write in. This one is a spy novel, very much in the style of a le Carre, and introduces us to Gabriel Dax, an unwitting and ill-equipped writer thrust into a world of intrigue. A clever twisting plot keeps things ticking along and the early 60s setting brings back the 'golden age' of Cold War spy games. Works perfectly as a standalone novel, but there is scope for further adventures, which would be most welcome.
October 7, 2024
Limp
I have really liked some of William Boyd’s books and so I was easily duped by many gushing reviews into buying this book. By the time I realised my folly it was too late to get a refund. What a waste of $16. The writing style is silly and superficial and the characters are unbelievable. The plot is just ridiculous.
I have really liked some of William Boyd’s books and so I was easily duped by many gushing reviews into buying this book. By the time I realised my folly it was too late to get a refund. What a waste of $16. The writing style is silly and superficial and the characters are unbelievable. The plot is just ridiculous.
January 24, 2025
I liked William Boyd's "Gabriel's Moon" but it was a very odd book. It was like going to a very good restaurant and having a terrific meal but leaving still hungry because the portions were so skimpy. Gabriel Dax is a writer of travel books who is on assignment in the Congo. Not the Belgian Congo because it had already won its independence from Belgium in 1960. While there he is invited by a fellow writer, coincidentally also in the Congo, to interview the new Marxist president, Patrice Lumumba. As most writers do Dax recorded his interview. Lumumba authorizes the recording because he fears that he will be assassinated shortly by foreign agents because he is accepting aid from Moscow and being drawn into the Communist sphere of influence. Foreign agents from where? Mainly the US and England because they fear that they will lose out on access to the uranium that the Congo can provide. Dax writes up a free lance article about Lumumba but before he can sell it Lumumba is assassinated and the article is unmarketable. Yesterday's news.
But strangely Dax keeps running into people carrying copies of his books. One such stranger offers him money to take trips to Spain and other locations to perform innocuous tasks. It slowly dawns on him that he is walking a fine line between travel and spying. But dang, the money is so good. And if he is spying what is his mission? And the book is pretty good but at this point it's starting to dawn on me that not everything is going to be wrapped up by book's end. And there are too many chance meetings. And at the core of the chance meetings are the Lumumba tapes.
Plus there are a couple of subplots that, as it turns out, add nothing to the story and go nowhere. For example, Gabriel was orphaned at the age of 6 when his house burned down and killed his widowed mother. As a result he has always been a bad sleeper with nightmares of burning houses. He spends a good deal of time in therapy and looking into the details of the house fire. What does this have to do with the story? Is it to show the contrast between his zeal to discover the reason for his life altering loss as a child and his ambivalence toward his confusing current spy activities?
William Boyd is an entertaining writer in the mold of Graham Greene. Some of his books are better than others and I put "Gabriel's Moon" in the middle of the pack. But with all their flaws his books are always worth reading. I just wasn't totally moonstruck with this one.
But strangely Dax keeps running into people carrying copies of his books. One such stranger offers him money to take trips to Spain and other locations to perform innocuous tasks. It slowly dawns on him that he is walking a fine line between travel and spying. But dang, the money is so good. And if he is spying what is his mission? And the book is pretty good but at this point it's starting to dawn on me that not everything is going to be wrapped up by book's end. And there are too many chance meetings. And at the core of the chance meetings are the Lumumba tapes.
Plus there are a couple of subplots that, as it turns out, add nothing to the story and go nowhere. For example, Gabriel was orphaned at the age of 6 when his house burned down and killed his widowed mother. As a result he has always been a bad sleeper with nightmares of burning houses. He spends a good deal of time in therapy and looking into the details of the house fire. What does this have to do with the story? Is it to show the contrast between his zeal to discover the reason for his life altering loss as a child and his ambivalence toward his confusing current spy activities?
William Boyd is an entertaining writer in the mold of Graham Greene. Some of his books are better than others and I put "Gabriel's Moon" in the middle of the pack. But with all their flaws his books are always worth reading. I just wasn't totally moonstruck with this one.
November 25, 2024
Sometimes it's nice to take a break from more "experimental" and challenging works to just enjoy a well-written straightforward thriller.
Boyd is good at this sort of stuff.
Boyd is good at this sort of stuff.
January 19, 2025
A thoroughly enjoyable bit of Cold War espionage. "Gabriel's Moon" opens dramatically in the 30s with a deadly house fire, but most of the action takes place in the early �60s. Gabriel Dax is a travel writer of middling talent. He leads a quiet, rather aimless, and uncomplicated life. He's involved in a relationship with a waitress from the local Wimpy but there's no emotional aspect to it.
One day, while on a trip to Africa to research a writing project, Gabriel encounters an old university friend who asks him if he’d be interested in interviewing the new Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Dax hesitates at first, saying that he’s neither a political reporter nor an expert on Africa. Finally he agrees to the sit-down, thinking it might at least be good for an article. The interview done, Dax unhurriedly makes his way back to his London flat only to learn that Lumumba has been assassinated. He is shocked, of course, but only in a distant way. But strange things start happening, both before and after his return � phone calls where no voice answers when he picks up the receiver, a chance encounter with a woman on a plane who happens to be reading one of his books, unexpected first class tickets. For some reason he can't fathom, people (who they are he doesn’t know) are very, even desperately, eager to get their hands on the notes and tape recording of the Lumumba interview. And suddenly Dax finds himself in the spy business.
“Gabriel’s Moon� has a throwback feel to it, an air of an earlier, more innocent time. In true spy novel fashion, the plot takes Gabriel to several different countries and is twisty enough to keep the reader guessing. But the stakes aren’t as world-threatening as we’ve become used to in our spy fiction. Dax is nowhere anywhere at all on the James Bond/Jason Bourne spectrum, though Boyd quietly parodies elements of Bond’s canon. There’s more than a little irony here but it doesn’t have the sharp edges that seem so necessary in recent spy novels. It isn't as dense and claustrophobic (in a good way!) as a le Carre book. It’s just a story of a rather ordinary � even feckless � man living a quiet life of travel, writing, endless cigarettes, commitment-free sex, and therapy sessions (even though he doesn't believe in therapy) where he talks about the fire that killed his mother. Almost on a whim � and because his older brother works in the Foreign Office, so there's a hint of sibling rivalry � he agrees to do some “small� jobs for MI6; it sounds like fun and pays well. He becomes strongly attracted to his “handler� who keeps contacting him about another little trip. Finally, as might well be expected, Gabriel finds himself caught up in plots and counterplots, double-crosses, threats, a corpse, and finally mounting peril behind the Iron Curtain.
It’s not a “deep� book, nor does it pretend to be. It’s entertaining, it doesn’t strain credulity, it captures some of the geopolitics of the 60s Cold War, and it even raises real ethical issues. Boyd leaves the door ajar just a bit at the end for a sequel.
My thanks to Atlantic Monthly and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
One day, while on a trip to Africa to research a writing project, Gabriel encounters an old university friend who asks him if he’d be interested in interviewing the new Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Dax hesitates at first, saying that he’s neither a political reporter nor an expert on Africa. Finally he agrees to the sit-down, thinking it might at least be good for an article. The interview done, Dax unhurriedly makes his way back to his London flat only to learn that Lumumba has been assassinated. He is shocked, of course, but only in a distant way. But strange things start happening, both before and after his return � phone calls where no voice answers when he picks up the receiver, a chance encounter with a woman on a plane who happens to be reading one of his books, unexpected first class tickets. For some reason he can't fathom, people (who they are he doesn’t know) are very, even desperately, eager to get their hands on the notes and tape recording of the Lumumba interview. And suddenly Dax finds himself in the spy business.
“Gabriel’s Moon� has a throwback feel to it, an air of an earlier, more innocent time. In true spy novel fashion, the plot takes Gabriel to several different countries and is twisty enough to keep the reader guessing. But the stakes aren’t as world-threatening as we’ve become used to in our spy fiction. Dax is nowhere anywhere at all on the James Bond/Jason Bourne spectrum, though Boyd quietly parodies elements of Bond’s canon. There’s more than a little irony here but it doesn’t have the sharp edges that seem so necessary in recent spy novels. It isn't as dense and claustrophobic (in a good way!) as a le Carre book. It’s just a story of a rather ordinary � even feckless � man living a quiet life of travel, writing, endless cigarettes, commitment-free sex, and therapy sessions (even though he doesn't believe in therapy) where he talks about the fire that killed his mother. Almost on a whim � and because his older brother works in the Foreign Office, so there's a hint of sibling rivalry � he agrees to do some “small� jobs for MI6; it sounds like fun and pays well. He becomes strongly attracted to his “handler� who keeps contacting him about another little trip. Finally, as might well be expected, Gabriel finds himself caught up in plots and counterplots, double-crosses, threats, a corpse, and finally mounting peril behind the Iron Curtain.
It’s not a “deep� book, nor does it pretend to be. It’s entertaining, it doesn’t strain credulity, it captures some of the geopolitics of the 60s Cold War, and it even raises real ethical issues. Boyd leaves the door ajar just a bit at the end for a sequel.
My thanks to Atlantic Monthly and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
January 17, 2025
Because it is categorized as a “spy� novel, I felt this might be outside my usual reading range � but it was a very well done story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. With the main character, Gabriel Dax, Boyd has created an unwilling spy in a troubled 30 year old man who is otherwise a travel writer. However, I felt that this was much more than just a cold war spy novel. Gabriel is a fully drawn human, and the reader experiences his lingering issues from childhood trauma, his amorous relationships, his life as a travel writer, his relationship with his brother as well as his life as a sometimes spy. The other characters were wonderful, and the plot kept me guessing. The writing was nice. This was a well done, “fun ride� of a novel.
October 8, 2024
The novel begins in 1960 with journalist / author Gabriel Dax flying back to England after picking up a scoop, by interviewing the Congolese Prime Minister when a series of strange coincidences begins; a woman on the plane is reading one of his books, his London apartment has been entered, but left in 'careful disarray', and he sees the woman from the plance on the street. When he approaches her, she reveals that she is from MI6 and has a mission that may interest him.
Its a cracking beginning to another great Boyd spy novel.
I think when reading a spy novel the reader is more prepared to suspend disbelief to an extent they wouldn't in other novels. These were the days of double agents, not long after Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Five, and it is only years after, if at all, that the public get to know what actually went on.
There is often some aspect of spying in a Boyd novel, its one of his things, along with the locations of Central Africa and the Scottish Borders, which he manages to include here also.
Just personally, as rollicking a good tale as this is, I prefer Boyd when he writes those stories of entire lives, as in , and , but he is an exceptional storyteller, and this was thoroughly entertaining.
Its a cracking beginning to another great Boyd spy novel.
I think when reading a spy novel the reader is more prepared to suspend disbelief to an extent they wouldn't in other novels. These were the days of double agents, not long after Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Five, and it is only years after, if at all, that the public get to know what actually went on.
There is often some aspect of spying in a Boyd novel, its one of his things, along with the locations of Central Africa and the Scottish Borders, which he manages to include here also.
Just personally, as rollicking a good tale as this is, I prefer Boyd when he writes those stories of entire lives, as in , and , but he is an exceptional storyteller, and this was thoroughly entertaining.
March 2, 2025
This is the first time I read from this author, and after all the praise I’d heard about his previous books and this one in particular it’s sad to admit that I really didn’t see the appeal.
The execution of the plot hinges on a very flimsy house of cards, where Gabriel, a renowned travel writer ends up becoming an accidental “runner� for MI6.
It didn’t make sense to me that trained spies kept feeding him information while he was doing his little jobs, as didn’t make sense the way his psychiatrist wants him to deal with his hangups (that can only be explained by the fact the book is set in the 60’s�). Not only that, the great mystery surrounding the prologue, which all of his troubles seem to stem from, gets resolved in a roundabout way and swept under the carpet with no real or satisfying resolution.
A thing that bothered me immensely was the way Gabriel kept being praised for his intelligence and acumen by all the people he met, even though he kept making rookie mistakes (fortunately for him nothing ever goes wrong, which was the author's way to make him look competent). I had a hard time reading, as I hated him as a character but also as a person.
The book’s ending remains slightly open, making it feel like the prelude to a series (a naïve James Bond) rather than a stand-alone, but that might have been an editorial choice in case the book was a success.
I’m really sad I didn’t like it, I was really excited to read it.
Access to the ARC acquired thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The execution of the plot hinges on a very flimsy house of cards, where Gabriel, a renowned travel writer ends up becoming an accidental “runner� for MI6.
It didn’t make sense to me that trained spies kept feeding him information while he was doing his little jobs, as didn’t make sense the way his psychiatrist wants him to deal with his hangups (that can only be explained by the fact the book is set in the 60’s�). Not only that, the great mystery surrounding the prologue, which all of his troubles seem to stem from, gets resolved in a roundabout way and swept under the carpet with no real or satisfying resolution.
A thing that bothered me immensely was the way Gabriel kept being praised for his intelligence and acumen by all the people he met, even though he kept making rookie mistakes (fortunately for him nothing ever goes wrong, which was the author's way to make him look competent). I had a hard time reading, as I hated him as a character but also as a person.
The book’s ending remains slightly open, making it feel like the prelude to a series (a naïve James Bond) rather than a stand-alone, but that might have been an editorial choice in case the book was a success.
I’m really sad I didn’t like it, I was really excited to read it.
Access to the ARC acquired thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 16, 2025
William Boyd is one of those authors whose every new book I look forward to with eager anticipation and who never disappoints. This is his eighteenth novel (and there have been several short story and non-fiction collections as well) so that’s an impressive record of consistency. Gabriel’s Moon is a convincing and gripping espionage novel set in 1962-3 at the height of the Cold War. Gabriel Dax, a travel writer who suffers from nightmares and insomnia after a haunting, tragic event in his early childhood, finds himself in the right place and at the right time to interview Patrice Lumumba, president of the newly independent Congo. From that meeting stems a fast-moving and complex story of intrigue, misdirection and hard-edged Cold War shenanigans. As ever, Boyd keeps the action moving at a rapid pace, but he’s such a master craftsman that it never once seems rushed. There’s romance, family secrets and a long-running mouse infestation as well as international espionage and high stakes peril. Gabriel’s Moon falls into that most welcome of categories: the cracking good read.
March 30, 2025
Gabriel Dax is a contented travel writer with a girlfriend. Hailing from London, he chooses where he'll visit and what he will write about next. Finding himself in the Congo in the 1960's, a friend encourages him to interview the Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. The interview is tape recorded at Lumumba's request. Following this interview, Gabriel finds himself embroiled in a lot of coincidences and somehow gets in the viewfinder of M16, the British intelligence office.
Gabriel isn't exactly sure what's going on or why he's been picked to do some puzzling work for the agency. However, the money is good and the work seems innocuous. What he doesn't expect, is to be asked repeatedly to do more and more work for M16.
Gabriel survived a house fire as a child. His mother was killed in the fire and Gabriel's sleep has been interrupted with nightmares ever since. He decides to see a psychoanalyst to help him sleep better. The contents of his sessions and his relationship with his psychoanalyst are another thread in the novel.
What Gabriel doesn't expect is his building obsession with the female spy who gives him his orders. At first it's curiosity but then his interest turns sexual.
The plot is wonderfully complex and all the pieces fit together as the it progresses. I loved this book and highly recommend it.
Gabriel isn't exactly sure what's going on or why he's been picked to do some puzzling work for the agency. However, the money is good and the work seems innocuous. What he doesn't expect, is to be asked repeatedly to do more and more work for M16.
Gabriel survived a house fire as a child. His mother was killed in the fire and Gabriel's sleep has been interrupted with nightmares ever since. He decides to see a psychoanalyst to help him sleep better. The contents of his sessions and his relationship with his psychoanalyst are another thread in the novel.
What Gabriel doesn't expect is his building obsession with the female spy who gives him his orders. At first it's curiosity but then his interest turns sexual.
The plot is wonderfully complex and all the pieces fit together as the it progresses. I loved this book and highly recommend it.
February 24, 2025
When William Boyd comes out with a new book, I’m all in. Gabriel’s Moon is no exception. In fact, once I started it, I could barely put it down.
While labeled a “spy book,� this is true only in the narrowest sense. Gabriel Dax is a complex character with personal issues. At just six years old, his mother—his only parent—died in a house fire that inspectors believed was accidentally started by Gabriel. He suffers from severe insomnia and finds it hard to establish true intimacy. He has a cordial but distant relationship with his older brother, whom he suspects might be part of the intelligence community. As a result, sees a psychoanalyst to sort things out. (Incidentally, Boyd shines when he writes about the power of therapy. My favorite book of his, Waiting for Sunrise, similarly uses a therapist to spark insights).
Gabriel is a successful travel writer, and the entire plot stems from an interview with Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister. A shining star and an advocate for independence from Belgium, Lumumba lasts only weeks before he is murdered. Gabriel has the interview tapes; for some reason, it seems others want them badly.
The twists and turns come fast and furiously. As Gabriel is drawn deeper into Cold War double-crossing of the 1960s, he becomes more and more drawn to a world that intrigues and at the same time, repels him. Is he a useful idiot or an integral part of the intelligence chain? Are the people in his life trustworthy or pernicious? Can old memories � and new ones in the making � be trusted? Is anything what it seems?
Gabriel’s Moon is not a traditional thriller; rather, it’s thrilling and thoroughly involving. Reportedly the first of a series, Gabriel Dax is a character I can’t wait to meet again.
While labeled a “spy book,� this is true only in the narrowest sense. Gabriel Dax is a complex character with personal issues. At just six years old, his mother—his only parent—died in a house fire that inspectors believed was accidentally started by Gabriel. He suffers from severe insomnia and finds it hard to establish true intimacy. He has a cordial but distant relationship with his older brother, whom he suspects might be part of the intelligence community. As a result, sees a psychoanalyst to sort things out. (Incidentally, Boyd shines when he writes about the power of therapy. My favorite book of his, Waiting for Sunrise, similarly uses a therapist to spark insights).
Gabriel is a successful travel writer, and the entire plot stems from an interview with Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister. A shining star and an advocate for independence from Belgium, Lumumba lasts only weeks before he is murdered. Gabriel has the interview tapes; for some reason, it seems others want them badly.
The twists and turns come fast and furiously. As Gabriel is drawn deeper into Cold War double-crossing of the 1960s, he becomes more and more drawn to a world that intrigues and at the same time, repels him. Is he a useful idiot or an integral part of the intelligence chain? Are the people in his life trustworthy or pernicious? Can old memories � and new ones in the making � be trusted? Is anything what it seems?
Gabriel’s Moon is not a traditional thriller; rather, it’s thrilling and thoroughly involving. Reportedly the first of a series, Gabriel Dax is a character I can’t wait to meet again.
Read
February 2, 20253 or 4 stars. I will get back to why.
December 25, 2024
Implausible plot, ridiculous main character, two dimensional other characters, sophomoric writing. If it’s a genuine effort at thriller spy genre it doesn’t work. If it’s a parody, it doesn’t work.
September 12, 2024
William Boyd on good form. An interesting spy yarn with convincing characterisation. A reluctant spy and a femme fatale. My goodness though, they all drink so much!
December 5, 2024
An enjoyable spy story in parts, with moments of intrigue and some interesting scenes. However, it doesn’t quite match the high standard of his other novels that I’ve read. Some themes introduced early feel promising but aren’t developed, and a few characters seem unnecessary to the story. While there’s nothing wrong with the pace, I still found myself skimming sections due to a lack of depth in the plot and character development. Overall, an okay read but not one of his strongest.
October 21, 2024
A generous 3 rating. I stayed until the end but too many things annoyed me on the journey. The main one was probably how many spies gave up top secret info to a bagman because he was curious. The story kind of set itself up for a really good tragic twist like his mother actually being killed by MI6 or the psychologist being a russian handler or something but it just meanders to the end
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2024
DNF at 50%
When it’s a chore to listen to the audiobook, you gotta say life’s too short and pick up something else.
When it’s a chore to listen to the audiobook, you gotta say life’s too short and pick up something else.
January 17, 2025
The making of a spy�
Gabriel Dax is a travel writer with a successful book under his belt and currently considering what his next subject should be. Meantime he submits travel articles to a newspaper. While in Leopoldville just after Belgian Congo gained independence, thus setting the book in 1960, Gabriel is given the chance to interview President Lumumba, during which Lumumba tells him there are foreign sources who would like to see him assassinated. Gabriel writes up his article, but before it can be published there’s a coup. Lumumba is now yesterday’s man, and the paper refuses to print the article. But other people seem to be interested in what Lumumba may have told Gabriel, and want to get hold of his notes. Gabriel’s brother, Sefton, ostensibly works for the Foreign Office, but is clearly attached to the intelligence services, and he sometimes uses Gabriel to deliver a package while he’s on his travels. Gabriel is paid for this, but asks no questions and pretends to himself that he knows nothing�
I always like when Boyd moves away from his whole life stories and gives us a spy thriller � he does them so well. In this one he’s showing how the secret services involve people in their schemes and then, having once sucked them in, refuse to let them go. It’s the story of the making of a spy � either their target succeeds and becomes a useful agent or he fails, in which case he is expendable. Boyd shows Gabriel as a pawn in a game he doesn’t understand but he’s not exactly a victim. It’s clear that he’s aware he’s being used but his growing involvement is largely down to own choices until he reaches a point where retreat would be hard, if not impossible.
Gabriel’s mother died in a house fire from which he escaped when he was five, and this experience has left him haunted. He suffers from extreme insomnia and is therefore sleep deprived most of the time. This has the effect that the things that happen to him often feel hallucinatory, as if he is having difficulty distinguishing reality from imagination, and this gives the whole story a somewhat off-kilter feel. Although it’s in the third person, the perspective is mostly Gabriel’s so that the reader only sees what he sees, and there is some doubt over whether he is in his full senses all of the time. Are people really after his Lumumba notes, or is he becoming a little paranoid? Who are the good guys, and who the bad? Why is he seemingly important to the intelligence services, to the point where they are expending all this effort to suck him into their schemes?
In an attempt to cure his insomnia, Gabriel is seeing a therapist who advises him to learn more about the fire that killed his mother to free himself from the survivor guilt he has always felt because he has always believed it was his nightlight, a candle in a moon-shaped shade, that caused the fire. So he begins to seek out people who were involved at the time � firemen, insurance investigators and so on � to try to find out what exactly did happen, and how he escaped when his mother did not. But even this section is rather weird, in that his therapist seems to have very unconventional ideas. Is she on the level, or is she manipulating Gabriel? Again Gabriel’s sense of paranoia makes it hard to know the truth.
That’s as much as I want to tell about the story, except to say that all does become clear enough to give a satisfactory ending despite all the vagueness and ambiguity along the way. I always think that when he’s in spy mode Boyd is more similar to Graham Greene’s ‘entertainments� than to John Le Carré � the stories are less bleak and grey than Le Carré’s and share with Greene the aspect of someone getting mixed up in a situation through a kind of laziness or apathy almost, until they suddenly realise they’re caught up in something they can’t escape. Le Carré’s spies are professionals � Greene’s and Boyd’s tend to be amateurs, at the beginning anyway. It comes down to subjective taste, but I prefer this style to the more realistic style of the Le Carré school of spy writers.
Overall I found this intriguing and very readable, with both mysteries � the fire and the Lumumba angle � keeping me interested and turning those pages. Good stuff! 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Penguin UK via NetGalley.
Gabriel Dax is a travel writer with a successful book under his belt and currently considering what his next subject should be. Meantime he submits travel articles to a newspaper. While in Leopoldville just after Belgian Congo gained independence, thus setting the book in 1960, Gabriel is given the chance to interview President Lumumba, during which Lumumba tells him there are foreign sources who would like to see him assassinated. Gabriel writes up his article, but before it can be published there’s a coup. Lumumba is now yesterday’s man, and the paper refuses to print the article. But other people seem to be interested in what Lumumba may have told Gabriel, and want to get hold of his notes. Gabriel’s brother, Sefton, ostensibly works for the Foreign Office, but is clearly attached to the intelligence services, and he sometimes uses Gabriel to deliver a package while he’s on his travels. Gabriel is paid for this, but asks no questions and pretends to himself that he knows nothing�
I always like when Boyd moves away from his whole life stories and gives us a spy thriller � he does them so well. In this one he’s showing how the secret services involve people in their schemes and then, having once sucked them in, refuse to let them go. It’s the story of the making of a spy � either their target succeeds and becomes a useful agent or he fails, in which case he is expendable. Boyd shows Gabriel as a pawn in a game he doesn’t understand but he’s not exactly a victim. It’s clear that he’s aware he’s being used but his growing involvement is largely down to own choices until he reaches a point where retreat would be hard, if not impossible.
Gabriel’s mother died in a house fire from which he escaped when he was five, and this experience has left him haunted. He suffers from extreme insomnia and is therefore sleep deprived most of the time. This has the effect that the things that happen to him often feel hallucinatory, as if he is having difficulty distinguishing reality from imagination, and this gives the whole story a somewhat off-kilter feel. Although it’s in the third person, the perspective is mostly Gabriel’s so that the reader only sees what he sees, and there is some doubt over whether he is in his full senses all of the time. Are people really after his Lumumba notes, or is he becoming a little paranoid? Who are the good guys, and who the bad? Why is he seemingly important to the intelligence services, to the point where they are expending all this effort to suck him into their schemes?
In an attempt to cure his insomnia, Gabriel is seeing a therapist who advises him to learn more about the fire that killed his mother to free himself from the survivor guilt he has always felt because he has always believed it was his nightlight, a candle in a moon-shaped shade, that caused the fire. So he begins to seek out people who were involved at the time � firemen, insurance investigators and so on � to try to find out what exactly did happen, and how he escaped when his mother did not. But even this section is rather weird, in that his therapist seems to have very unconventional ideas. Is she on the level, or is she manipulating Gabriel? Again Gabriel’s sense of paranoia makes it hard to know the truth.
That’s as much as I want to tell about the story, except to say that all does become clear enough to give a satisfactory ending despite all the vagueness and ambiguity along the way. I always think that when he’s in spy mode Boyd is more similar to Graham Greene’s ‘entertainments� than to John Le Carré � the stories are less bleak and grey than Le Carré’s and share with Greene the aspect of someone getting mixed up in a situation through a kind of laziness or apathy almost, until they suddenly realise they’re caught up in something they can’t escape. Le Carré’s spies are professionals � Greene’s and Boyd’s tend to be amateurs, at the beginning anyway. It comes down to subjective taste, but I prefer this style to the more realistic style of the Le Carré school of spy writers.
Overall I found this intriguing and very readable, with both mysteries � the fire and the Lumumba angle � keeping me interested and turning those pages. Good stuff! 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Penguin UK via NetGalley.
August 12, 2024
not bad !!!! i liked this one, even though it took me a while to get through (knitting has taken ALL of my time)
January 12, 2025
Slow but entertaining tale about spies. At least I’m fairly sure that was the idea but I find myself with memories, smells and flavours of French cigarettes, whisky and various foods.
Exceptionally well written, a well crafted tale.
Exceptionally well written, a well crafted tale.
April 7, 2025
Very enjoyable - read cover to cover on a cold rainy Sunday.
Want to read
February 10, 2025Yay. New book by William Boyd!
August 20, 2024
The reluctant spy and the Early 60’s � cold war, Iron Curtain, Cuban Missile crisis 5
I ‘fess up that the espionage genre is one I am always keen to read. It’s not the derring do, it’s not the glamorous side of the image, it’s the seedy, it’s the imaginative leap a writer can take me into, with a sense of extreme angst which I would feel, if I were having to live some kind of double life, where everything felt potentially dangerous. I’m not the kind of person who would have any skills � or desire or fantasy about leading such a life, but I am fascinated by psychology so different from mine.
Central character of this primarily early 60’s set novel is Gabriel Dax. Dax has a terrible tragedy in his childhood, one which we immediately know about. As a 6 year old child, in 1936, he is the sole survivor of a somewhat mysterious, devastating fire in his mother’s house. In fact, he is woken by the fire raging, and his mother is already dead. What a weight of confusion and guilt to bear.
Fast forward to 1960. Gabriel is making some kind of living as a journalist and travel writer. He has been modestly successful as a travel writer, with a couple of books to his name. He also has an older brother, Sefton, working in some capacity within the Foreign Office. And periodically, Sefton asks Gabriel to deliver odd packages here and there on his travels. Gabriel idly wonders whether ‘something in the Foreign Office� might mean something to do with the Secret Service
Psychologically scarred by his childhood trauma, Gabriel has a complicated history with women. He’s not a philanderer, but cannot commit.
On a visit to Leopoldville, he is offered an interview with, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba revealed that there were interests in America, the UK and Belgium who wanted him dead. Following that interview, a number of strange ‘coincidences� begin to happen, and against his will or inclination Gabriel drifts into being involved in complicated machinations which he hardly understands.
Boyd is excellent at slowly ratcheting up the tension. His central character is quite passive, likeable, easily influenced and seeming much younger than his years, and, as said, he is damaged by that early trauma, and part of his character journey is to try and uncover what happened in his traumatic childhood. As ever, with Boyd, individual psychology and the internal landscape is as central as events on the world stage.
I ‘fess up that the espionage genre is one I am always keen to read. It’s not the derring do, it’s not the glamorous side of the image, it’s the seedy, it’s the imaginative leap a writer can take me into, with a sense of extreme angst which I would feel, if I were having to live some kind of double life, where everything felt potentially dangerous. I’m not the kind of person who would have any skills � or desire or fantasy about leading such a life, but I am fascinated by psychology so different from mine.
Central character of this primarily early 60’s set novel is Gabriel Dax. Dax has a terrible tragedy in his childhood, one which we immediately know about. As a 6 year old child, in 1936, he is the sole survivor of a somewhat mysterious, devastating fire in his mother’s house. In fact, he is woken by the fire raging, and his mother is already dead. What a weight of confusion and guilt to bear.
Fast forward to 1960. Gabriel is making some kind of living as a journalist and travel writer. He has been modestly successful as a travel writer, with a couple of books to his name. He also has an older brother, Sefton, working in some capacity within the Foreign Office. And periodically, Sefton asks Gabriel to deliver odd packages here and there on his travels. Gabriel idly wonders whether ‘something in the Foreign Office� might mean something to do with the Secret Service
Psychologically scarred by his childhood trauma, Gabriel has a complicated history with women. He’s not a philanderer, but cannot commit.
On a visit to Leopoldville, he is offered an interview with, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba revealed that there were interests in America, the UK and Belgium who wanted him dead. Following that interview, a number of strange ‘coincidences� begin to happen, and against his will or inclination Gabriel drifts into being involved in complicated machinations which he hardly understands.
Boyd is excellent at slowly ratcheting up the tension. His central character is quite passive, likeable, easily influenced and seeming much younger than his years, and, as said, he is damaged by that early trauma, and part of his character journey is to try and uncover what happened in his traumatic childhood. As ever, with Boyd, individual psychology and the internal landscape is as central as events on the world stage.
June 15, 2024
Gabriel Dax is a successful travel writer, just into his thirties. He knows the importance of the ‘full plum pudding� and readers evidently love his theatrical prose. He’s a lucky man: he has an adoring girlfriend, a supportive publisher and the excuse to travel wherever he fancies for his work. Aside from a persistent mouse problem in his Chelsea flat, one could surmise that the world’s his oyster.
However, Gabriel’s an insomniac. He was orphaned at the age of six when his mother dies in a house fire which he believes was started by his moon-shaped nightlight. In his mind, the object of comfort is transformed into one of horror. Since then, although he’s been kindly brought up by his affectionate uncle Aldous and is on cordial terms with his brother, Sefton, he suffers from night terrors. There’s a mother-shaped hole in his life of which he is aware. He admits to his therapist that he would like nothing more than to love someone unconditionally.
William Boyd’s naïve, clever, brave, selfish and sometimes downright obtuse central character is perfect spy material. So thinks the charismatic, enigmatic MI6 Faith Green who reminds Gabriel regularly that he is ‘her spy� once he has agreed to carry out a mundane task as part of his travel arrangements. There’s the catch. Once in, perhaps impossible to leave. And then, of course, Gabriel is implicated in ways far more complex that he could imagine, resulting in some out of the ordinary behaviour. After such an event, he recognises that, ‘What had just happened had changed him in a profound way, he saw, a crucial way, and everything about him was different now.�
Not only is ‘Gabriel’s Moon� a real page turner; the author has also conjured a suitably ruthless, murky yet credible world of agents and double-dealings. Faith Green understands that Gabriel’s vulnerabilities make him her perfect spy. The reader can see that she is his undoing. Another excellent novel, brilliantly written, from the marvellous William Boyd.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK, Fig Tree for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
However, Gabriel’s an insomniac. He was orphaned at the age of six when his mother dies in a house fire which he believes was started by his moon-shaped nightlight. In his mind, the object of comfort is transformed into one of horror. Since then, although he’s been kindly brought up by his affectionate uncle Aldous and is on cordial terms with his brother, Sefton, he suffers from night terrors. There’s a mother-shaped hole in his life of which he is aware. He admits to his therapist that he would like nothing more than to love someone unconditionally.
William Boyd’s naïve, clever, brave, selfish and sometimes downright obtuse central character is perfect spy material. So thinks the charismatic, enigmatic MI6 Faith Green who reminds Gabriel regularly that he is ‘her spy� once he has agreed to carry out a mundane task as part of his travel arrangements. There’s the catch. Once in, perhaps impossible to leave. And then, of course, Gabriel is implicated in ways far more complex that he could imagine, resulting in some out of the ordinary behaviour. After such an event, he recognises that, ‘What had just happened had changed him in a profound way, he saw, a crucial way, and everything about him was different now.�
Not only is ‘Gabriel’s Moon� a real page turner; the author has also conjured a suitably ruthless, murky yet credible world of agents and double-dealings. Faith Green understands that Gabriel’s vulnerabilities make him her perfect spy. The reader can see that she is his undoing. Another excellent novel, brilliantly written, from the marvellous William Boyd.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK, Fig Tree for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
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