KEN ROWE

Ken Rowe is an agent with MI6.

The period of time we follow Rowe's activities in immediate days before the Second World War and then well into it and Rowe shows he is a man who can adapt to a wide variety of places and situations and somehow, barely at times, survive.

I would like to say that Rowe is an operative in good standing with his superiors in the organization but he and they would all look askance at such a statement. Rowe is a darned good agent and gets the job done - that is to his favor and a fact not gainsaid by those bosses. He is also often on the rogue side of things as he likes to do things his way and for Rowe, that means he does them. I get the impression that as much as his immediate supervisor would not mind sacking Rowe, he would probably prefer to throttle him first.

Rowe is an interesting case in contradictions. We have his independent streak as mentioned above which has to speak strongly for his self-confidence but that is different than his day-to-day life. We are told in one place that "the only time he felt truly confident was when out on the front line, or more accurately for him, operating behind enemy lines. In the field, he was self-assured, he was charming, dangerous, everything a spy should be. However, back at home, despite ... all he achieved in the field, he was shy, retiring, and self-conscious."

This bit of inferiority likely comes from his lower-class upbringing. His father was killed in Yrpes in 1917 when he was just a toddler. He was an only child, raised by his widowed mother in London's East End. From that small piece of information, it is logical to assume that he grew up having very little and likely always aware as he went to school that he was not "as good as" most of the other children. It is to his credit that once he found a niche as he did in the Security Service, he became as skilled and qualified as he is.

Rowe is 29 years old when we meet him in the first recorded adventure and has been with MI6 for nearly a decade.

I liked the fact that at a time of these tales, at least the first couple, the British Intelligence community, such as it was, was consisting of the offspring of elites who, when not able to inherit titles because of an older sibling, flocked to cushy jobs in the Foreign Office. The old boy network was being replaced by the young sons network, fully intending to grow old themselves.

Unfortunately, someone had to get their hands dirty eventually so not so fortunate people had to be tolerated so these poor sods would do the actual work. And when people like Ken Rowe did things their own way in order to increase the odds of survival, well! I say!

Okay, I am stepping off my soapbox. Maybe it is to continue to read this very well-written series which is, luckily for all of us, still being written.