Thame dad releases his third novel a Cold War spy thriller

Jamie Smith, 40, who says he thought up large parts of the book on walks across the Chilterns and Phoenix Trail in Thame, has released Wall of Spies.

It is a sequel to Jamie’s debut novel, the Soviet Comeback, and is available to order now. He said: “This is the first sequel I’ve written and came with the pressure of expectation which I hadn’t really experienced before. The Soviet Comeback really seemed to connect with people, and since it was released in 2021 I’ve been inundated with readers asking when the sequel will arrive.

“There were a few challenges with the publishing journey for Wall of Spies, so I’m really delighted to get it out into the world, and fingers crossed it lives up to the hopes and expectations people have for the next story of Nikita. The book was written almost in its entirety in three very intense months in the shed in my back garden in Thame, where I was writing almost around the clock and relying very heavily on coffee. But with a character as interesting but haunted as Nikita it felt at times like I needed to be right there on the edge with him to really convey the emotions and rawness of his challenges.”

Wall of Spies re-enters the world of Nikita Allochka, a young Nigerian immigrant in the USSR who is forced to become a KGB agent to protect his family, as they believed the very last thing the US would expect was a Black Russian spy. Set against the shadow-drenched

backdrop of Berlin, in 1989 Wall of Spies follows a Nikita now battling physical scars and moral conflict as he navigates the brutal world of espionage on both sides of the Berlin Wall.

Jamie added: ““So much of the book was written in Thame and Oxford — on the High Street, scribbling notes in cafés, pubs and museums, and revising chapters during long walks along the Phoenix Trail and in the Chilterns. Oxfordshire has a unique creative atmosphere. It was the perfect place to explore the psychological tension of a Cold War thriller.”