Thin Ice is the third outing for Bill Kemp, a character first created by Desmond Bagley way back in the early 1970’s only to languish in an unpublished novel buried deep in a Boston archive for over forty-five years.
He was finally prepared for publication by Michael Davies, a talented script-writer and journalist, who was tasked by Harper Collins with curating the original manuscript for publication. That title became the best-seller Domino Island.
Such was the success of a new Bagley novel that it’s sequel Outback was commissioned, this time as an original story by Michael. It took our new hero, Kemp, to Australia and the murderous heat of the continent’s famous hinterland. It was also released to mark the centenary of Bagley’s birth.
Now, in 2024 the third and final novel in the Bill Kemp trilogy has arrived: Thin Ice. This time our hero is tasked with collecting an unknown package from Austria and the method used to get him to play along is simple and potentially deadly: Kidnap. From there things get more and more complex, duplicitous and deadly by the page.
Thin Ice has some genuinely lovely references to its Desmond Bagley heritage, some are subtle while others very obvious and it’s fun spotting them. To get you started you will see that the novel is divided into three parts and each is named after one of Bagley’s novels. A leading character in the story is also named after one from the novel The Freedom Trap, and Kemp’s view of the Cold War and spies in general is the same as hero Alan Stewart from Running Blind.
The attention to detail within the story is up there with Bagley’s own research standards and you can feel the cold seeping into your fingers as you read!
As much as anything we learn the female is as deadly as the male in this fast-moving and exciting story of a culture clash that divided the world and sparked decades of suspicion, conspiracy, conniving and assassination.
A splendid finale to the Bill Kemp trilogy honouring the work and legacy of Desmond Bagley.
