A Duty of Care is Gerald Seymour’s 41st published novel. It is also the fifth in the Jonas Merrick series.
In the previous novel, The Best Refenge, Jonas had supervised an intelligence coup against China. This won him plaudits from the Americans but his rule-breaking has resulted in his banishment to the post room of MI5. Undeterred, Jonas has continued to run his maverick operations.
His new target is an organised crime family in Albania. The heir to the family, Skender, is dispatched to Switzerland as a cut-out on behalf of wealthy Russians who use him to bypass the sanctions that have come into effect since the invasion of Ukraine.
Observing the Albanian village is Croppy who reports back to London that Skender is on his way. Once in Switzerland Skender will be snatched by a interrogation team who will prise the details of the Russian bank accounts from him.
But there’s a “sideshow”. The plan is for Skender to be swapped for Frank, the MI6 mole from The Footsoldiers, who later warned Jonas that a hitman had been sent after him. This resulted in her being imprisoned in a Russian prison camp.
Gerald Seymour had really hit his stride with the Jonas Merrick series. This is possibly the best one yet, although it’s a high bar. I have enjoyed the continuity of the books being maintained, where events in previous books continue to have repercussions.
My only complaint is the frequent typographical errors that have escaped the proof readers, especially in the earlier chapters. For example at one point a prisoner in the Russian camp is working on army uniforms using a “viewing machine”. It took me a moment to realise it should read “sewing machine” which took me put of them narrative.
Additionally there was an exchange where a character is informed an individual has been trailed to France, a few pages before this actually happens. I wouldn’t normally mention this sort of thing, but the errors in the earlier chapters were so frequent it stood out to me.
But that didn’t detract too much from what is a very engaging novel. I’m already looking forward to the 42nd.