Icarus 17
Greece United Kingdom

Icarus 17

by Charles Cumming

War & Conflict Thriller Mystery 2026

Summary

Max Radinsky believes he has found the perfect life in Athens, Greece, until his girlfriend, Yasmine, is forced to flee the city. Joining her on the run, Max becomes caught in a dangerous international pursuit. Neither is trained for espionage, and as rival intelligence agencies close in, their desperate journey across Greece turns into a fight for survival.

Meanwhile, Lachlan Kite, head of the covert intelligence service BOX 88, receives an unexpected plea for help from Martha Raine, a former lover he has not seen in more than twenty years. Her son Max has disappeared, and Kite finds himself drawn back into fieldwork to locate the young couple. What he uncovers is far more dangerous than a missing-person case: Yasmine holds a secret that could destabilise the Middle East for a generation, and Israeli intelligence operatives have orders to kill her on sight.

The fourth novel in Cumming’s BOX 88 series, Icarus 17 combines a high-stakes international chase with the personal consequences of a spy’s past. Moving between Greece and the world of covert intelligence, it explores loyalty, betrayal, and the devastating cost of secrets that powerful institutions will do anything to protect.

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About the author
Charles Cumming
Charles Cumming

Charles Cumming is a Scottish novelist known for his contemporary espionage thrillers. Born in Scotland in 1971, he was approached for recruitment by Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) shortly after university. Although he did not pursue a career in intelligence, the experience helped inspire his debut novel, A Spy by Nature. His fiction draws on the realities of intelligence work, exploring the psychological pressures, moral compromises, and personal loyalties behind covert operations. Cumming has written several acclaimed novels, including A Foreign Country, which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, The Trinity Six, and the Thomas Kell series. He is also the creator of the BOX 88 series, following intelligence officer Lachlan Kite across different periods of his career. In addition to writing novels, Cumming worked on the television series The Day of the Jackal and co-wrote the screenplay for the action thriller Plane. He lives in London.

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Details
Published
2026
Author
Charles Cumming