7 /10 1 Votes
Country United Kingdom Publication date Sep 2001 Pages 320 Originally published September 2001 Preceded by A Breed of Heroes Publisher HarperCollins | 3.5/5 Goodreads Language English Media type Print ISBN 0-002-25940-0 Page count 320 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genres Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Similar A Breed of Heroes, Uncommon Enemy, The Devil's Own Work, Ford Madox Ford, Seabed Fluid Flow: The Impa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Set in 1970s London, Legacy is a spy novel by English author Alan Judd. Published in 2001 it continues the story of Charles Thoroughgood, first introduced in his debut novel, A Breed of Heroes, published 20 years earlier. British historian Peter Hennessy described it as 'one of the best spy novels ever'.
Contents
Plot Introduction
Living in Queensway, London, Charles Thoroughgood has now left the Army and has enrolled with MI6. While he is undergoing basic training in espionage techniques he is asked to make contact with Victor Koslov, whom he knew briefly at Oxford University before he joined the Army. Victor is now a liaison officer attached to the Soviet Embassy and has been spotted visiting a prostitute. Thoroughgood arranges a "chance" meeting, but Victor tells him that Thoroughgood's father (now dead) was a Soviet spy. Thoroughgood reports back to his mentors, who confirm that it may be true. They also suspect that his father may have been involved in Operation Legacy, the creation of a network of secret caches hidden by the KGB in strategic locations in western countries. Thoroughgood manages to locate one such cache near his childhood home in Beaconsfield. At the conclusion of the book another cache is found in Southwold, near the Sizewell nuclear power stations.
Reception
Publication history
Television adaptation
The novel was adapted for television by the BBC in 2013.