Europe in Autumn

Europe in Autumn is about borders: the multiplying borders between nations as more and more groups declare themselves sovreign; the border between being a regular guy and being a spy; the border between reality and fantasy. The book explores these via Rudi, a chef who becomes a spy for Les Coureurs, an organization that everyone knows about, but no one really knows. Rudi, like most non-TV spies, spends most of his time taking anonymous packages from point A to point B while asking no questions and not talking about it later. It's a life of tedium, passports to physically cross border-potsts and new identities that are filled in enough for a spy to transition from one person to another. And of course the clean borders around a "Situation", nothing enters, nothing leaves. But when that border starts breaking down, people coming into Rudi's life where they shouldn't be and his inability to leave information behind from job to job, things get interesting.

It's a great book. I'm not usually one for spy books, mostly because I like to stay firmly out of the realm of reality, but this one's orbit around a theme and eventual convergence on a scifi element was satisfying.