How does a secret service confront its past, when its secrets must never be revealed?

Buried deep in MI6’s digital archives is the most classified directory of all. It doesn’t contain war plans or agent profiles, but shame: the misdeeds of politicians, royalty, business leaders and the service’s own personnel. 

There are seven decades’ worth of images and recordings, usually acquired for the sake of assessing risk, sometimes as a guard against betrayal, often engineered by MI6 for their own purposes. They are the most sensitive two thousand terabytes of data in the Service’s possession. When material from the archive begins appearing online, panic spreads through the Establishment like wildfire.

At first, the security breach only manifests itself in apparently random events, a suicide, a disappearance, a breakdown. But when it’s discovered that the individuals concerned were all contacted by the same anonymous person, a connection comes into focus. The archive has been leaked. The hunt is bow of unprecedented urgency before the entire political and business systems are fatally weakened. In a world where big brother is watching you, smartphones track our every move, the only safe place for degenerate antics is probably a personal safe room swept for bugs  and cameras. An elite brothel in London’s posh Belgravia seems a high-risk option.

In The Shame Archive, Oliver Harris has crafted an enthralling tale about a secret digital repository of bad – sometimes criminal behaviour including at the Belgravia brothel held deep in the bowels of MI6s. 

Rebecca Sinclair is the wife of a successful MP. Life seems perfect until threatening messages start to arrive, reminding her of her past a high-end escort. Nothing digital, not even the Shame Archive, is ever truly secure and she is soon one of th many public figures being blackmailed. Sinclair turns to former MI6 officer, Elliot Kane for help. Espionage comes at a cost, Kane knows, and not just for its collateral casualties.  Harry cranks up tension, relating Sinclair’s and Kane’s stories with skill and verve until they meet in an explosive climax. Shame Archive’s portrayal of the sleazy interface where Britain’s venal ruling elite  meets Russian dirty money.

The Shame Archive by Oliver Harris, Abacus £20.