Books like Spies

In the 1940s, some boys played Cops & Robbers, some played Cowboys & Indians. But Stephen and Keith, English boys and neighbours during WWII, played Spies. Sure, it's a less well known game, but it is just as engrossing, and involves a hideout and a logbook, lots of sneaking around, and monitoring the movements and whereabouts of... Keith's mother, who the boys are certain is a German spy.This coming-of-age story is told by Stephen, an elderly, grandfatherly Stephen, who is remembering a pivotal time in his childhood. He returns to his childhood neighbourhood and it all comes back to him in a series of nostalgic waves. Memory is not reliable, and neither is this narrative, but it IS deliciously satisfying and continues to unfold and reveal up until the very last page.The dynamic between the boys is fascinating - Stephen, who feels lucky Keith pays him any attention, and who is aware that there's something shameful about his own family, and Keith, who lives in a perfect house filled with perfect toys and a regularly maintained bicycle, and who calls the shots in their friendship.The idea of a pair of children acting as amateur sleuths in a mystery that is far over their heads reminded me a bit of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, though this was far more literary and memorable for me. It's also much more suspenseful, as the game of Spies gradually shifts from a charming, childish fantasy to something dangerous. The street in this quiet English town is full of secrets, and nothing is as it seems. The whistle of a father working in the garden has never been so sinister.It took me a little time to get into the story, but once in, I was turning pages feverishly. I worried, as in other spy stories, will this one be obtuse and more confusing than anything else? I needn't have worried, though. Frayn doesn't leave us hanging in a maze of double agents and hazy memories. He leads us through, having left a trail of breadcrumbs that we can now see in the clear, 20/20 vision that retrospect affords.Elegant, captivating storytelling.4.5 stars