Spy story inspired by true tale

When the book's titled Red Joan and main character grandmother Joan Stanley is visited by UK security forces on page 5, a reader pretty much knows how the plot will pan out.

There are no great surprises or massive twists. It's a simple spy story, inspired by real-life granny traitor Melita Norwood.

The bright but naive Joan Robson is drawn into the red bed of pre-World War 2 Cambridge.

It starts with a surprise late-night visitor to her room, moving on through her first love, a Russian-born agitator, to her first (and top secret) job on graduating Cambridge with her natural sciences certificate (woman were not awarded degrees from Cambridge until 1948).

While the flashbacks between past and present help move the storyline along, it is all fairly predictable.

The real interest comes later in the book when Joan slowly reveals her motives for passing secrets to the Russians extend beyond mere ideology.

Peter Donaldson is ODT deputy news editor.