C.J. SANSOM Winter in Madrid ***

'If you like Sebastian Faulks you'll love this,' it says on the front. Not true. It's a diverting enough thriller - a sort of up-market Alistair McLean - but the characterisation and the subtlety aren't there.

It's set in Madrid in 1940, just after the Civil War, when everyone is wondering if Franco is going to join forces with Hitler.

Into this setting comes Harry, recruited to spy (very reluctantly) on an old school friend, whose 'wife', Barbara, is the ex-girlfriend of another school friend, missing in action in the Civil War. Except he isn't actually dead, but is a prisoner. Barbara and Harry try to rescue him.

The plot is a bit ridiculous, but there are some interesting depictions of life in Spain at the time, and it keeps you turning the pages. More of a souffle than a satisfying meal.