The Retreat
The Retreat by Anne Morgellyn, published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on September 26, 2014, is a 256-page exploration of espionage and true crime. The narrative follows Detective Inspector Mackie Divine, who, facing suspension from the Metropolitan Police, is recruited for surveillance at a château in Brittany. Here, she becomes entangled with a community of social misfits and a group of extreme right-wing economists and bankers, led by the charismatic Peter Roman. The story unfolds as Mackie navigates her dual role, reporting back to her controller while grappling with the unsettling dynamics of the community.
Readers will find a complex interplay of intrigue and moral ambiguity as Mackie uncovers the sinister objectives of the Babel group, which seeks to destabilize European society. The plot thickens with the involvement of double agents and the implications of their actions on ethnic relations and societal structure. As tensions rise, Mackie’s commitment to her mission is tested against the backdrop of a community that harbors increasingly dangerous intentions. This edition presents a thought-provoking narrative that delves into themes of loyalty, surveillance, and the fragility of societal order.
Official synopsis Publisher
Threatened with suspension from the Metropolitan Police, Detective Inspector Mackie Divine is approached by an agent of the special intelligence services who asks her to undertake surveillance work at a château in Brittany. As a disaffected police officer, she would make an ideal guest at The Retreat, a community of social misfits, led by Peter Roman, a charismatic philosopher and therapist. There is also a conference centre at the property, attended by regular delegations from all over Europe. Impressed by Mackie, Roman invites her to attend one of the funders’ meetings and introduces her to members of Babel, a group of extreme right wing economists and bankers. Their short term aim is to destabilise European society by disrupting relations between ethnic groups. Their ultimate aim is to install a ruling oligarchy that will use martial law to separate the population into ghettos corresponding to their ethnicity and skills sets. Interaction between these groups will be strictly forbidden and treated as a capital crime. Mackie fails to take these ideas seriously, though she regularly reports back to her controller, Rudyard, using the bug-proof SmartPhone he gave her. When a Vietnamese restaurant is burnt down, and the family forced to flee, she is frustrated by the local police investigation, led by a nonchalant examining magistrate, and risks compromising her adopted loyalty to the community, which seems to be taking on an increasingly sinister purpose. She discovers that one of the guests at the château, Lorenz Schmidt, is working for German and US intelligence services as a double agent, gathering information on the policy of the EU – a pain in the ass for US trade and corporate business. His view of Europe is a continent of small states that all speak different languages and cannot agree with one another. This creates the vacuum that Babel and similar groups are aching to fill…
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