The Corners of the Globe

Finished August 7
The Corners of the Globe by Robert Goddard

This is the second book in the The Wide World series, following The Ways of the World. The book opens with James "Max" Maxted in the Orkney Isles of Scotland on a mission that few men could accomplish. If he achieves his objective, it is still only the beginning of a trek back to conveying the information to men he knows will do something productive with it.
In a world of espionage and double agents, Max is unsure who he can trust, and who he can't. He is sure of a very few people.
Max's real goal is to find out why his father Henry died, and the trail leads him back to Paris following a name first given to him by a silent man. As the name comes up again and again, he knows it means something important. His friend Sam also faces threatening circumstances in Paris as some think he knows more than he does. As he tries to work out how to protect himself against the coming threat, he also gathers information to pass on to Max.
Max is an amateur in a game of professionals, and this works both for and against him. His naivety gets him in trouble, but his recklessness also saves him and others. A thriller with lots of intrigue, this book ends in a cliffhanger, pushing us toward the third book in the series.