The key to the book's success is Frayn's decision to respect young Stephen's point of view without staking everything on recreating it. Stephen's older self frets over the past which is the boy's present, without claiming authority over it. The sheer foreignness of childhood requires that he use the third person as often as the first ('I watch him emerge from the warped front door, still cramming food into his mouth from tea'). Physical sensations - the feel of a tumbler of lemon barley, the taste of chocolate spread - survive better in memory than past states of mind. This can seem a rather perverse piece of construction, setting up a double perspective and then muffling it, but its great virtue is that it shuts out whimsy. The Spies is about the power of a young boy’s imagination, the trouble it can cause or enlightenment it can offer. There are mystery and suspense in this book and more than a few stunning plot twists. That Frayn is also the author of the play Noises Off, one of the funniest British comedies of all time, amazes me. Für deutsche Leser hält dieser bewundernswerte Roman eine unangenehme Pointe bereit. Sie hat zu tun mit Hitlers Krieg gegen England und mit der Verfolgung der Juden. (...) Man wird wider Willen der Tatsache gewahr, dass selbst in diesem englischen Kammerspiel über Unordnung und frühes Leid die deutsche Vergangenheit nicht vergeht." - Ulrich Greiner, Die Zeit Events in the Close don't bear close examination, even if the secrets the boys uncover, without quite understanding them, are relatively mundane. No less painful for that.

Narrating in the form of a bildungsroman, [1] an elderly man, Stefan Weitzler, reminisces about his life during the Second World War as he wanders down the now modernised London cul-de-sac that he once called home. From that moment onward, Stephen does not question Keith’s claim, and the two begin devising an undercover mission to spy on Keith’s mother. They convert a used notebook into a logbook and carry out their first investigation in Keith’s mother’s sitting room. Stephen and Keith find her diary and make note of little “ x” marks in her calendar that occur once a month. They attribute it to a notation for secret meetings, but it is more likely that the x’s simply mark her menstrual cycles. Stephen, from the present, notes that this is another turning point in the story.

Returning home, Stephen is cared for by his parents, though he refuses to answer their questions. Later that night, he attempts to return the scarf to the Barns but comes across an ambulance. It becomes evident that the man has taken his own life by jumping in front of a train. Stephen leaves the scarf behind and heads home. The theme of Spies is the sort of quantum physics of everyday life. Its protagonist, Stephen, is acutely aware of the power of simple observation when he says, “Just by looking at things I shouldn’t have looked at, I’ve changed them.” This is the appreciation by age of the naive, destructive folly of youth. We change the world into something different by our smallest and most passive acts. His elderly self knows the dangers of youthful curiosity: “I think that what he instinctively grasped was this: that some things must never even be known.” One’s mere presence has consequences that can’t be anticipated. Upon his return to England, Stephen visits his former house from 50 years ago. He realizes that although it initially appears unchanged, the environment has transformed drastically and no longer resembles his childhood abode. Despite questioning his reasons for returning, Stephen's conviction is reinforced when he hears the familiar sound of a train from his childhood. He reminisces about his neighbors, particularly the Pincher family living next door at No. 2, who were shunned due to their untidy lawn. It is an odd, original, haunting little tale in which the teller is the really interesting thing. (...) But the book's real merit lies in the way Stephen comes to understand the truth behind the mysteries of his world by beginning to understand something about the difference between men and women. This is achieved entirely without crudity. (...) (A) modest but memorable book." - Robert Nye, The Times The closing section, in which everything (indeed, more than one expects) is revealed, is remarkable.

Older Stephen's declining memory results in his search for clarification and closure, as Frayn uses a blend of different narrative viewpoints to distinguish what young Stephen thought was accurate at the time and reality. Update this section! An interesting point of the novel was the presentation of the characters and then how Stephen perceived them after the reader had already come to their own conclusions. For instance, the reader develops a distinct dislike for the men of the Hayward men right from the start, but it takes Stephen really up until the bayonet incident to truly recognise how better off he is without having them as a blood relation. In terms of genre, Spies is detective narrative that revolves around nostalgia, with key themes like identity, fear, social class, male power and authority and time. It follows an old man's recollection of his childhood post 1945, referring to his younger self in third person. When childhood friend Keith Hayward reveals to younger Stephen that his mother has infiltrated his family by being a German spy, both boys' imaginations override and open to misinterpretations.I thought it very obvious, very early who was being helped on the other side of the tunnel, though there might have been some slight suspense about why it was Keith's mother (were we told her name? I don't remember) doing the helping, though I suspect that was obvious too. But it didn't really matter. The strength of the book was in all the undertones and little details – what really went on behind the privet. Keith's father, for example, was a chilling character that I disliked intensely from his first appearance and although I suppose he was a tragic character of sorts, I didn't have an ounce of sympathy for him. Not so, Keith. Keith had all the signs of turning out a bully just like his father, but I did have some sympathy for him, though I didn't think Frayn showed him much. In the fifth chapter, Stephen describes how the town has changed since his childhood, highlighting the impact of the war. The following day, Stephen gathers provisions from his parents' pantry and embarks on his mission to deliver the groceries. As he approaches the entrance of the hideout, he hears the man coughing from inside. Stephen leaves the basket near the entrance, preparing to depart, when a familiar voice calls his name. The voice is British and reminiscent of someone he knows. Curiosity piqued, Stephen inquires about Keith's family. Frozen in place, he leaves only when the man hands him a piece of silk, instructing him to give it to Keith's mother.