Jon Courtenay Grimwood

I found this a gripping read, as a fan of John le Carré's espionage thrillers. Like in Rowling/Galbraith's novels we're rooting for the investigative work of a damaged man with a murky military background. Here, Tom Fox is hiding from his recent work in 1980s Ireland. To avoid awkward questions about a recent shooting, he's sent to Moscow. His military experience is called upon by embassy staff when the daughter of the ambassador goes to a party and doesn't come home. Grimwood has written show more literary work under a slightly different name, provides plenty of detail about 80s Moscow, from vodka shortages to Tetris addictions. There are charismatic Russian supporting characters, with complex reasons of their own for getting involved in resolving the young woman's disappearance, both personal and political. Throw in a historical backstory tying the 80s action to the siege of Leningrad and the Russian capture of Berlin, and I've finished the read hoping for a sequel. show less

I've enjoyed John Grimwood's science ficrtion and fantasy, but his cold war thrillers were brilliant, and this is even better - and a prequel to the cold war thrillers? I did not know that. Anyway, told in short chapters interpersed with official and secret documents that chart the state of play after the fall of France as Germany prepares to invade Britain, a thief is dispatched to the Channel Islands to steal plans from a Nazi safe, an American asasssin is sent to the same place with a show more different objective, and on the continent the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are wooed by the Nazis while the British try to get them out of the way. It's an absolute cracker of a thriller, great characters, great setting, tremendously pacy, each short chapter absolutely razor sharp. Grimwood has this spy thriller thing completely nailed, can't wait for more. show less

I like that it takes its Cold War no-good-guys-really setup for granted, and its exploration of a vaguely Bondian grounded super-spy-assassin makes him as profoundly broken as it's possible to get while still actually functioning, but the Brits are so awful in this - why are we on the side of these people, whay are we supposed to be rooting for someone who works for these people? While also getting thrills from the way he kills lots of people? Charlie's lovely, though, the bits with him are show more great. show less

At the end of the war, Berlin was a mess. Children wandered the streets, people were starving, and anything could be had for a cigarette. Add to the mix thousands of soldiers, all of them bored, and you have a recipe for depredation. "‘The ruins turned us all into rats … The self can be pretty vile if let off the leash.’ All those feral children. All that hunger and starvation. It must have been a feeding frenzy for someone like Blackburn. He wouldn’t have been alone either. Men like show more that recognized each other, hunted in packs, and protected each other. . . It was like stepping into hell. The problem is, some men like hell."

Some of those predators were officers and they turned a lodge into a true den of iniquity, some of them preying on children. But someone else was writing down the names of the worst, and many of those same men went on to high-level careers in government. Throw in those who want to sabotage the glasnost talks about reducing nuclear weapons and you have a rather incendiary mix.

Major Tom Fox is sent to Berlin to bring back a former defector. It was to be a simple mission. He has none of the above information, but soon it's apparent that someone wants the defector dead and Tom, too. But, most of all they want the memoirs the defector had been supposedly writing as he had the list of names. Fox is caught in a vice but has no idea who's turning the screws. When his children is kidnapped to coerce his cooperation, things get desperate.

This book will suck you into it as it races to the conclusion. I have already ordered Grimwood's other book. Superior spy novel. show less