George Markstein (1929–1987)

Its name is Inverloch but most simply call it The Cooler, the country house where the Major sends his London agents when they've gone a bit mental or their covers have been blown. He must protect his little clutch, for each one has a tasty little yolk inside, like "Normandy" or "Omaha Beach". He can't afford to send them into the field where they might be cracked by the Nazis. Then word comes from Security - one of the eggs inside the Major's basket is rotten. He must find the double agent show more before the D-day plans are scrambled and served up to the Fuhrer.

George Markstein is one of the creators of the 1967 British mini-series The Prisoner. Obviously the two properties share the same basic setup but the similarity really stops there.
Written in 1974, The Cooler suffers a bit from being dated but I still enjoyed it and blazed through it in a few hours. My main disappointment with the writing was how long it took him to setup the background of each of the spies. It took over half the book just to get the story to the Inverloch setting. show less

A tightly written and well constructed spy-thriller from the late 1970s. George Markstein was a successful television writer/script editor - perhaps best known for 'The Prisoner' - and it is very easy to visualise this story as an tv episode of perhaps 'Callan'. (on which he also worked).
The book is less successful in drawing interesting, believable characters. But the mystery concerning Nicolai Galov motives for defecting to the west, and the action set-pieces carry the story.

Straightforward attempt at a romantic defection from the Soviet Union in the era of Ronald Reagan. All the elements are there: the sexy agent, the high-ranking KGB spy, the vicious undercover assassin. But as a whole, it feels not particularly well fleshed-out, and I doubt any of the scenes taking place in the USSR are at all realistic, or if they are it's no wonder that it collapsed a decade later. Stick to Tom Clancy.

The Cooler is a secret installation in a remote part of Scotland. During the Second World War it is used by the military to place 'compromised' agents. Both Loach and Clare are sent there for varying reasons which become apparent as the book progresses.
Wonderfully thought out and conveying the feelings of the times extremely well.