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Joe Wilderness #1
Then We Take Berlin
Joe Wilderness is a World War II orphan, a condition that he thinks excuses him from common morality. Cat burglar, card sharp, and Cockney wide boy, the last thing he wants is to get drafted. But in 1946 he finds himself in the Royal Air Force, facing a stretch in military prison . . . when along comes Lt Colonel Burne-Jones to tell him MI6 has better use for his talents.
Posted to occupied Berlin, interrogating ex-Nazis, and burgling the odd apartment for MI6, Wilderness finds himself with time on his hands and the devil making work. He falls in with Frank, a US Army captain, with Eddie, a British artilleryman and with Yuri, a major in the NKVD and together they lift the black market scam to a new level. Coffee never tasted so sweet. And he falls for Nell Breakheart, a German girl who has witnessed the worst that Germany could do and is driven by all the scruples that Wilderness lacks.
Fifteen years later, June 1963. Wilderness is free-lance and down on his luck. A gumshoe scraping by on divorce cases. Frank is a big shot on Madison Avenue, cooking up one last Berlin scam . . . for which he needs Wilderness once more. Only now they're not smuggling coffee, they're smuggling people. And Nell? Nell is on the staff of West Berlin's mayor Willy Brandt, planning for the state visit of the most powerful man in the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
Then We Take Berlin is a gripping, meticulously researched and richly detailed historical thriller – a moving story of espionage and war, and people caught up in the most tumultuous events of the twenty-first century.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2013
411 people are currently reading
2,215 people want to read
About the author
John Lawton
32 books314 followersJohn Lawton is a producer/director in television who has spent much of his time interpreting the USA to the English, and occasionally vice versa. He has worked with Gore Vidal, Neil Simon, Scott Turow, Noam Chomsky, Fay Weldon, Harold Pinter and Kathy Acker. He thinks he may well be the only TV director ever to be named in a Parliamentary Bill in the British House of Lords as an offender against taste and balance. He has also been denounced from the pulpit in Mississippi as a `Communist,’ but thinks that less remarkable.
He spent most of the 90s in New York – among other things attending the writers’ sessions at The Actors’ Studio under Norman Mailer – and has visited or worked in more than half the 50 states. Since 2000 he has lived in the high, wet hills ofDerbyshire England, with frequent excursions into the high, dry hills of Arizona and Italy.
He is the author of 1963, a social and political history of the Kennedy-Macmillan years, six thrillers in the Troy series and a stand-alone novel, Sweet Sunday.
In 1995 the first Troy novel, Black Out, won the WH Smith Fresh Talent Award. In 2006 Columbia Pictures bought the fourth Troy novel Riptide. In 2007 A Little White Death was a New York Times notable.
In 2008 he was one of only half a dozen living English writers to be named in the London Daily Telegraph‘s `50 Crime Writers to Read before You Die.’ He has also edited the poetry of DH Lawrence and the stories of Joseph Conrad. He is devoted to the work of Franz Schubert, Cormac McCarthy, Art Tatum and Barbara Gowdy. (source: http://www.johnlawtonbooks.com)
He was born in 1949 in England.
He spent most of the 90s in New York – among other things attending the writers’ sessions at The Actors’ Studio under Norman Mailer – and has visited or worked in more than half the 50 states. Since 2000 he has lived in the high, wet hills ofDerbyshire England, with frequent excursions into the high, dry hills of Arizona and Italy.
He is the author of 1963, a social and political history of the Kennedy-Macmillan years, six thrillers in the Troy series and a stand-alone novel, Sweet Sunday.
In 1995 the first Troy novel, Black Out, won the WH Smith Fresh Talent Award. In 2006 Columbia Pictures bought the fourth Troy novel Riptide. In 2007 A Little White Death was a New York Times notable.
In 2008 he was one of only half a dozen living English writers to be named in the London Daily Telegraph‘s `50 Crime Writers to Read before You Die.’ He has also edited the poetry of DH Lawrence and the stories of Joseph Conrad. He is devoted to the work of Franz Schubert, Cormac McCarthy, Art Tatum and Barbara Gowdy. (source: http://www.johnlawtonbooks.com)
He was born in 1949 in England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews
November 18, 2013
There were things to like about this book. Mr. Lawton slowly (too slowly, though) and carefully lays out the life history of his two main characters, and their lives are reasonably interesting. Some of the action takes place in Germany in the latter stages of WW II, and Mr. Lawton evokes that atmosphere very well. (I could do without a hero nicknamed Wilderness, but never mind.)
The question is, where is all this extensive background leading? To some extent, the ending, at least its location, is telegraphed in the opening chapters, but when we finally do reach the end, it's a big nothing. There's no there, there. I found myself annoyed that I had invested time in reading 370 pages of buildup only to see the whole story collapse, exhausted, in a totally unrewarding, unlikely and unexplained final page or two. Caveat lector.
The question is, where is all this extensive background leading? To some extent, the ending, at least its location, is telegraphed in the opening chapters, but when we finally do reach the end, it's a big nothing. There's no there, there. I found myself annoyed that I had invested time in reading 370 pages of buildup only to see the whole story collapse, exhausted, in a totally unrewarding, unlikely and unexplained final page or two. Caveat lector.
February 17, 2015
My review from USA Today:
Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton
Atlantic Monthly Press, 432 pp.
* * * 1/2
John Lawton forgoes the somnolent gravity of so many fictions of World War II, with their café whispers and doomed romances, and in its place offers a brand of old-fashioned storytelling that makes his book a candidate for the most entertaining historical novel of the year. It begins in 1963, when a suspiciously lucrative case takes John Holderness, a London private eye, back to Berlin. In flashback, we learn about his postwar service there, chasing Nazis and manipulating the black market, as well as the more somber history of a young German woman named Nell, who is searching for a way to help people in the madness of her time. There's nothing much new in the setting, characters or atmosphere of Then We Take Berlin, but it is fantastically engaging - so much so that its serious moral questions infiltrate the reader's mind almost invisibly, spies behind enemy lines.
http://archive.pnj.com/usatoday/artic...
Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton
Atlantic Monthly Press, 432 pp.
* * * 1/2
John Lawton forgoes the somnolent gravity of so many fictions of World War II, with their café whispers and doomed romances, and in its place offers a brand of old-fashioned storytelling that makes his book a candidate for the most entertaining historical novel of the year. It begins in 1963, when a suspiciously lucrative case takes John Holderness, a London private eye, back to Berlin. In flashback, we learn about his postwar service there, chasing Nazis and manipulating the black market, as well as the more somber history of a young German woman named Nell, who is searching for a way to help people in the madness of her time. There's nothing much new in the setting, characters or atmosphere of Then We Take Berlin, but it is fantastically engaging - so much so that its serious moral questions infiltrate the reader's mind almost invisibly, spies behind enemy lines.
http://archive.pnj.com/usatoday/artic...
May 12, 2023
Another great historical thriller from John Lawton. I've read all of his "Troy" novels and was wary of a book featuring a new character, but Lawton's stories are always worth reading, whoever the character and wherever and whenever they're set.
Read
July 17, 2018Lawton came recommended by a friend who reads and likes Bernie Gunther and also enjoys Lawton. I know others really like this book but I wasn't captured by it, took a short cut by jumping to the ending and decided I didn't want to do the extra reading to get me to that point again.
April 22, 2014
This convoluted mix of reality and fiction is essentially a biographical narrative in the life of John Holderness as he transforms himself from an East London burglar to a British intelligence man working under the tutelage of Lieutenant Colonel Burne-Jones. The story opens on the eye of President Kennedy’s 1963 visit to Berlin then moves backward to London in 1941 and slowly progresses till all the strands in the narrative lead to a conclusion in 1963, Berlin.
This book is far from the ordinary spy- thriller American novelists are so famous for. Missing are the spectacular stunts, the blow outs, the mysterious escapes, and the beautiful damsel in distress. The theme and atmosphere are compelling, after all Europe is ravaged by the atrocities of war, lives are shattered and it is a race to obtain the services of nuclear scientists. This book is meaty and richly written to highlight the tragic circumstances that divided Berlin into East and West sections and how smuggling goods and people was a way of life. The author goes all out for us to visualize every movement and for us to know his characters, well indeed he takes is merry time to make his points. I was hoping the pacing would eventually pick up but it never did and with a meandering mind I finally made it to where the story abruptly stopped and I was left wondering what came next…..Oh maybe a sequel will wrap up the loose ends one day…..
I did find the historical descriptions to be quite interesting even if Mr. Lawton’s vision was far from being my cup of tea. Unfortunately I cannot say this was one of my better read.…..
This book is far from the ordinary spy- thriller American novelists are so famous for. Missing are the spectacular stunts, the blow outs, the mysterious escapes, and the beautiful damsel in distress. The theme and atmosphere are compelling, after all Europe is ravaged by the atrocities of war, lives are shattered and it is a race to obtain the services of nuclear scientists. This book is meaty and richly written to highlight the tragic circumstances that divided Berlin into East and West sections and how smuggling goods and people was a way of life. The author goes all out for us to visualize every movement and for us to know his characters, well indeed he takes is merry time to make his points. I was hoping the pacing would eventually pick up but it never did and with a meandering mind I finally made it to where the story abruptly stopped and I was left wondering what came next…..Oh maybe a sequel will wrap up the loose ends one day…..
I did find the historical descriptions to be quite interesting even if Mr. Lawton’s vision was far from being my cup of tea. Unfortunately I cannot say this was one of my better read.…..
June 18, 2020
The first thing I would say is I think the blurb on Goodreads reveals way too much of the plot. And, although I enjoyed Then We Take Berlin, I wasn’t entirely a fan of its structure. At times, it seemed like (at least) three different books all rolled into one. (I see I made a similar comment about Friends and Traitors by the same author).
Then We Take Berlin opens in 1963 as Joe Holderness travels to New York to be offered a job by a colleague of Frank, a buddy from his days in Berlin after WW2. I enjoyed Joe’s wide-eyed reaction to seeing the sights of New York for the first time. The job he’s offered will involve him returning to Berlin and making use of his knowledge of that city. However, it will be a long time before the reader learns more about what Frank and Joe got up to in post-war Berlin and even longer until the mission Joe is offered takes place.
Instead the book goes back in time to 1941 to reveal Joe’s wartime childhood, including his experiences at the hands of a violent father. Events occur which mean Joe is brought up by his grandfather, Abner, and Abner’s girlfriend, Merle. It’s during this time that Joe is tutored in the dubious skills that will prove to be of such value in the future. Later, after the war has ended, he’s called up for National Service and Joe’s facility with languages is spotted by the British Secret Service. The result sees him embark upon an entirely different kind of education.
Then, in what I thought was one of the most powerful sections of the book, the story moves to Germany and introduces a new character – Nell. Evacuated during the war from her home in Berlin to live with her uncle, the end of the war brings her by chance to the site of a wartime atrocity. Using her powers of persuasion and a few untruths, she gains work as an interpreter for the Allied forces and begins documenting the identities of survivors. She is nevertheless determined to return home to Berlin because, as she frequently says, “I am a Berliner”.
Eventually the story of Joe’s exploits in post-war Berlin takes centre stage as he and some comrades with connections in the right places take advantage of the flourishing black market. But have they got in over their heads? There’s an impressive amount of detail about the Berlin of the time which is clearly the product of a lot of research.
As the book reaches its climax we’re back in the year 1963 and Joe finally undertakes, albeit with reservations, the job he’s been contracted to do. Events move along at pace and woven into the story is an iconic moment in history that takes place in West Berlin. The author gives Nell a pivotal role in this, as signalled in the opening chapter. The last few chapters of the book are full of tension and the ending leaves enough loose ends to make a sequel irresistible.
Although only around 400 pages, the book has a lot of chapters, many of which are extremely short. Having taken a quick peek at my copy of The Unfortunate Englishman, I see that it also has many short chapters so this must be a deliberate style choice on the part of the author. The audiobook version has over two hundred chapters and I’m guessing its narrator, Lewis Hancock, must have been pleased when it was finally time to say “Chapter 206”. Talking of the narration, Lewis Hancock does a great job coping with the different accents required – Russian, German, American, etc. – although I did have difficulty at times recognising it was Nell speaking.
Then We Take Berlin is an entertaining spy thriller with a charismatic central character and, despite my reservations about its structure, I definitely intend to read the next two books in the series at some point.
Then We Take Berlin opens in 1963 as Joe Holderness travels to New York to be offered a job by a colleague of Frank, a buddy from his days in Berlin after WW2. I enjoyed Joe’s wide-eyed reaction to seeing the sights of New York for the first time. The job he’s offered will involve him returning to Berlin and making use of his knowledge of that city. However, it will be a long time before the reader learns more about what Frank and Joe got up to in post-war Berlin and even longer until the mission Joe is offered takes place.
Instead the book goes back in time to 1941 to reveal Joe’s wartime childhood, including his experiences at the hands of a violent father. Events occur which mean Joe is brought up by his grandfather, Abner, and Abner’s girlfriend, Merle. It’s during this time that Joe is tutored in the dubious skills that will prove to be of such value in the future. Later, after the war has ended, he’s called up for National Service and Joe’s facility with languages is spotted by the British Secret Service. The result sees him embark upon an entirely different kind of education.
Then, in what I thought was one of the most powerful sections of the book, the story moves to Germany and introduces a new character – Nell. Evacuated during the war from her home in Berlin to live with her uncle, the end of the war brings her by chance to the site of a wartime atrocity. Using her powers of persuasion and a few untruths, she gains work as an interpreter for the Allied forces and begins documenting the identities of survivors. She is nevertheless determined to return home to Berlin because, as she frequently says, “I am a Berliner”.
Eventually the story of Joe’s exploits in post-war Berlin takes centre stage as he and some comrades with connections in the right places take advantage of the flourishing black market. But have they got in over their heads? There’s an impressive amount of detail about the Berlin of the time which is clearly the product of a lot of research.
As the book reaches its climax we’re back in the year 1963 and Joe finally undertakes, albeit with reservations, the job he’s been contracted to do. Events move along at pace and woven into the story is an iconic moment in history that takes place in West Berlin. The author gives Nell a pivotal role in this, as signalled in the opening chapter. The last few chapters of the book are full of tension and the ending leaves enough loose ends to make a sequel irresistible.
Although only around 400 pages, the book has a lot of chapters, many of which are extremely short. Having taken a quick peek at my copy of The Unfortunate Englishman, I see that it also has many short chapters so this must be a deliberate style choice on the part of the author. The audiobook version has over two hundred chapters and I’m guessing its narrator, Lewis Hancock, must have been pleased when it was finally time to say “Chapter 206”. Talking of the narration, Lewis Hancock does a great job coping with the different accents required – Russian, German, American, etc. – although I did have difficulty at times recognising it was Nell speaking.
Then We Take Berlin is an entertaining spy thriller with a charismatic central character and, despite my reservations about its structure, I definitely intend to read the next two books in the series at some point.
September 5, 2017
John Lawton is on my top-5 list of contemporary authors, so I was excited when I heard he had created a new protagonist, John Wilfrid Holderness. That sounds like a posh name, but he's known by most people as Joe Wilderness, which is a much better fit.
Joe is a London East End wide boy, a chancer who lives on his wits and guile. That's all the more true when his mother is killed in the Blitz, found dead ensconced on a barstool with her gin still sitting in front of her. Joe's grandfather Abner moves Joe into an attic room at his place in Whitechapel, where Abner lives with his longtime girlfriend (and sometime prostitute) Merle.
Abner teaches Joe everything he knows about burglary and safe-cracking. Joe is a quick study, not just about crime, but books, and observing people. Just because he's smart doesn't mean Joe is lucky, though. Just when all the soldiers and sailors are returning home from World War II, Joe is drafted. He's about to be tossed into the punishment cells for insubordination when he's plucked out by Lieutenant Colonel Burne-Jones, who's seen Joe's IQ score. Burne-Jones sends Joe off to Cambridge to learn Russian and German, and to London for personal tutoring in languages, politics and history.
Of course, Burne-Jones is training Joe to work in military intelligence, but you already figured that out. Off Joe goes to Berlin in 1946. What an amazing place for a wide boy. "It was love at first sight. He and Berlin were made for each other. He took to it like a rat to a sewer." In between intelligence jobs for Burne-Jones, Joe can't resist increasing the stakes in his black market game, which means making ever larger and more dangerous deals, deals that involve crossing over to the Russian sector.
But for Joe, it's not all about sussing out former Nazi bigwigs and scientists by day and smuggling by night. At one of Berlin's nightclubs, famous in the Weimar era for using tabletop telephones and pneumatic tubes so that strangers could propose assignations, Joe meets Christina Helene von Raeder Burckhardt, known by the Brits and Americans as Nell Breakheart. Not because she actually breaks hearts, but because she's so beautiful, inside and out, that they're lining up in hopes of getting their hearts broken. And wouldn't you know, she chooses Joe.
In language so vivid you can see it all in your mind, Lawton recreates postwar Berlin, with its ruined buildings, squalid living quarters created in cellars or apartments with shorn-off walls, crews of women who earn rations by clearing rubble in bucket lines, dirty kids harassing servicemen from the US, Britain, France and Russia for candy bars, the stink of open sewers, fear and despair, and the sweeter scents of money, graft and opportunity. I read a ton of WW2 historical novels and I can't think of another one that does it better.
But the novel isn't all postwar Berlin. It's bookended by the stories of Joe and Nell in the summer of 1963. You know, the summer JFK made his famous visit to Berlin. If there is some of the 1963 plot that is not quite up to snuff (and there is), that takes up a very small proportion of what is a dazzlingly inventive and layered story, packed with fully dimensional characters–––several of whom Lawton fans will recognize from the Frederick Troy novels.
I've often wondered why John Lawton hasn't gained the recognition I firmly believe he deserves. I've come to think it might be because of the book world's compulsion to categorize books and authors into easy genres and sub-genres. Lawton's books are most often classified as mystery and espionage, but neither is accurate. As Lawton once commented, they are "historical, political thrillers with a big splash of romance, wrapped up in a coat of noir." The noir comes in because, as you might have suspected reading about Joe Wilderness, John Lawton likes to write about people on the edge, living in a world of shadowy morality.
If you enjoy authors like Ian McEwan, Philip Kerr, Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd, give this book a try, along with his other novels, especially his haunting 2011 title, A Lily of the Field.
Note: I received a free review e-galley from Netgalley.
Joe is a London East End wide boy, a chancer who lives on his wits and guile. That's all the more true when his mother is killed in the Blitz, found dead ensconced on a barstool with her gin still sitting in front of her. Joe's grandfather Abner moves Joe into an attic room at his place in Whitechapel, where Abner lives with his longtime girlfriend (and sometime prostitute) Merle.
Abner teaches Joe everything he knows about burglary and safe-cracking. Joe is a quick study, not just about crime, but books, and observing people. Just because he's smart doesn't mean Joe is lucky, though. Just when all the soldiers and sailors are returning home from World War II, Joe is drafted. He's about to be tossed into the punishment cells for insubordination when he's plucked out by Lieutenant Colonel Burne-Jones, who's seen Joe's IQ score. Burne-Jones sends Joe off to Cambridge to learn Russian and German, and to London for personal tutoring in languages, politics and history.
Of course, Burne-Jones is training Joe to work in military intelligence, but you already figured that out. Off Joe goes to Berlin in 1946. What an amazing place for a wide boy. "It was love at first sight. He and Berlin were made for each other. He took to it like a rat to a sewer." In between intelligence jobs for Burne-Jones, Joe can't resist increasing the stakes in his black market game, which means making ever larger and more dangerous deals, deals that involve crossing over to the Russian sector.
But for Joe, it's not all about sussing out former Nazi bigwigs and scientists by day and smuggling by night. At one of Berlin's nightclubs, famous in the Weimar era for using tabletop telephones and pneumatic tubes so that strangers could propose assignations, Joe meets Christina Helene von Raeder Burckhardt, known by the Brits and Americans as Nell Breakheart. Not because she actually breaks hearts, but because she's so beautiful, inside and out, that they're lining up in hopes of getting their hearts broken. And wouldn't you know, she chooses Joe.
In language so vivid you can see it all in your mind, Lawton recreates postwar Berlin, with its ruined buildings, squalid living quarters created in cellars or apartments with shorn-off walls, crews of women who earn rations by clearing rubble in bucket lines, dirty kids harassing servicemen from the US, Britain, France and Russia for candy bars, the stink of open sewers, fear and despair, and the sweeter scents of money, graft and opportunity. I read a ton of WW2 historical novels and I can't think of another one that does it better.
But the novel isn't all postwar Berlin. It's bookended by the stories of Joe and Nell in the summer of 1963. You know, the summer JFK made his famous visit to Berlin. If there is some of the 1963 plot that is not quite up to snuff (and there is), that takes up a very small proportion of what is a dazzlingly inventive and layered story, packed with fully dimensional characters–––several of whom Lawton fans will recognize from the Frederick Troy novels.
I've often wondered why John Lawton hasn't gained the recognition I firmly believe he deserves. I've come to think it might be because of the book world's compulsion to categorize books and authors into easy genres and sub-genres. Lawton's books are most often classified as mystery and espionage, but neither is accurate. As Lawton once commented, they are "historical, political thrillers with a big splash of romance, wrapped up in a coat of noir." The noir comes in because, as you might have suspected reading about Joe Wilderness, John Lawton likes to write about people on the edge, living in a world of shadowy morality.
If you enjoy authors like Ian McEwan, Philip Kerr, Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd, give this book a try, along with his other novels, especially his haunting 2011 title, A Lily of the Field.
Note: I received a free review e-galley from Netgalley.
January 1, 2014
I've never understood why John Lawton's Inspector Troy series isn't better known or more widely read. In my opinion they are of the very first rank of mystery fiction. His settings of pre-war, wartime and post-war London are perfectly realized (at least they seem like they are to me who definitely wasn't there) and his cast of characters are as wide-ranging as they are well-drawn and appealing even when they are villains and traitors. Troy himself is fascinating - brilliant and coming from a family of immense wealth and power he has chosen to join the Metropolitan Police and start at the very bottom, on the beat in a less than salubrious part of London. His talents recognized (and probably the family ties didn't hurt either) he advanced rapidly. The books are complex and written in shades of grey (no reference to current phenomena intended) rather than black and white and both heroes and villains have depth and believability.
So the debut of a new series featuring a new protagonist is cause for celebration. Joe Wilderness comes from a background the polar opposite of Troy's. A cockney wide boy, he was trained in the fine art of burglary and safecracking by his father. Orphaned, he is called up and joins the RCAF in the immediate post-war period. His talents and ability are spotted and he is rescued from the brig by a mysterious military organization and now is set to using his dubious talents in service to Her Majesty's Government in post-war Germany.
The ruin and moral and physical chaos and ambiguity of Hamburg and especially Berlin are beautifully realized as the new reality of the post-war world steadily becomes apparent. Wilderness finds a natural home in the booming black market while still carrying out his spymaster's bidding and he makes relationships which will surface again in the other narrative of the book in 1963 just before Kennedy's visit to Belin and its wall. Characters from the other series make cameo appearances - I was especially pleased to see the apparently ageless Tosca (I won't reveal her role in this book in case you want to read the other series first which I heartily recommend although it is in no way necessary) who play a sort of deus ex machina role from her seat in one of Berlin's surviving nightclubs in the forties and shows up again in 1963, apparently still omniscient. And even Troy shows up for a brief visit.
The book is literate, beautifully written, painstakingly researched and provides as good a picture of cold war manoeuvrings on the front line as you will find anywhere. My very highest recommendation.
So the debut of a new series featuring a new protagonist is cause for celebration. Joe Wilderness comes from a background the polar opposite of Troy's. A cockney wide boy, he was trained in the fine art of burglary and safecracking by his father. Orphaned, he is called up and joins the RCAF in the immediate post-war period. His talents and ability are spotted and he is rescued from the brig by a mysterious military organization and now is set to using his dubious talents in service to Her Majesty's Government in post-war Germany.
The ruin and moral and physical chaos and ambiguity of Hamburg and especially Berlin are beautifully realized as the new reality of the post-war world steadily becomes apparent. Wilderness finds a natural home in the booming black market while still carrying out his spymaster's bidding and he makes relationships which will surface again in the other narrative of the book in 1963 just before Kennedy's visit to Belin and its wall. Characters from the other series make cameo appearances - I was especially pleased to see the apparently ageless Tosca (I won't reveal her role in this book in case you want to read the other series first which I heartily recommend although it is in no way necessary) who play a sort of deus ex machina role from her seat in one of Berlin's surviving nightclubs in the forties and shows up again in 1963, apparently still omniscient. And even Troy shows up for a brief visit.
The book is literate, beautifully written, painstakingly researched and provides as good a picture of cold war manoeuvrings on the front line as you will find anywhere. My very highest recommendation.
November 2, 2013
The first third of Then We Take Berlin is a wonderful read. John Lawton provides an engaging introduction to John Holderness early years growing up in East London during the war, that of Nell’s in the last days of the war in Germany, and Holderness’ recruitment into military intelligence. The characterisation is keenly observed and there’s a strong sense of place and context. In the middle third of the book the narrative starts to become more bitty with many short sections charting Holderness’ time in Hamburg and then Berlin as he becomes involved in the black market and starts a relationship with Nell. The final third moves the story through the 1950s up to 1963 and Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, and Holderness’ attempt to extract someone from East Berlin. Here, the narrative is a little sketchy, Nell largely disappears from view, and it’s really not clear what Holderness’ motivations are. There is an odd and confusing timeline shift, with some scenes from 1955 inserted between the transition from 1948 to 1952 for no apparent reason, but the most disappointing aspect is the ending. The story just stops. It feels as if at least twenty odd pages are missing. The novel as a whole reads as if Lawton wasn’t sure where to take it, or quite how to deal with the twenty year span of time. This was a shame as the start was excellent and Holderness and Nell are attractive creations. It’ll be interesting to see how Lawton develops the series.
June 18, 2016
Twenty years ago I read the outstanding BLACKOUT by John Lawton, a thriller set in the London Blitz. Since that time, I've read several more books by that author but they've never quite reached the heights of that debut novel, although each was entertaining. However, with THEN WE"LL TAKE BERLIN, Lawton has produced an excellent novel, certainly on a par with BLACKOUT.
The book is the first in a series (the second The Unfortunate Englishman has already been published) featuring Joe Wilderness and THEN WE TAKE BERLIN is a biographical novel, charting the course of his life to 1963 (the year in which the novel is set), bookended by a plot to smuggle an East German scientist out of the DDR.
Wilderness is a fascinating character. His mother is killed in the Blitz and he's brought up by his grandfather who teaches him the tricks of the burgling trade. He's clever lad and passes his school certificate and, after the war he's called up for National Service where his natural intelligence is spotted and he ends up working for the spooks. Each facet of his life is exciting and the people he interacts with very interesting and well-drawn.
I'm very much looking forward to meeting Joe Wilderness again.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
The book is the first in a series (the second The Unfortunate Englishman has already been published) featuring Joe Wilderness and THEN WE TAKE BERLIN is a biographical novel, charting the course of his life to 1963 (the year in which the novel is set), bookended by a plot to smuggle an East German scientist out of the DDR.
Wilderness is a fascinating character. His mother is killed in the Blitz and he's brought up by his grandfather who teaches him the tricks of the burgling trade. He's clever lad and passes his school certificate and, after the war he's called up for National Service where his natural intelligence is spotted and he ends up working for the spooks. Each facet of his life is exciting and the people he interacts with very interesting and well-drawn.
I'm very much looking forward to meeting Joe Wilderness again.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
January 1, 2022
This series keeps popping up in my recommendations everywhere, and given that I love spy thrillers and particularly enjoy ones set in Berlin, I went into this with rather high expectations.
The thing is... with a book tagged "spy thriller", I rather expect spying and thrill to be among the chief components making up the story. In this book? Not so much. Largely what I got was a drawn out, meandering tale of a not particularly likable (or half as interesting as he seems to think he is) guy going from WWII orphan and cat burglar to a clearly non-compatible stint in military training to being recruited by MI6 and sent to Berlin where he then spends very little time doing his job and instead runs a black market and smuggling racket in the starving city.
While rich in atmosphere and detail in its settings, the story, though interesting for a while, couldn't quite keep my attention. Frankly, I spent most of it wondering if we'd get to the actual spy thriller part at some point, before the final part started out more interesting and then fizzled out in a "wait... was that it??" kind of ending.
Maybe now that we've gotten the whole origin story of the character out of the way, book two might manage to get a move on earlier and deliver a more gripping tale?
The thing is... with a book tagged "spy thriller", I rather expect spying and thrill to be among the chief components making up the story. In this book? Not so much. Largely what I got was a drawn out, meandering tale of a not particularly likable (or half as interesting as he seems to think he is) guy going from WWII orphan and cat burglar to a clearly non-compatible stint in military training to being recruited by MI6 and sent to Berlin where he then spends very little time doing his job and instead runs a black market and smuggling racket in the starving city.
While rich in atmosphere and detail in its settings, the story, though interesting for a while, couldn't quite keep my attention. Frankly, I spent most of it wondering if we'd get to the actual spy thriller part at some point, before the final part started out more interesting and then fizzled out in a "wait... was that it??" kind of ending.
Maybe now that we've gotten the whole origin story of the character out of the way, book two might manage to get a move on earlier and deliver a more gripping tale?
Read
April 2, 2019I just don't know how to rate these two books giving us Wilderness and his misadventures.
Interesting eras explored, yes. We get the end of World War II mixed with 1950's and 1960's with preparations for a Kennedy visit to Berlin. We get New York City, his first visit there on behest of his old war pal who knew best how to use and abuse Wilderness. Visiting NYC famous hotels and restaurants we get a glimpse of stars and authors of the 60's, e.g. Mailer and Ingrid Bergman.
In and out of decades, we also get London after bombing along with a young boy that was Wilderness trying to survive after his mother is found dead in the most recent bombing, his transfer from his shabby housing to his grandfather's upgraded shabby housing with a visit from the front of his father who beats him and tells the grandfather to get the 13-year old boy registered so he can join the war effort and his father can rob him of his benefits.
Anyway...It is a two-book odyssey and is simply very jarring/distressing for sensitive reader. Well, he does enjoy his trip to Manhattan but takes on a job to put his life in jeopardy again.
Interesting eras explored, yes. We get the end of World War II mixed with 1950's and 1960's with preparations for a Kennedy visit to Berlin. We get New York City, his first visit there on behest of his old war pal who knew best how to use and abuse Wilderness. Visiting NYC famous hotels and restaurants we get a glimpse of stars and authors of the 60's, e.g. Mailer and Ingrid Bergman.
In and out of decades, we also get London after bombing along with a young boy that was Wilderness trying to survive after his mother is found dead in the most recent bombing, his transfer from his shabby housing to his grandfather's upgraded shabby housing with a visit from the front of his father who beats him and tells the grandfather to get the 13-year old boy registered so he can join the war effort and his father can rob him of his benefits.
Anyway...It is a two-book odyssey and is simply very jarring/distressing for sensitive reader. Well, he does enjoy his trip to Manhattan but takes on a job to put his life in jeopardy again.
December 30, 2015
A Troy book without Troy. But, yes, it deliberately uses the Leonard Cohen title, so there's New York first, then a lot of Berlin.
February 11, 2019
4 solid stars, good writing by Lawton, the end left me hanging a bit but we will see what happens with the next installment regarding Joe Wilderness.
October 6, 2013
Full review originally at Fantasy Book Critic
ANALYSIS: I’ve never read John Lawton book before this one. He’s had a previous series, which featured a character set in the pre-WWII era. This book however featured a whole new character and is mostly set partly just after the WWII & then in the 1960s. The story was a strong one but I was partially wrong in regards to the nature of the book.
The story begins in 1963 wherein John Wilfrid Holderness is happily married to Judy but has fallen on rather lean times. He gets called into New York City; by his old wartime associate Frank Spoleto. Frank is a member in the Carver, Sharma and Dunn advertising agency. Joe is a person brought up on the East end side of London. He’s gained his wits after his mother’s death in the German blitz and since then has been brought up by his grandfather. Joe's grandpa Abner is a cat burglar with a particular eye for cracking safes. He moves into Joe’s house with his paramour Merle who sometimes moonlights as a street lady. Joe’s father is a brute who works in the army & whenever he’s home beats Joe, threatens Abner & generally makes life miserable for everyone. Christina Helene Von Raeder "Nell" Burkhardt is an orphan sent to live with her uncle by her mother as Berlin falls. She however faces the brutal impact of the German loss after WWII. Her acceptance of her familial losses leads her to become a very morally hardened person that will thrive in the post war black market. She currently is the person that is tasked by the mayor of Berlin with creating President J.F. Kennedy’s itinerary for his 1963 trip to Berlin.
With these POV characters, we are taken to their teenage years as we are shown how the war has affected Britain and Germany and then we are shown the different career paths taken by Joe and Nell both. The main story unfolds in post war Germany as the author portrays a bleak if not entirely abject atmosphere. The reader is shown how both these characters come to become the characters we have met at the start of the book in 1963. The author’s research is where the main story gets its backbone from & while I’m no expert, to me it was a very captivating read. The author shows us how the black marketers went about and how Joe and Nell meet each other while doing their own things.
While these are the main POV characters, there’s a big side character cast who are equally enigmatic, interesting and flawed. They are the people that Joe meets such as Lieutenant Colonel A. Burne-Jones & Rada, who shape his worldview while saving him from his self-destructive tendencies and wizen him for the world. There are also Abner & Merle who in turn become parent figures to Joe but because of their own acts scar his psyche in small but significant ways. With Nell, there’s a whole range of folks that come across her path and mold her into the person she is by death, savagery, sympathy & even a little serendipity.
With this book, I thought it to be a standalone but I was sadly mistaken about that as the climax proved oh so strongly. But to get to the meat of the plot, it is about the tragic circumstances that were prevalent in Berlin divided into East & West sections. Firstly the main group of characters used to smuggle goods like cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, etc. but now nearly fifteen years later are tasked to smuggle people and therein lies the whole Herculean quandary as to how to go about it.
The book serves like a prologue to the lengthy events that are to come as the author goes all out in building up his world for the modern readers to visualize & imagine. The characterization is competently handled as all characters are given pages & time to entrance the reader but the book suffers from this as the pace stutters quite a bit in the first half of the book. While the author shows the growth of the world and the main characters, he takes his time and therein lies the catch-22 situation, for some readers will love the author for this move while others will castigate him for taking his time to get to the meat of the plot. I found myself hoping that the slack pace would pick up but it wasn’t something that happened quickly.
Lastly the ending is a bit of a stunner and would have been better appreciated had I know that this book was the first of a series and not a standalone. As the climax occurred, I kept flipping pages to see if my ARC was missing pages but afterwards I learnt that this was how the book ended and perhaps a line saying, “to be continued” would have been nice. Overall I have to say while this book had its faults; overall it is still a good book for its strengths make it all worthwhile in the end.
CONCLUSION: This was my first tryst with John Lawton’s works and I have to say I’m impressed. He seems to be utterly fascinating with his historical thrillers and herein he does his best to introduce a new cast of characters for fans of his Inspector Troy series. Then We Take Berlin is simply a good historical thriller that perhaps needed bit of tightening in its middle to liven up its pace.
February 23, 2015
Berlin just after the Second World War was a land of opportunity for hustlers and spies, with the economy in ruins and four occupying powers jostling for position. John Lawton vividly evokes the times with this tale of a Cockney burglar whose criminal career is interrupted when he is drafted into the RAF near the end of the war. Smart and resourceful but unsuited to military discipline, he is rescued from the guardhouse by a talent-spotting colonel and prepped for a career in espionage. Late-forties Berlin proves to be the perfect environment for him to make a fortune in the black market while pulling off jobs for the spymasters as positions harden in the dawning Cold War. There is, of course, a bittersweet love story involved. The tale stretches to an unexpected coda in 1963, with the Wall in place and a charismatic American president coming to Berlin to deliver a momentous speech.
The plot is less memorable than the details of life, death and clandestine operations in the ruined landscape of postwar Germany. It's a richly realized historical novel with sharp, credible portraits of people swept up in the great catastrophe of the 20th century. I'll be looking for more of Lawton's books.
The plot is less memorable than the details of life, death and clandestine operations in the ruined landscape of postwar Germany. It's a richly realized historical novel with sharp, credible portraits of people swept up in the great catastrophe of the 20th century. I'll be looking for more of Lawton's books.
August 13, 2016
The title got me when I saw it in the library shelves. But I was disappointed. For one thing, sloppy writing/editing, such as referring to zip code in 1946. While research is evident, and probably reliable, the storyline was mostly preposterous. Read it only if you are desperate.
March 8, 2025
3.5 stars
June 15, 2023
In some ways, a mess, structurally. And bogged down and wandering. But so compelling. Mostly set in Berlin at the end of the war through the wall’s construction. British “hero” — cat burglar turned sort of MP.
April 9, 2022
This is good fun.
There is something familiar about the story-line; naughty but very clever youth in army, coming from a background seeped in crime (especially safe-cracking), is taken aside to work for the nod nod, wink wink brigade and given an education in the process. We follow his adventures in training and then on to Berlin where he becomes involved in the Black Market. It is here that he meets up with a young girl with a heart who has helped concentration camp inmates find their souls again.
I enjoyed it. It was light, entertaining and gripping.
What more do you want in a book?
There is something familiar about the story-line; naughty but very clever youth in army, coming from a background seeped in crime (especially safe-cracking), is taken aside to work for the nod nod, wink wink brigade and given an education in the process. We follow his adventures in training and then on to Berlin where he becomes involved in the Black Market. It is here that he meets up with a young girl with a heart who has helped concentration camp inmates find their souls again.
I enjoyed it. It was light, entertaining and gripping.
What more do you want in a book?
January 19, 2018
The book is pretty well written and the character development is also good; but it was soon quite clear to me that the book's purpose was mainly to lay the foundation of a new series, based on the Wilderness character.
There is in fact a lot of context setting around the early life of our hero; in essence we are shown how a kid from the poor east side of London evolves from a small burglar in the home city to a small smuggler on the scene of post WWII Berlin to then continue with bigger and bigger smuggling. So, prepare yourself to a lot of stories about smuggling, smuggling and again smuggling....
The author manages to keep a reasonable level of interest thanks to his prose and the rich historical background he offers of post war Berlin, but it was a long and slow journey; I trust I am now well equipped to enjoy more thoroughly the second book of the series, hoping that this investment pays off.
I strongly recommend this book only to those who want to read the second Wilderness novel, if not - as a stand alone - this is not worth the effort.
There is in fact a lot of context setting around the early life of our hero; in essence we are shown how a kid from the poor east side of London evolves from a small burglar in the home city to a small smuggler on the scene of post WWII Berlin to then continue with bigger and bigger smuggling. So, prepare yourself to a lot of stories about smuggling, smuggling and again smuggling....
The author manages to keep a reasonable level of interest thanks to his prose and the rich historical background he offers of post war Berlin, but it was a long and slow journey; I trust I am now well equipped to enjoy more thoroughly the second book of the series, hoping that this investment pays off.
I strongly recommend this book only to those who want to read the second Wilderness novel, if not - as a stand alone - this is not worth the effort.
December 4, 2018
This is a truly excellent spy novel. If the very best spy novels ever written are those of Graham Greene, the Joe Wilderness duo (perhaps more to come?) books deserve a spot on the next shelf down with Tom Clancy.
Unlike Clancy's deep intrigue and action, Lawton writes a story much more focused on the mission of an agent, as well as his deviations from his script. Our here Joe is not the serious strict duty-driven agent of Clancy, nor the dashing 007, nor the tortured souls of Greene. He's a street smart unlikely agent who has a good heart.
Then We Take Berlin is 2 (or 3) stories in one with flashbacks that are novels into themselves and set critical background for the action of today. Taken as the current two book series, this has the possibility of giving as much comfort and enjoyment, if not quite the literary flair, as Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey Marturin books.
Total bravo and I look forward to many more.
Unlike Clancy's deep intrigue and action, Lawton writes a story much more focused on the mission of an agent, as well as his deviations from his script. Our here Joe is not the serious strict duty-driven agent of Clancy, nor the dashing 007, nor the tortured souls of Greene. He's a street smart unlikely agent who has a good heart.
Then We Take Berlin is 2 (or 3) stories in one with flashbacks that are novels into themselves and set critical background for the action of today. Taken as the current two book series, this has the possibility of giving as much comfort and enjoyment, if not quite the literary flair, as Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey Marturin books.
Total bravo and I look forward to many more.
October 13, 2013
Troy just passes through this novel, like a rumor, so it has none of the British political dialogue, monied ease, or intelligent dedication of other Lawtons. But this one retains the expected complexity of historical landscape and integrity of character, set in the darkest realms and ethical chasms of both the Third Reich and the Berlin occupation that follows. It has weaknesses in its feckless and non-heroic protagonist, slick caricatures of vapid Americans, and a fine young German woman who fades into the background. (Lawton writes such women very well, as in the Troy novels. Eventually perhaps one will be given her own full story.) Lawton compels the reader to read by constructing detailed lives in authentic times and places; almost wanting to stay, we leave this novel with a sense of having seen the ruins of Berlin, architectural and human.
March 19, 2015
Lawton has some passages that are must reads, especially his fictionalization of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. But, the ending, the background of the main character and much else is simply confusing. The good bits are great, the rest meh.
September 12, 2013
...add a plus or three to that rating...
Loved it. I see he has a series as well. More good reading ahead.
Loved it. I see he has a series as well. More good reading ahead.
September 24, 2015
Espionage (sort of)- interesting cast - WWII to 1961- all good - but how about that ending?
April 30, 2016
Enjoyed everything about this novel - learned a little history, a good story, and well-written. Will certainly read the next Joe "Wilderness" adventure, The Unfortunate Englishman.
May 29, 2020
[REVISED]
This was a fantastic read on its own, but an added bonus is the return of a few characters from Lawton’s earlier “Inspector Troy” series. Some are only cameo appearances, but others, such as “Swift Eddie” Clark, play a bigger role.
There are instances of bad language if that bothers you, but it’s clear that Joe, the main character, also disliked Frank’s crudity. Who’s Frank? Frank Spoleto is a U.S. Army Captain and major dirt bag who may or may not work for the “Company”, spook-speak for CIA. Then there is Major Yuri Myshkin, who is all kindness at first, but... You'll have to read to find out more.
Agent “Tosca”—another character from the Troy series—warns Joe about Frank, assuming the role of fairy godmother.. She saves Joe from himself and others.
Joe’s handler, Lt. Col. Burne-Jones, keeps him on a tight leash, and intends to keep him there for the rest of his life. Not a happy prospect for this intelligent and personable young man. But then Burne-Jones first discovered Joe’s potential, and saved him from certain imprisonment at the tender age of 18. He discovered Joe’s high IQ, learned of his gift for languages, and Joe’s other unique skillset learned from Granddad.
Burne-Jones may seem like a surrogate father and/or mentor, but don’t be fooled; he works for Britain’s equivalent of the Company, MI-6, and they are not above using people. Joe is just too valuable an asset—they’re not going to let him go despite the high cost to his personal life and physical safety.
He’s such a smart guy in so many respects, but then clueless in others. A Mensch, a multifaceted character who is bound to win your heart as he has captured so many others.
Other characters are as complex; Hélène, for example, or “Nell”, as she prefers. Full name: Christina
Hélène von Raeder Burkhardt. Frank dubs her Nell “Breakheart”. Frank, a Manhattan ad man later in the story, assigns nicknames to other characters whose real names he mangles. (Example: Andreas Jeltsch-Fugger=“Jelly-Fu__er”.) Oh, Frank. What are we to make of a character like you? Lawton has a dry, acerbic sense of humor that makes his characters believable.
Lawton has also obviously researched the era, because names and words I did not recognize (and had to look up) turned out to reveal fascinating historical detail. The names themselves may or may not be intentional; I noticed during other research online that “Jeltsch” is an actual aristocratic surname in Europe, related through marriage to the current head of the von Habsburg family. This particular name may simply have been coincidence, but I found it interesting.
If you read this book in ebook format as I did, it’s easy to highlight a word and press “Define” or “Search the Web”. I LOVE that about ebooks. I am fortunate that my public library offers this series in ebook, because Lawton’s books do skip around a lot in time.
This was a fantastic read on its own, but an added bonus is the return of a few characters from Lawton’s earlier “Inspector Troy” series. Some are only cameo appearances, but others, such as “Swift Eddie” Clark, play a bigger role.
There are instances of bad language if that bothers you, but it’s clear that Joe, the main character, also disliked Frank’s crudity. Who’s Frank? Frank Spoleto is a U.S. Army Captain and major dirt bag who may or may not work for the “Company”, spook-speak for CIA. Then there is Major Yuri Myshkin, who is all kindness at first, but... You'll have to read to find out more.
Agent “Tosca”—another character from the Troy series—warns Joe about Frank, assuming the role of fairy godmother.. She saves Joe from himself and others.
Joe’s handler, Lt. Col. Burne-Jones, keeps him on a tight leash, and intends to keep him there for the rest of his life. Not a happy prospect for this intelligent and personable young man. But then Burne-Jones first discovered Joe’s potential, and saved him from certain imprisonment at the tender age of 18. He discovered Joe’s high IQ, learned of his gift for languages, and Joe’s other unique skillset learned from Granddad.
Burne-Jones may seem like a surrogate father and/or mentor, but don’t be fooled; he works for Britain’s equivalent of the Company, MI-6, and they are not above using people. Joe is just too valuable an asset—they’re not going to let him go despite the high cost to his personal life and physical safety.
He’s such a smart guy in so many respects, but then clueless in others. A Mensch, a multifaceted character who is bound to win your heart as he has captured so many others.
Other characters are as complex; Hélène, for example, or “Nell”, as she prefers. Full name: Christina
Hélène von Raeder Burkhardt. Frank dubs her Nell “Breakheart”. Frank, a Manhattan ad man later in the story, assigns nicknames to other characters whose real names he mangles. (Example: Andreas Jeltsch-Fugger=“Jelly-Fu__er”.) Oh, Frank. What are we to make of a character like you? Lawton has a dry, acerbic sense of humor that makes his characters believable.
Lawton has also obviously researched the era, because names and words I did not recognize (and had to look up) turned out to reveal fascinating historical detail. The names themselves may or may not be intentional; I noticed during other research online that “Jeltsch” is an actual aristocratic surname in Europe, related through marriage to the current head of the von Habsburg family. This particular name may simply have been coincidence, but I found it interesting.
If you read this book in ebook format as I did, it’s easy to highlight a word and press “Define” or “Search the Web”. I LOVE that about ebooks. I am fortunate that my public library offers this series in ebook, because Lawton’s books do skip around a lot in time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2025
The book is lengthy, divided into two main parts The first part is set in 1963, at both the beginning and the end of the story. The middle section spans from 1940 to 1948 and 1955. In the opening, new characters are introduced, but it's clear that this story is part of the Troy universe, as a character from earlier stories makes an appearance.
However, it quickly becomes apparent that, while this isn’t a traditional Troy story, there are brief appearances and indirect references to him. The middle section delves into the backstory of the new characters. This part showcases the author’s talent for writing compelling narratives about these fresh faces, offering a few standout examples:
The dialogues between the high-class Burne-Jones and the working-class Wilderness are like an expert-level game of table tennis.
The segment featuring Nell with the Belsen prisoners is striking. It mixes the reality the prisoners face while exploring whether they could survive together, with Nell's attitude, that makes you smile even in such a grim context.
The evolving relationship between Judi and Wilderness, particularly how it begins—"the two people who, for a long time, knew each other without meeting"—is a beautiful exploration of connection.
There are other vivid descriptions throughout, like post-war Berlin and the black-market scams some characters are involved in.
The new characters—Wilderness, Nell, and even the infamous Frank—push the entire series forward into new territory. We also see a different perspective on Edwin Clarke, a character familiar from previous books.
When I first read this book, I was somewhat disappointed by the “unfinished” ending. However, this review is based on my fourth reading (with the knowledge of later books), where I focused on the connections between this story and the entire series. It becomes that the author needed to introduce fresh characters to move to the spy world.
There are two ways to overcome the disappointment of the "dangling" ending: One, by looking at the entire series and understanding that new characters were necessary for expanding the series, or two, in the case of a rereading, by simply reading the first chapter of the next book where we see a conclusion to the "dangling" ending.
Overall, it’s an excellent book that broadens the scope of the Troy universe.
However, it quickly becomes apparent that, while this isn’t a traditional Troy story, there are brief appearances and indirect references to him. The middle section delves into the backstory of the new characters. This part showcases the author’s talent for writing compelling narratives about these fresh faces, offering a few standout examples:
The dialogues between the high-class Burne-Jones and the working-class Wilderness are like an expert-level game of table tennis.
The segment featuring Nell with the Belsen prisoners is striking. It mixes the reality the prisoners face while exploring whether they could survive together, with Nell's attitude, that makes you smile even in such a grim context.
The evolving relationship between Judi and Wilderness, particularly how it begins—"the two people who, for a long time, knew each other without meeting"—is a beautiful exploration of connection.
There are other vivid descriptions throughout, like post-war Berlin and the black-market scams some characters are involved in.
The new characters—Wilderness, Nell, and even the infamous Frank—push the entire series forward into new territory. We also see a different perspective on Edwin Clarke, a character familiar from previous books.
When I first read this book, I was somewhat disappointed by the “unfinished” ending. However, this review is based on my fourth reading (with the knowledge of later books), where I focused on the connections between this story and the entire series. It becomes that the author needed to introduce fresh characters to move to the spy world.
There are two ways to overcome the disappointment of the "dangling" ending: One, by looking at the entire series and understanding that new characters were necessary for expanding the series, or two, in the case of a rereading, by simply reading the first chapter of the next book where we see a conclusion to the "dangling" ending.
Overall, it’s an excellent book that broadens the scope of the Troy universe.
January 14, 2019
This is my first John Lawton book and for the most part I was impressed and enjoyed the story well enough.
The tale is about John Wilfrid Holderness ("Joe Wilderness"), cockney lad who grows up as a cat burglar during WW2, then ends up in the RAF after the war and because of his intellect and ease with languages is recruited by British Intelligence to serve in Germany. There, he gets involved in a large scale black market operation and runs into several people including a corrupt American officer.
Later, he's hired by the American now head of an ad agency in NYC to smuggle a woman out of East Berlin during JFK's visit.
The writing is quite well done and literate, which an interesting spin on characters. The history is solid and tells the tale of postwar Germany as it suffered awful lack of food and shelter, trying to rebuild and find out what it should be now that the Reich has been destroyed. And in the midst of it all is the Soviet occupation, which goes from bad to worse.
There are flaws. The very last ending scene was baffling to me, and felt as if it made the entire book empty and meaningless, not to mention out of character for "Joe Wilderness." There were scenes of awful things which felt as if they were only included to give a dark tone and grim, nihilist viewpoint. All Americans are portrayed as either dunces or corrupt. And the entire book seems to be a big build up as if Lawton loved JFK so much and just wanted to write a scene set during his speech in Berlin.
Overall the book was quite good and a nice easy read despite being fairly long and containing a few side trips that felt extraneous page-fillers. I knocked a star off for the bizarre "twist" ending.
The tale is about John Wilfrid Holderness ("Joe Wilderness"), cockney lad who grows up as a cat burglar during WW2, then ends up in the RAF after the war and because of his intellect and ease with languages is recruited by British Intelligence to serve in Germany. There, he gets involved in a large scale black market operation and runs into several people including a corrupt American officer.
Later, he's hired by the American now head of an ad agency in NYC to smuggle a woman out of East Berlin during JFK's visit.
The writing is quite well done and literate, which an interesting spin on characters. The history is solid and tells the tale of postwar Germany as it suffered awful lack of food and shelter, trying to rebuild and find out what it should be now that the Reich has been destroyed. And in the midst of it all is the Soviet occupation, which goes from bad to worse.
There are flaws. The very last ending scene was baffling to me, and felt as if it made the entire book empty and meaningless, not to mention out of character for "Joe Wilderness." There were scenes of awful things which felt as if they were only included to give a dark tone and grim, nihilist viewpoint. All Americans are portrayed as either dunces or corrupt. And the entire book seems to be a big build up as if Lawton loved JFK so much and just wanted to write a scene set during his speech in Berlin.
Overall the book was quite good and a nice easy read despite being fairly long and containing a few side trips that felt extraneous page-fillers. I knocked a star off for the bizarre "twist" ending.
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