British author Lawton is one of the unsung heroes of espionage tales. Over the years, he has created an elegant grey universe of ordinary people lost in the winds of political change and intrigue that is reminiscent of John Le Carre at his best, but has seldom attracted equal attention. He has long been an expert bringing to life historical periods of the recent past in the 7 titles to date of his Inspector Troy series and in the process built an entrancing chronicle of post-Empire Britain, some minor characters of which return in this stand-alone novel in which John Holderness, a rascal-like black market entrepreneur is recruited into postwar MI6 and assigned to cold war Berlin. His story spans two decades into the 1960s and is a meticulous recreation of a fascinating era and city but also a gripping thriller with all the right ingredients and surprises.
';A stylish spy thriller' of postwar Berlinthe first in a thrilling new series from the acclaimed author of the Inspector Troy Novels (TheNew York Times Book Review). John Wilfrid Holdernessaka Joe Wildernesswas a young Cockney cardsharp surviving the London Blitz before he started crisscrossing war-torn Europe as an MI6 agent. With the war over, he's become a ';free-agent gumshoe' weathering Cold War fears and hard-luck times. But now he's being drawn back into the secret ops business when an ex-CIA agent asks him to spearhead one last venture: smuggle a vulnerable woman out of East Berlin. Arriving in Germany, Wilderness soon discovers he's being played as a pawn in a deadly game of atomic proportions. To survive, he must follow a serpentine trail through his own past, into the confidence of an unexpected lover, and go dangerously deep into a black market scam the likes of which Berlin has never seen. The author of the acclaimed Inspector Troy Novels, ';Lawton's gift for atmosphere, memorable characters and intelligent plotting has been compared to John le Carre.... Never mind the comparisonsLawton can stand up on his own, and Then We Take Berlin is a gem' (The Seattle Times). ';[The Joe Wilderness novels] are meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the mold of... Alan Furst, Phillip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanon.' The Wall Street Journal ';[It] will thrill readers with an interest in WWII and the early Cold War era.' Publishers Weekly, starred review ';A wonderfully complex and nuanced thriller.' Kirkus Reviews
