(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Author Alex Gerlis http://alexgerlis.com published the book Agent in Berlin in early November. He has published nine novels, with this being the first in his Wolf Pack Spies series.
I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this book as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of violence, mature language, and adult situations.
Barnaby Allen leaves the world of horse racing and joins MI6. With a bit of training and a natural talent for people, he assembles a network of spies in Germany. Some join because they are appalled at the Nazis. Others must be encouraged through blackmail. A few do not even realize they are revealing secrets to the British.
It is slow work with the need to trust prospective agents only after they have proven themselves. The primary agents are an odd assortment. An American journalist. The gay Jewish horse race enthusiast. An officer in the Luftwaffe. A Japanese diplomat. The wife of a dedicated SS officer.
The intelligence they turn up is first-rate. Living constantly under the threat of the Gestapo takes its toll. The British are sure that a war with Germany is coming. They begin to build their network of agents as early as 1935. As the Nazis gain more power, the information gathered is more important than ever. But the risks grow as well. Many agents do not survive.
I enjoyed the 10 hours I spent reading this 411-page WWII spy thriller. This is the third novel by Gerlis that I have read (The others are Prince of Spies and Ring of Spies). I have enjoyed each and every one of them! This novel shares some characters from his ‘Richard Prince’ series. Gerlis’ novels remind me of those written by Helen MacInnes, Ladislas Farago, and Alistair MacLean. I like the cover art selected for the novel. I rate this book as a 5 out of 5.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
—–
If you have an interest in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
- The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 560 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II era in history.
- The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
- The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.
John's Notes 