Alex Gerlis

Vienna Spies by Alex Gerlis
Vienna Spies engages readers from its very opening and continues to keep us riveted until the very end. Obviously, it is a story of espionage, intrigue, suspense, and danger. What makes it particularly compelling arises from its setting: Vienna, Austria.
As the novel progresses the ruthless, and violent repressive tactics of the Nazi forces controlling the city become clear in lurid detail. At the same time, it is clear the war has begun to wind down and the allied forces of the US, the UK, and the USSR each understand that their alliances will soon end. They understand that they will become rivals in attempting to control Austria after the war. The USSR will want to annex and subdue it; the other Allies will want it to be a free and sovereign nation.
Thus, the novel pits three enemies against one another, the Germans, the British/Americans, and the Soviets creating a tension which only heightens and becomes more intense as the novel progresses.
The writing is good, if not memorable, and the story is tightly controlled, full of detail yet not too much of it. Settings seem authentic and the characters feel life-like. The deprivation and desperation of the occupied nation and its citizens contrasts fully with their loyalty to the very nation which oppresses them, just as it actually did during the war.
A strength of the book is its list of characters found at the beginning of the book. This is a list that certainly comes in handy as readers see the behaviors and the motives of one character after another while trying to keep in mind which character fights for which of the antagonists.
The author, Alex Gerlis, presents characters in such a way as to make each individual, clearly delineated from other characters. Now and again, he does rely upon stereotypes in portraying some characters, particularly those which are British, but this small fault does not detract from the overall quality of the book.
The novels of Alan Furst also tell stories of espionage during WW II, and Gerlis’s works compare very favorably to those well-known novels by Furst. Those of us who enjoy WW II espionage stories will be very happy they encountered Gerlis and will want to read all of his books.
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Author Alex Gerlis offers this tense tale of espionage during WW II. In it, the relationship between Germany and Switzerland becomes the basis of the spy operation the novel presents. The relationship depicted is based on the actual unsavory relationship of the war.
The central character, Henry Hunter aka Henri Hesse, operates between Switzerland and Germany as an agent for both the British and the Russians. The British send him on perilous missions to retrieve valuable documents and information which he also shares with the Russians. As a dual citizen of both Switzerland and Germany, he is ideal for the job and his personal characteristics make him quite good at it. The danger and intrigue of the work make him cautious, but the things he sees and must do make him vulnerable to his own human nature.
The novel is populated with a multitude of characters, but, as in all of Gerlis' spy adventures, there is a guide to the characters at the front of the book. That guide gives nothing away about the plot while also being helpful to the reader as he follows it.
The novel reads easily and the compelling nature of the plot engages the reader completely. Every incident seems authentic and credible despite the fact that most are the creations of Gerlis' wonderful artistic insights.
There are some scenes in the novel which are rather gruesome and detailed, but they are not gratuitous and are essential to the overall storyline of the book. Fortunately, these scenes are early in the novel and there are few of them.
This is the second spy novel by Gerlis that I've read and enjoyed. I do not think his novels are quite as good as the espionage novels of Alan Furst, but for lovers of this type of fiction, both authors offer worthwhile reads.… (más)