A pitch perfect, classic Cold War Spy novel. Catesby is an English spy from the wrong side of the tracks, send to Berlin, crossing paths with the famed Man Without a Face, Markus Wolf, the head of east German intelligence. The romance and the espionage tradecraft are well handled. If you like Le Carre, you will like this. Recommended. ( )

Nearly forty years ago my grandmother's response to watching 'The Sting' was, 'Och, well, I'm none the wiser!' which has passed down into family lore as a byword for utter bemusement.

That was how I felt reading this book. It certainly started well complementing Wilson's previous book 'The Envoy'. This is not exactly a sequel as it fits around the events in the earlier book, telling the story from a different perspective. It did, however, suddenly lurch from London to Pest in Hungary. I presume I must have blinked or something because I felt completely lost. None the wiser, in fact. I was reading it in e-book form so I wondered whether someone had deleted part of it in transit!

As with The Envoy, Wilson cleverly merged real events with his Byzantine plot, and the principal protagonist, William Catesby, is very sympathetic, battling against class prejudice as he works his way up the greasy pole of the secret service.

I am, however, not convinced overall that the story was sufficiently rewarding for the mental effort required. ( )

Low key, but excellent. Thoroughly enjoyable. Interesting narrative, strong characters, captivating prose. ( )