Every Spy A Traitor - Alex Gerlis

 

First book of brand new series by prolific Alex Gerlis

Published by Canelo, Every Spy a Traitor, is the first in a prospective four part Double Agent espionage series by Alex Gerlis. The series will cover a dramatic 20 year period from the start of WW2, to the freezing of relations resulting in the Cold War .

It is 1937, as fascism is on the rise across continental Europe, fear is equally in the ascendancy. British Intelligence is trying to work out who the enemy is; whilst they have a spy amongst their own ranks named simply 'Archie'. 

Charles Cooper, a young British writer, is travelling through Europe seeking a story for his next novel. Yet his quest for research means that fact and fiction are going to merge together sharply and put him at the forefront of his next story.

Gerlis who came to prominence with the Spies series in books, is a passionate historian as well as a good yarn teller; those two passions finding a marriage together as the story of Cooper is relayed.

The first half of the book, which shows Cooper travelling the European railways and countries before the Second World War commences when Poland is invaded by Hitler's Germany; Cooper's journey is a romantic one full of notions and impulses of freedom. 

The second half when we become privy to Archie's true identity is heart-racing as Gerlis navigates the political landscape and ever shifting questions of loyalty abound in the back rooms. Little morsels of details such as an assassin dressed in a Cambridge University gown so as not to warrant suspicion on the school grounds is a delight especially; as are the ability to embrace historical fact with a highly digestable story much like Ken Lussey does in his Bob Sutherland novels. 

This is a whip-crack entertaining read full of nuggets of historical detail and full of great characterisation that while of the time also feel relevant to today's day and age. Top notch stuff from an established writer in total command of his powers seemingly.

Every Spy A Traitor is released from Canelo on 6th June on all formats.

My thanks to Canelo for the review opportunity.

Agent in Berlin - Alex Gerlis

 

New spy thriller by Alex Gerlis from Canelo out 4th November

Alex Gerlis is a writer of spy thrillers, following in the great heritage of British spy authors such as John Le Carre and Frederick Forsyth, he bases his tales in the past in and around the second world war primarily, looking back at the past and finding tales to create historical fiction with a huge dose of influence by accurate depictions of figures who were in and around the actual turning of history.

His most recent book, Agent in Berlin, is set around the spymaster ring set up by British intelligence in the German capital as a reaction to the worrying trend of fascism and Nazism rising in profile from 1933 with the abhorrent attack on the Jewish people. Gerlis tells the story of spymaster, Barnaby Allen who recruits a network of allies from all sides to forge a bond against the Third Reich as they begin to gain power. He recruits a German homosexual, an American journalist and the wife of a Nazi commander amongst others, despite constant danger the ring discover plans for a new German fighter plane better than the illustrious Spitfires and Hurricanes.

The tension wracked up by the author in his numerous scenes are so well handled; depicting a time of terror and worry in a prominent city that slowly becomes more and more like a prison, the colour evaporating from the buildings and its inhabitants as Germany go on a course of cleansing of those they believe to be inferior to the supposed superior Aryan race.

The key character or agent Allen endorses is that of a spy in the Japanese embassy, who finds intelligence that Japan in an alliance with Germany are to attack the United States and bring them into the war. The action runs from 1933 when the seed is sown and up to early 1942 after Pearl Harbor has taken place with USA now making it a second world war.

There is a lot of pleasure to be taken from the reading of this novel, from Gerlis' well researched on life in Berlin to the touching points of the 1936 Berlin Olympics when in the character of Jack Miller he has a conduit of a fish out of water but also a spectator at something truly ground-breaking such as Jesse Owens' miraculous achievements under the hateful eyes of Der Fuhrer. 

The character, Miller also side bars into football commentary travelling around to see Schalke and Hamburg those heralded footballing hotbeds of Germany during the war and it allows Gerlis - a life-long Grimsby Town supporter - to use his love of football as a plot device, which for this reader was greeted with great relish. Some of the games mentioned are factually correct in the Bundesliga as well as the Olympic ties

In conclusion, this is my second Gerlis read. I read Prince of Spies last year and while that was a continuing story in a series. This stand alone novel is full of tension and drama, handling the arcs of all characters expertly with an end result bringing a neat resolution to proceedings.

Agent In Berlin is released from Canelo on Thursday 4th November