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Herbie Kruger #1

Nostradamus Traitor Hardcover – May, 1979

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Into the cauldron of war went the Nostradamus operation . . . out of it came an even deadlier threat than the The Nostradamus TraitorBritain’s psychological warfare executive knew all about the Nazi belief in the occult. They hatched up a top secret plot to drive a rift between Himmler’s SS and the Wehrmacht by infilitrating phony Nostradamus quatrains into Germany. Thirty years later then unbelievable truth began to trickle Herbie Kruger of British Intelligence was given the delicate task of keeping the past well and truly buried . . .

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1979

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About the author

John Gardner

113 books189 followers
Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960s, John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all, Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker.

Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

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5 stars
349 (39%)
4 stars
317 (35%)
3 stars
158 (17%)
2 stars
47 (5%)
1 star
21 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
43 reviews1 follower
May 19, 2021
First of all, this book is exceptionally well researched and written. It is smart and interesting as well as complex. It is my fault that this took me forever to read (jeepers, five months looking at the dates below). It is like the marriage which is good enough to stay in but not nearly as good as you imagined. You stay because it is solid, not because it is exciting.

I almost stopped reading it so many times but always found its depth compelling enough to continue. It will also last with me for a long while. Even though a novel, the concepts of individual courage, country above self, love of another vs. love of country, are such powerful things to think about that it might be worth the almost glacial pace of the book.

The last 25% was quite good and good enough that I read that in a single day. But the rest? Part of it was my unusually slow reading pace, but the number of characters; characters who were actually someone else and jumping back and forth over a 30 year period would require me to pay very close attention and sometimes re-read pages. My knowledge of World War II and Nostradamus are pretty solid and while they aren't necessary for enjoying this book, they were helpful. Overall, the concept is genius but you need to like slow, complex World War II novels to really enjoy it.

Five stars for writing and research, but three overall for the experience. If you can read this in just a few sittings it will increase the experience significantly.
Profile Image for Gram.
542 reviews51 followers
February 27, 2017
Another in the Herbie Kruger spy series which begins with a German woman approaching a Yeoman Warden at the Tower of London and asking where her husband, a Nazi spy captured in 1941, was executed and buried.This strange request is passed on to Herbie who - 30 years after the war's end - subsequently uncovers a fantastical*(see footnote) World War II plot by British intelligence services to set senior Nazis against each other using the prophecies of Nostradamus.

Towards the book's conclusion, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler makes an appearance and various other leading Nazis get a name check as this convoluted spy thriller unfolds.

The story jumps back and forth in time, from the 1970's to 1941 and from England to France and back. It's nothing like a John le Carre novel, but it will satisfy fans of your average spy thriller.

Footnote - *Seriously, it's an incredible plan - even by the wackiest standards of any truly wacky intelligence plot.
Profile Image for Jeffrey.
224 reviews4 followers
July 2, 2019
Got this book and read it based on a recommendation that the series of three was very good by an author that I like a lot. It was a little slow going the first half of the book with alternations between present day 1970s and back to World War II. There were a few red herrings and I was kind of kept guessing until near the end. The second half was much better with some action and suspense . There were also some parts of the story that we're a little hard to believe but then again the Nazis were kind of crazy so who knows. The very ending of the book had a 5 digit code that was simulated handwritten but I have no idea what it means.
Profile Image for Bookfan36.
465 reviews
February 1, 2021
Brief synopsis from the book cover:

London, 1978.

Frau Fenderman approaches a warder at the Tower of London, asking questions about her husband – a Nazi spy who’d been imprisoned and executed there thirty years ago. But there’s no record of anyone called Claus Fenderman having ever been executed on British soil.

Tasked with investigating the mystery, British Intelligence Officer Herbie Kruger digs into the strange operations of the Psychological Warfare Executive. Beginning to put the pieces together, he discovers that the group was trying to push false occult predictions into the Nazi mind using the famous Nostradamus prophecies. But something had gone very, very wrong.

The deeper he delves into the investigation, the bigger and more dangerous the web becomes, for more than one of the participants in the Nostradamus Operation has something lethal to hide…
My rating:

Plot: 4 out of 5 stars
Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Character development: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for readers of:

Mystery and Suspense
Thriller

Review:

This is a great cold war spy novel. The plot keeps you on your toes, never quite certain what’s really going on. The book is well written with the right mixture of intrigue, mystery and suspense to keep you captivated till the end. The subject of the book, the Nostradamus prophecies being used as psychological warfare during WWII was intriguing. The characters are interesting typical cold war area cops and intelligence officers. Their actions were portrayed in great detail which made them realistic.

Overall:

An intriguing and original cold war era Spy novel that captures you with the right amount of mystery and suspense to keep you interested till the end. The book is well written, has interesting and realistic characters. Worth reading!
11 reviews1 follower
January 6, 2021
"The Nostradamus Traitor" by Herbie Kruger was an excellent, fast paced book with several unexpected twists and turns and several sub plots involving British intelligence operations from 1941 into the 1970s, the German SS and East German/ Soviet intelligence and espionage from the early 1940s into the 1970s, as German communists infiltrate first the SS and later British intelligence. Some of the communist agents assume the identities of anti Nazis killed in action. One of the several operations involved the British supplying a supposed Nostradamus scholar and occultist agent to feed rivalry between the SS and the Wiermacht, since the Germans were using Nostradamus predictions in anti Allied propaganda.
98 reviews
May 15, 2021
Confusing book by design. Terribly hard to get through.
Premise is to catch Russian spy’s although that isn’t made clear till very late in the book.
Begins in early 1930s and continues till 1978.
Can honestly say didn’t like or feel any empathy towards any of the characters.
Didn’t like the book at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Leo.
32 reviews
December 15, 2022
Good enough read until the ending; which is an utterly stupid and unnecessarily ridiculous way of ending such a story.
Profile Image for WyoGal.
498 reviews
July 7, 2021
Quit at 30%…too many cryptic tidbits to slog through

The story has a few nuggets of potential excitement, but they are crammed between way too much tedious information. The narrator/author blurs mundane tasks with spy data, code speak, jargon, acronyms, prophetic quatrains, music references, and inner dialog instead of crisply delineating conversations, flashbacks, and key information. There are numerous names, implied connections, and mentions of historical events, but it requires work to read the story, track the multiple meanings of all the nuances of every character interaction and his/her political affiliation, so much effort, that I’m not enjoying this novel, and I don’t care about the characters at all.

One third of the way through, and all that’s happened is a mysterious widow inquired about her mysterious husband’s burial site, and there’s been a report that she was shot at. Everything else is about a guy with a stupid smile gathering information about past events, told in past tense and not in a way the reader feels “present” for any interesting events or action.

I’m giving up on this story in order to read something else that allows my imagination to be immersed in the action as the story occurs. Reading this book feels like following around an archaeologist unearthing a grave who then speculates on what happened—as opposed to reading the story of the characters who ended up as the skeletons.
Profile Image for Michael Martz.
1,194 reviews45 followers
December 14, 2025
It's London, 1978, and a woman approaches a guard at The Tower to question the whereabouts of her husband's grave. Seems he was a Nazi spy during WWII and was executed by the Brits. Thus begins a saga that mixes history and fiction to fine effect.

When it becomes obvious that the woman's story has a few holes, experienced spy Herbie Kruger is handed the assignment to investigate. He discovers the involvement of a former colleague in the intrigue surrounding the dead Nazi spy, begins a series of interviews with the man to sort things out, and we readers are soon treated to a tale difficult to believe. It all leads back, in a story told in flashback chapters based on Kruger's interviews, to a project during the war to exploit Nazi interest in the occult by planting interpretations of Nostradamus' predictions to foment enmity between competing Nazi leaders.

As with most novels in this genre, lies, deception, duplicity, and more lies drive the plot. Gardner's use of the flashback chapters was most effective, as the interviews in the current day (1978) provided interpretation of events described in the flashbacks during the war. The entire disinformation project and its results seemed a little far out to me and the confrontation near the end was a bit over the top, but the final twist was a fitting conclusion to this tricky tale. I like the writing, spycraft, and characters so I'll seek out more from this author.
Profile Image for Carlos Mock.
973 reviews14 followers
January 30, 2021
The Nostradamus Traitor (Herbie Kruger Book 1) by John Gardner

I got a free copy of this book from Goodreads. In 1978, in London, Frau Hildegard Fenderman asks a London Tower Yeoman for information on her dead husband. She claims her husband, Claus Fenderman was shot dead on May 16, 1941, for spying for the Germans in WWII.

After it goes up the channels, the case lands in front of Eberhardt (Herbie) Kruger. As Herbie investigates, he comes into strange operations of the Psychological Warfare Executive. Beginning to put the pieces together, he discovers that the group was trying to push false occult predictions into the Nazi mind using the famous Nostradamus prophecies. But something had gone very, very wrong.

Narrated from the third person point of view, the plot takes place in two timelines: 1941 and 1978 in an intricate tangle of Cold War espionage vs German warfare.

I did not get drawn into the book. I thought the plot was incoherent and the characters were one-dimensional. Part of the problem is that they are multiple personalities - as we get deeper into the story one person becomes someone else, and then someone else again. Not a fan, even though it was an easy read.
Profile Image for Penroj.
106 reviews4 followers
October 17, 2021
This is the first "Herbie Kruger" book in the series and it is well written good old fashioned story telling. A Frau Fenderman arrives at the Tower of London asking about her dead husband who was executed in WWII as a spy whilst in England.

Herbie is assigned to check out the ladies request, and so begins a fascinating story delving into a mission in the second world war, which has repercussions in the time this book is set (late 70's during the Cold War), the story is told in flashback to that mission and John Gardner brings in known historic knowledge to help authenticate and boost the story. Who is Frau Fenderman?, what has the current deputy director of intelligence have to do with this?, why are the Germans and Americans so reticent to help or provide requested information? Herbie methodically digs away to uncover all these answers and more.

I felt the story moved at a fair pace and kept me intrigued throughout, the author tells a fascinating tale bringing to life some great characters, well worth a read.
Profile Image for Mark.
162 reviews4 followers
March 31, 2021
A German woman shows up at the Tower of London in England looking for information about her husband, a Nazi spy, who supposedly was buried in London. Herbie of British Intelligence investigates and finds no records of this until he finds some top security files on Operation Nostradamus, a plan to sew dissension among the top Nazi leaders who followed the writings of Nostradamus. While Herbie investigates someone tries to kill the German woman and later, Herbie. The plot jumps around a bit and could have been better, but it was an OK spy novel.
323 reviews
October 29, 2024
Highly recommended.

I didn't enjoy this author's Bond sequels after Fleming had passed but I read them when I was very young, so I don't completely trust my ability to have appreciated them back then. If they were anything like this book, I missed the boat. In all fairness to myself, I have read other reviews recently saying his Bond series is silly and unbelievable. But then, Bond always did stretch reality.

This was very good. Grounded in reality. I would classify it as an espionage procedural. I will definitely read the next one in the serires.
49 reviews1 follower
April 27, 2020
Fiction, I know, but I believed every word.

A gripping tale with deep characters exploring the slow uncovering of a spy. You are taken through the doubts and assumptions fed into the workings of the spy-catcher's art with realistic dialogue and shown around the foot slogging methods. It is clear that everyone involved has human traits, no matter how well they are trained to hide them. I loved it.
233 reviews3 followers
January 13, 2021
Good Read

It has been a long time since I have read book about W W II. It was a bit of a history lesson. Mr. Gardner 's book is well written. It was thought provoking and kept my interest at a high level though the entire book. The characters provided excellent background for the war. The only downside was the switching of names at the end. It was hard to figure out who was who. I still gave it five stars.
532 reviews6 followers
July 16, 2021
Intriguing

Heroes, heroines and out and out traitors/double agents, but which is which? An outstanding mysterious spy thriller front start to finish but who is who? As the book goes through the history of what did or did not happen we are immersed in vagaries of double dealing, side switching and out ànd out lies. Throughout a number of characters emerge as possibilities for the traitor but the ending will floor the reader as the impossible becomes a reality.
Profile Image for Allen Gregory.
Author 5 books5 followers
July 18, 2021
If You're Looking For An Easy-Peasy Read...
... this ain't it. But if you're looking for a challenging tale full of complex characters, unusual situations, and lots of twists and turns till the very end, well then, you should definitely read this book. It takes a while to fully set the premise, so if you're expecting non-stop action from the get-go, you'll be disappointed. But if you can persevere till the end, you'll be rewarded with a satisfying wrap-up. Excellent start to a series.
15 reviews
July 24, 2021
Mixed review, but good read.

This turned out to be a fun read, but had some serious flaws. In the beginning, and again towards the end, I found it very confusing and difficult to track the characters. While the details were given, there were so many that it was hard to recall them all. At the end, as i was sitting it all out in my mind, it just ended--abruptly. So while there were these flaws, it was still a good mystery, that i enjoyed.
Profile Image for iain  finlayson.
27 reviews3 followers
October 3, 2018
This is my first John Gardner book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I must admit I liked the character and central protagonist of Herbie Kruger and for me, he was very believable. I liked the way the story developed and the way the pieces slowly fitted together. I liked the twist at the end of the book.
Profile Image for Steve Folan.
49 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2020
A great spy thriller that moves between 1941 and 1978. The tension gradually increases. It is as good as Len Deighton, Mick Herron and John Le Carre and I'm looking forward to reading others in the series. John Gardner has written some of the James Bond books (the better ones) but this is a step up.
3 reviews
January 1, 2021
Amazing spy novel set in the WWII and Cold War periods!

This is a brilliantly crafted complex story which had me guessing right up to the last few chapters. You come to admire the two main characters, even to like them, and that alone shows a little of what makes this novel so compelling.
767 reviews8 followers
March 3, 2021
A quality read.

An outstanding quality spy story from a great author right up there with the absolute master John Le Carre , and in Herbie Kruger a superb character to rival Smiley Absorbing clever with a mix of fictional characters fitted in and around real characters and events. Atmospheric descriptive imaginative a total page turner.
Profile Image for Carol L. Caldwell.
Author 9 books8 followers
January 3, 2023
Confusing

The plot was solid, well interwoven. The characters were well defined. However I had a hard time visualizing places and events. Maybe it was the vernacular of British English, or slang used in police/investigative work. George's narrative was long and separated the flow of the story. The end seemed a bit improbable.
Profile Image for Ellen Church.
243 reviews6 followers
July 17, 2023
Written in 1979, it is like many contemporaneous books in that characters are only briefly sketched, but the book is plot driven. And what a plot! Spies double crossing and triple crossing, the horrors of war stripping identities and scruples from everyone, and the inexorable grind of the seemingly unstoppable Nazi war machine.... it was a good read.
Profile Image for Allan.
239 reviews12 followers
February 19, 2020
A re-read for me, after perhaps 30 plus years. A real novel of the cold war written at the end of the 70s. Very much of its time but stands up as a ripping yarn with a twist in the tail. Thoroughly enjoyable.
8 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2021
Spellbinding Spy Tale

An intriguing woman turns up in 1978 London, and the intelligence service wants to know more. What they uncover threatens the present while tracing the past all the way to '30's Europe and WWII France and Germany.
130 reviews1 follower
January 14, 2021
Superb. I followed the double bluff but was taken in by the triple and quadruple ones! A well written believable espionage tale set in the second World War and the present day. I cannot wait for the next one.
2 reviews
January 19, 2021
As others have mentioned, start is slow but subsequently the recall of WW2 events is enthralling. The conclusion left me mentally unsettled: some logic nominally in the author's thinking eluded me. At the end I still uncertain regarding the list of double agents.
499 reviews5 followers
January 23, 2021
An espionage thriller. British Intelligence Officer Herbie Kruger is tasked into looking into a claim by Frau Fenderman that her husband – a Nazi spy, was executed at the Tower of London 30 years earlier. This sets in motion a series of events and leads to an outstanding conclusion.
170 reviews
January 31, 2021
Very good story

This is a very good and interesting story. Plenty of action, if that is what you are looking for. Plenty of twist and turns especially at the end. The world of spying and espionage brought to life in a very good story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews