Dead Men Living

Charlie Muffin #12

by Brian Freemantle

In Siberia, a sudden thaw uncovers two murder victims that had been frozen for 50 years, as well as a host of disturbing questions. Since each is dressed in the uniform of a WW II Allied officer, Russian authorities decide to invite agents from England and the United States to join in a collaborative effort to discover the truth behind the murders. Charlie Muffin, the British operative, is having enough problems without traveling to the hell-on-earth that is Siberia, but once there he begins to suspect that this might be just his sort of case. His phones are tapped, his own government seems to be against him, and his fellow agents are as uncooperative as the corpses they're investigating. When Charlie finally identifies the bodies, he finds he's unearthed a secret that all three governments will kill to put back in the ground -- even if he has to go there with it.Dead Men Living is the much-anticipated next thriller in Brian Freemantle's acclaimed Charlie Muffin series, and as his fans and critics will agree, it's his best yet.

Genres: Espionage, Fiction, Crime

345 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 2000

About the author

Aka John Maxwell, Jonathan Evans, Jack Winchester, Harry Asher and Richard Gant.

Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.

Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.

Reviews

[Sfilante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this if you like your spy stories complicated. There are a lot of people and organizations from different countries trying to solve the mysterious appearance of 3 bodies which have been buried in Siberia for half a century and many others trying to prevent anyone getting close to the truth.
Charlie Muffin is not your American superhero killing off bad guys. He is smart, likes to be underestimated, has a knack for alienating the people he works for, and has sore feet.
This is a high-stakes game of wits. I had no idea what would be discovered and I enjoyed learning along with Charlie as he guesses and manipulates his way to the truth.

[Dell Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a decent read. Perhaps reading Charlie Muffin in order would help. Not sure my brain was up to speed jumping from scene to scene, Brits MI6, Yanks OSS, Russians NKVD and of course the Nazis. I prefer major historical events and timing to be respected and incorporated, not reality suspended and ignored. When the Russians made it to Hitler's bunker & hostilities ceased (VE Day, May 8, '45 the American army was 200 miles away on the Elbe. The American army didn't enter Berlin until July. Chlordiazepoxide/librium (p. 306) wasn't patented until 1960. Freemantle's writing style and plot is interesting, I will give him another try.

[Diogenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

International intrigue, murder and cover-up. Much of the fun the Charlie Muffin books is seeing inside the minds and chess-like strategies for guessing what an opponent is thinking and planning multiple moves ahead to win the day. The David and Goliath triumphs of reverse snobbery are also a pleasure (unless you happen to be one of the privileged).

[Adolfo Ramon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of putting british always in first gets me a little. Of course, it's a british author telling a story about a british spy, but I'd love to see a little more of challenging over British government, as it happened in See Charlie Run, for example.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freemantle’s Muffin is always a good read.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

to many characters to keep up with

[Shawn MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie Muffin does not disappoint.

[Bob Stenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading about Charlie Muffin. I will definitely another book of Brian Freemantle.

[Holly Foskett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didnntay have a clue what was going on- suppose if I read the ones before hand I’d know.

[BettyAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. Very exciting. I think it took place in the late 90's, end of the Cold War-- was interesting to read about what happened after WWII with the Russians and the allies. I never knew about the prison camps in Syberia and there was a blurb about JUST this situation on the news! That was neat.
I only gave it 4 stars because there were some parts I got lost. Lots of inference on stuff that i didn't get at all!!! So maybe this book was just too smart for me!? But I did enjoy the whole story, frustrating politics, intrigue, personal relationships.

[Cathy Allington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. And that is something I hate. it wasn't the worst written book I have read. It was just heavy going to try and get into the plot. sorry, there are just too many good books out there to waste time reading something which is too hard to get into

[Gigi]

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