Confessor

Herbie Kruger #5

by John Gardner

Retired and miserable, Big Herbie searches for an old friend’s killers

Heartbroken and unemployed, Herbie Kruger has turned to the bottle. Over decades in the Secret Intelligence Service, he has learned to hold his liquor well—pairing his scotch with English agents and vodka with the Russians—but lately, he’s been going to pieces. And it will take an old friend’s death to draw him out of his funk—and back into the line of fire. Fellow retiree Gus Keene was driving down a quiet street when his car erupted into a ball of fire. The Service’s “Chief Confessor,” Keene was an interrogation specialist, willing to do anything to get answers. As Big Herbie digs into his friend’s murder, he finds evidence of a widespread terrorist network. But the reason for Gus’s killing may be connected to his secret magic. As Big Herbie digs deeper into the cutthroat world of professional illusionism, the more likely it is that someone will make him disappear.  

Genres: Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

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.

Reviews

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

8 oct 17, sunday evening, finished this one on the tree stand, 'bout a quarter after five, good story. i liked it. 3 stars. 1st from gardner for me, too, library loan, kindle.

[Michael Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Confessor" begins with the apparent death of Gus, a former superstar interrogator (confessor) with Britain's spy services in a car bomb attack. The deceased man's old acquaintance, Herbie Kruger, is coaxed out of retirement to investigate. Herbie pulls together a team but relies mostly on his own instincts to make progress, which he eventually does when he discovers a hidden room in the dead man's home that reveals an entire hidden side to Gus's life.

It's the 1990's, the world is in turmoil with lots of terrorist activity going on, and an Iraqi team is wreaking havoc across Europe. Was Gus a victim? An IRA group with ties to the Iraqis is likewise active and is making plans to eliminate a few people it holds a grudge against, Herbie among them. The Iraqis plan a major attack against the American and British seats of government and Herbie, although technically focused on tracking down Gus's murderer, becomes entwined in the efforts to stop the terrorist plot.

I'm a big fan of the Kruger series but Gardner did a bit too much detail in examining Gus's secret life. I realize it was a metaphor for the secrecy of the work performed in the British spy world, but it was a bit much in my opinion. Otherwise, Confessor was a nice addition to the Kruger series. The writing was fine, Kruger's a great character, the story was a bit complicated but otherwise well crafted, and the conclusion was a bit of a surprise although logical.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better and better…

I have come to love the Herbie Kruger series and will at some point re-read them all. They have the flair of Le Carré with the grit of Deighton and a touch of Ma’am Agatha!

This was something of a departure as a spy novel, I won’t say more because I don’t want to spike to plot for anyone, but there are more than a few surprises.

[Mike Hambrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Herbie’s last adventure

I have been fan of John Gardner since reading my first James Bond novel, Role of Honour. Later I learned he wrote other books as well. I eventually picked up the Secrets Trilogy, which led me to Herbie Kruger and I was hooked.

[Larry West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last of the Barbie Kruger series as
Nd maybe the best.

[Philip Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb

A really good espionage story full of hard boiled characters and a mixture of IRA and the middle East with a great extra treat of magicians

[Jennifer Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good spy thriller type of book. I thought it was a bit slow to start with but a good book