Moscow Exile: A Joe Wilderness Novel

Joe Wilderness #4

by John Lawton

From “quite possibly the best historical novelist we have” ( Philadelphia Inquirer ), the fourth Joe Wilderness spy thriller, moving from Red Scare-era Washington, D.C. to a KGB prison near Moscow’s Kremlin In Moscow Exile , John Lawton departs from his usual stomping grounds of England and Germany to jump across the Atlantic to Washington, D.C., in the fragile postwar period where the Red Scare is growing noisier every day.  Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in the nation’s capital with her second husband, a man who looks intriguingly like Clark Gable, but her enviable dinner parties and soirées aren’t the only things she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the Soviet Union. Charlie is soon shocked to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to all her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share. Two decades or so later, in 1969, Joe Wilderness is stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, held captive by the KGB, a chip in a game way above his pay grade—but his old friends Frank and Eddie are going to try to spring him out of the toughest prison in the world. All roads lead back to Berlin, and to the famous Bridge of Spies… Featuring crackling dialogue, brilliantly plotted Cold War intrigue, and the return of beloved characters, including Inspector Troy, Moscow Exile is a gripping thriller populated by larger-than-life personalities in a Cold War plot that feels strangely in tune with our present.

Genres: Fiction, Espionage, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Novels, Russia, Mystery

448 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2023

About the author

John Lawton is a producer/director in television who has spent much of his time interpreting the USA to the English, and occasionally vice versa. He has worked with Gore Vidal, Neil Simon, Scott Turow, Noam Chomsky, Fay Weldon, Harold Pinter and Kathy Acker. He thinks he may well be the only TV director ever to be named in a Parliamentary Bill in the British House of Lords as an offender against taste and balance. He has also been denounced from the pulpit in Mississippi as a `Communist,’ but thinks that less remarkable.

He spent most of the 90s in New York – among other things attending the writers’ sessions at The Actors’ Studio under Norman Mailer – and has visited or worked in more than half the 50 states. Since 2000 he has lived in the high, wet hills ofDerbyshire England, with frequent excursions into the high, dry hills of Arizona and Italy.

He is the author of 1963, a social and political history of the Kennedy-Macmillan years, six thrillers in the Troy series and a stand-alone novel, Sweet Sunday.

In 1995 the first Troy novel, Black Out, won the WH Smith Fresh Talent Award. In 2006 Columbia Pictures bought the fourth Troy novel Riptide. In 2007 A Little White Death was a New York Times notable.

In 2008 he was one of only half a dozen living English writers to be named in the London Daily Telegraph‘s `50 Crime Writers to Read before You Die.’ He has also edited the poetry of DH Lawrence and the stories of Joseph Conrad. He is devoted to the work of Franz Schubert, Cormac McCarthy, Art Tatum and Barbara Gowdy. (source: http://www.johnlawtonbooks.com)

He was born in 1949 in England.

Reviews

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happened to Joe Wilderness? Read on …

At the end of the third book in this series (‘Hammer to Fall’), Joe Holderness (known as Wilderness) was left on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. Fortunately, he survived. The novel opens in 1969, when Joe did not appear at the Glienicke Bridge, and then shifts back to Washington towards the beginning of World War II. Charlotte, a British expatriate and related to Winston Churchill by marriage, has settled in Washington with her second husband. Charlie Leigh-Hunt, friend of Inspector Troy of Scotland Yard, is posted to Washington to replace Guy Burgess who has defected to the Russians. But Guy Burgess was not the only person working on behalf of the Russians.

Mr Lawton builds his story slowly and I needed to pay careful attention to try not to miss anything important. I was reading about Charlotte and Charlie, and wondering when Joe Wilderness would appear. And then, the action shifts to Russia and much of my curiosity was satisfied and most of my questions were answered. This is a rewarding read but I would recommend reading the series in order: character development and history are both important.

If you enjoy spy novels and have not yet read the Joe Wilderness series, I highly recommend it. And now I wonder what will happen next.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Carole Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Espionage and other exploits post-WWII with an engaging set of characters.

What makes someone become a spy? In this engrossing tale, we find that the answer is far from simple and certainly is not one-size-fits-all. We meet (or, for those who have read previous novel by John Lawton, are re-introduced to) two groups of people whose paths cross and whose lives become entangled. The novel begins, and ends, in Prague, on Glienicke Bridge the infamous Bridge of Spies. There we meet members of group one, Frank and Eddie, whose somewhat shady joint dealings began back in the WWII years. Joining them is Freddie, aka Lord Frederick Troy. They are there to exchange a briefcase full of cash for Joe Holderness (Joe Wilderness to many), who has connections to all three men and who has been imprisoned in Russia by General Zolotukhina after a previous spy exchange went awry. Well, in some ways it went according to plan and in other ways it most definitely did not, but isn’t that the way life goes sometimes? The General’s son Kostya has connections to Joe, Frank and Eddie, and maybe that has something to do with why the General snatched Joe, but no one is quite sure what the General’s true goal is. A perennial challenge when dealing with spies, you can never be certain that you know what they’re going to do, or why. Then there is group two, of which Freddie/Lord Troy, former copper, sometime spy and now the British Ambassador to Russia (although he’d really rather just be back on his farm raising pigs) is part. His brother is Something Important in the British government, and keeps roping Freddie into doing work for Her Majesty’s government. Freddie’s boyhood chum, Charlie Leigh-Hunt, is another member of this group, as is Charlotte “Coky” Churchill. Schumacher. Redmaine. All her last name, and all genuine….her husbands just keep dying on her. Charlie and Coky, members of upper class British society, both find themselves in DC. Charlie has been sent there to replace Guy Burgess, at the British Embassy there (Burgess, along with another high ranking Brit named Donald Maclean having been found to be spying for the Soviets). The American intelligence community is livid, and not likely to extend much trust to Charlie. Meanwhile, Coky (loosely based on the infamous Pamela Harriman) is living a charmed ex-pat life, a hostess of great renown in political and social circles at her home with husband #2. But the Soviets still have spies at work in DC, well-placed and above reproach. The Red Scare is in full bloom, and rightly so. Who is spying because they are true believers in a communists utopia? Who’s doing it for the money? And what other reasons lie beneath the surface? Betrayal comes in many guises.

As is generally the case with John Lawton novels, Moscow Exile is both full of action and chicanery. Figuring out who is who, and how one relates to another, is part of the fun, and there is much fun to be had. Wonderful turns of phrase and that uniquely British vein of humor are plentiful as well. Neither the spies nor those chasing them are fully corrupt or totally above board, but they all have their charm. This is a fantastic novel of espionage, but it is so much more: a slice of history from a pivotal moment in time, a travelogue, a peak at life in Moscow in the early days of the Brezhnev regime, and an exploration into some of the reasons that people chose to spy on their own country. It is not at all necessary to have read previous Lawton books in order to throughly enjoy this one, I have read some but not all (and am looking to rectify the omission as soon as I can). Lawton fans will enjoy this outing, as will readers of Charles Cumming, John Le Carre, and other leading lights of the genre. I recommend it highly, and many thanks to NetGalley and to Morgan Entrekin of Grove Atlantic for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy of Moscow Exile.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A breezily opaque multi decade spy novel (LeCarre is dourly opaque) with too many moving parts as Lawton shoehorns in most of his characters from the Troy and Wilderness series. (It also requires too much knowledge of previous books/narratives.) Posits that there was a minor, forgotten traitor/defector in the English secret services: a 6th man? who has knowledge of a major spy still in the US.
Also: Fred Trueman was a fast bowler, not a spin bowler.

[Bxholland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff. I think every one of lawtons characters makes an appearance and gets tied up.

[Jackie Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't gripped by reading about the Russian spies who infiltrated the UK back in the '60s

[Karen Agee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting info on how the spy game worked during that period of history. Flows well with each of the major characters having their own chapters yet showing their interactions with each other. A good, easy read.

[David Prestidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some writers who have authored different series occasionally allow the main characters to meet each other, provided that they are contemporaries, of course. I’m pretty sure that Michael Connolly has allowed Micky Haller to bump into Harry Bosch, while Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone certainly knew each other in their respective series by Robert J Parker. Did Spenser ever join them in a (chaste) threesome? I don’t remember. John Lawton’s magnificent Fred Troy series ended with Friends and Traitors (2017), and since then he has been writing the Joe Wilderness books, of which this is the fourth. I can report, with some delight, that in the first few pages we not only meet Fred, but also Meret Voytek, the tragic heroine of A Lily of the Field, and her saviour – Fred’s sometime lover and former wife, Larissa Tosca. As an aside, for me A Lily of the Field is not only the best book John Lawton has ever written, but the most harrowing and heartbreaking account of Auschwitz ever penned.

https://fullybooked2017.com/2016/07/1...


The notional central character in this novel is Joe Wilderness, although he does not appear until the half way point of the book. For readers new to Joe, a bit of background. First, his real surname is Holderness – his nickname rather cleverly reflects a character who is beyond the pale of conventional loyalty and morality. His WW2 service career was marked by insubordination and bootlegging, and his eye for the main chance found him operating various scams in post war Berlin, where his deviousness brought him to the attention of the British intelligence agencies. Since then, he has been involved in various covert operations on behalf the government – and himself.

The background action in Moscow Exile begins with the activities and subsequent shock-waves caused by the scandal of The Cambridge Five – Burgess, Maclean, Philby, Cairncross and Blunt – pillars of the British establishment who were actively working for Moscow in the 1950s, but the novel has a wide timespan – from the late 1940s to 1969. Charlie Leigh-Hunt, a British toff with a distinguished WW2 record carries the story for a while, as he is sent to be chief spook in Washington after the hurried departure of Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby. Charlie has an affair with Charlotte ‘Coky’ Shumaker a British socialiter, whose husband is Senator Bob Redmaine – a thinly disguised version of Joe McCarthy, he of the notorious anti communist witch hunts. Ironically, Coky is in the pay of Russia, as is Charlie, who eventually ends up as a Moscow resident.

Joe Wilderness has also, since a disastrous attempted prisoner exchange on a Berlin bridge between the East and West sectors, been a guest of the KGB, and Lawton sets up a delicious plot twist when Fred Troy – now a Lord, and a British diplomat – is persuaded to be ‘Our Man In Moscow.’ Again, readers new to Lawton’s books might welcome some background on Fred

https://fullybooked2017.com/2018/02/2...

The plotting, by this stage, in terms of bluff and double-bluff, makes John le Carré look like Enid Blyton but, to cut to the chase, HM government decides that it is too dangerous to allow Joe to remain in Moscow, and so he has to be ‘extracted’. It doesn’t hurt that Joe’s father in law, Colonel Burne-Jones is a senior figure in MI5, and his boss – Roderick Troy – is both Home Secretary and Fred’s brother. Normally, spies are only released in exchange for other spies, but the woman handling the Russian end of things, General Volga Vasilievna Zolotukhina is just as big a crook as Joe, and she wants money – £25,000 in the proverbial used notes.

Publicists and other book people who make lists might dub this the fourth Joe Wilderness novel but, for me, it’s the latest saga in Fred Troy’s career – and all the better for it. It is a dazzling and erudite journey down the complex back roads of Cold War diplomacy and skullduggery. Lawton is one of our finest writers, and every page he writes is pure pleasure. Moscow Exile is published by Grove Press and will be available on 4th May.

[Luis Gouveia · Rating 5 out of 5]

To fully appreciate Moscow Exile, it helps to have read most of the series.

This book serves as a direct sequel to Hammer to Fall while also continuing threads from The Little White Death (written much earlier). It revisits Charlie’s story — showing both what became of him and offering new glimpses into his past. There are also clear links to Old Flames, and reading Moscow Exile first might spoil some surprises from that earlier novel.

As in all of Lawton’s books, we meet memorable new characters who play key roles in the story and sometimes reappear later in the series. The opening introduces one such woman — a character who embodies several roles through her various marriages. Her relationship with Charlie becomes central to the plot and helps explain Joe’s “kidnapping” at the end of the previous book. Though this section moves at a slower pace, it remains engaging, especially with its depiction of McCarthy-era America and the lingering mistrust between the U.S. and Britain after Burgess’s defection. Charlie’s connection with the bookshop owner even recalls Graham Greene’s The Human Factor.

Charlie’s life in Moscow again showcases Lawton’s skill at blending melancholy and warmth. At first, he’s treated as a second-rate spy, but his relationship with a woman from A Lily of the Field (not Méret Voytek) brings humor and humanity. The playful reference to “how Maigret goes to Moscow” adds a lighthearted touch that made me smile.

Two shorter sections demonstrate Lawton’s talent for surprises and perspective shifts. They revisit the ending of Hammer to Fall, filling in details that were previously left unsaid and revealing hidden motives behind Joe’s abduction. Whether Lawton had planned this twist from the start or conceived it later, the result is impressive.

We also see Troy’s transition from Ambassador in Prague to Moscow, including a poignant reunion with his ex-wife, Tosca. This meeting sheds light on events after The Little White Death and subtly traces Troy’s shift from Tosca to Anna.

In Moscow, Troy begins to withdraw from his official duties while Anna takes on more responsibility. Meanwhile, a memorable pub crawl between Joe and Charlie features sharp dialogue and psychological tension as Joe tries to uncover Charlie’s past, though it’s Charlie who realizes what Joe is really after. Eventually, Joe gets the answers he seeks from an unexpected source.

As the story builds toward its conclusion, Troy takes charge of the effort to bring Joe home. Familiar faces return, including Frank, and we revisit the book’s opening prologue, told from his perspective, which offers a view of Troy through Frank’s eyes. There's an encounter between Troy and Nell that adds another layer of deception, their interaction developing in a surprising, though perhaps inevitable, way.

The final section features lively, revealing conversations among the main characters, including Eddie, whose sharp observations stand out more than usual. The ending suggests there’s still more to come, leaving readers wondering about the fates of these characters and whether figures like Charlie and Alleyn might return.

As a final thought, if not for the open-ended conclusion, Moscow Exile could easily serve as the perfect wrap-up to this compelling series. However, some newly introduced backstory feels designed mainly to tie up loose ends, and at times it doesn’t quite align with earlier books. One example is the brief “Beirut” section, which seems meant to resolve threads from The Little White Death, but ends up feeling confusing. In that earlier novel, Charlie’s defection appeared to be “arranged,” yet here that doesn’t seem to hold. Likewise, the Foreign Office secretary, a key figure before, now feels underplayed.

Still, Lawton remains one of the few authors whose next release I genuinely look forward to. I’m especially eager for Dishonest Truths (mentioned in Mike Ripley’s interview). Since both Dishonest Truths and Smoke and Embers (his latest book) explore earlier periods, I hope there’s still another book to come that will continue this story, and I can’t wait to read it.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this latest entry in the Joe Wilderness series.

Deceiving a country doesn't seem as bad ad deceiving a friend or a loved one. Government seem so impersonal and honestly care very little for what happens to its citizens, as has been shown really since the end of the Second World War. People are grist for the mill, keeping the powerful in place, the rich wealthier and the machine of capitalism greased with their blood. A statement like this could be considered treasonous to some, to others especially people who live in the shadows watching each other, it might sound cynical or worldly. That's what spying does to a person. A spy makes a persona they present to the world out of bits of this, a dash of the past, lying to supposed friends and lovers. A bit of truth and lies. People spy out of anger at the the system, monetary reasons, patriotism, and ego. However they can never look at the people the without always thinking, what are you trying to get over, what aren't you telling me, and why are we doing this. Questions that get raised a lot in Moscow Exiles, the fourth book in the Joe Wilderness series by John Lawton.

The book begins in Berlin, on the Glienicke Bridge the so-called Bridge of Spies, the scene of so many spy trades between the West and Russia. The year is 1969 and a trade is being made for a British spy, held in a Moscow prison. The only problem is the representatives from the West are alone. The book then travels back to a time before the war where we meet Charlotte and her husband a government worker who knows powerful people. Charlotte can speak many languages, one that makes her quite helpful to her husband. Now we travel after the war to the start of the Cold War to the United States. Guy Burgess, part of the Cambridge Spy Group has just defected to Russia, and a replacement, Charlie Leigh-Hunt, is sent to the American Capital. Charlotte is living in Washington DC, with her second husband still with a gift for languages and whole lot more to share. Their actions will soon lead to a cold night in Berlin, a spy trade that might not happen.

Another very good tale of the Cold War, espionage, deception with a great intermingling of real and fictional characters. Lawton has a real skill in making everything seem real and of the time. The dialogue, the thinking the actions. Even the characters have that cold war paranoia, mixed with the ennui of the class that had won the war and found the peace boring and dull. This is the fourth book in the series, so a familiarity with the series, and Lawton's other books would be helpful. There are a lot of characters, and motivations might be clearer, but it is not necessary. Though I do recommend reading the books as they are all quite good, and tell a fascinating tale of the world of espionage. The plot is very well done, and mixed with a lot of bodyguards of lies to tell it. The mix of real world events and characters meld well with the fictional and I enjoyed how Lawton was able to adapt certain points of history to fit into the story he was telling.

If readers love stores about espionage, even the history of espionage John Lawton books would be a perfect fit. Lawton does not get the praise he deserves for his stories which are very carefully crafted, and shown, with that mix of cynicism and vague patriotism that most of the best stories about spies contain. A very enjoyable story that keeps the reader thinking well after the last page.

[jeff popple · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Lawton’s novels are always a highlight of the spy reader’s year and his latest one, Moscow Exile, is particularly welcomed.

At the end of his last novel, Hammer To Fall (2020), roguish British agent Joe Holderness (known as Wilderness to many) was left on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall and in uncertain health. Now after a three year break we finally get in Moscow Exile, the fourth book in the series, the opportunity to find out what happened to him, although in typical Lawton fashion we have to wait almost half the book for Joe to make an appearance.

After a teasing opening in 1969, in which Joe fails to appear at the Glienicke Bridge (the so-called Bridge of Spies) for his exchange, Moscow Exile moves back to the early years of World War II and Charlotte (Coky) Churchill, who is married to a confidante of her cousin Winston Churchill, before heading to Washington at the start of the Cold War. Charlotte is now married to a rich and influential mover and shaker in American governmental circles, and is gaining fame in Washington as a hostess of some renown. Also in Washington is Charlie Leigh-Hunt, who has been sent by the British Government to replace Guy Burgess at the Embassy, following the latter’s defection to the Russians. The American intelligence community is livid about Burgess and the other British traitors, and not likely to extend much trust to Charlie, but he persists with his attempts to win the Americans over, while doing some spying of his own. Eventually the various storylines head to Moscow and the patiently waiting Joe.

Moscow Exile is an intricately plotted spy novel, that gracefully winds its way through various machinations and surprises to an unexpected conclusion. Close of reading of the story is necessary, and well rewarded, and fans of the series will benefit from prior knowledge about the various characters and their back stories. There is not a lot of action in the opening stages, but Lawton’s stylish prose and his ability to limn a compelling sense of place and time drags the reader happily along.

Like always, the various historical periods are well evoked, and there is the usual blending of fictional and real life characters. Some of the historical figures are expected, such as Burgess, Maclean and Philby, but others, like H G Wells, are unexpected! The presence of Lawton’s other regular series character, Inspector Frederick Troy and his cronies and family, adds a lot to the story and, not surprisingly, Troy plays a pivotal role in the conclusion. Also adding to the pleasure are Lawton’s sparkling dialogue and the wry reflections on why someone becomes a spy.

My only minor criticism, is that Moscow Exile lacks the stunning climax that has been a feature of the first three books, but this is only a trivial concern, and overall it is another outstanding book by Lawton, and one of my favourite novels of 2023 so far.

Thanks to the American publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book.

For my full review and others see: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/m...

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Lawton consistently writes beautiful, complex, intriguing historic fiction that just happens to be espionage-based, and his latest Joe Wilderness novel “Moscow Exile” is no exception. This is smart, character-driven literature that captures time and place flawlessly and shows us the complicated hidden world of spies, lies, and betrayal.

We last saw Wilderness being shot on the Bridge of Spies and hauled off to the East by the KGB, and although this claims to be “A Joe Wilderness Novel”, he does not really show up until midway through the novel. Instead, we are taken back to before WW II and introduced to Charlotte “Coky” Schumacher (one of her several last names, as she is married numerous times throughout the years), a British socialite who happens to be married to a government worker and ends up close to Churchill as the war with the Germans starts to heat up. Charlotte is a wiz at languages and soon ends up on the inside of the Allies plans. Unfortunately, Charlotte is also a Soviet spy, a well-placed source for information to flow to Stalin. We are also introduced to Charlie Leigh-Hunt, another member of the privileged upper class, a childhood friend of Frederick Troy, and also a Soviet asset. As the Cambridge Five spy ring was discovered and the assets fled to the USSR, Charlie gets sent to Washington as a replacement, where he runs into Coky, now a Washington socialite, still spying in the midst of the Cold War. Charlie eventually flees to Moscow, but Coky is still safe.

And now we finally get to Joe Wilderness, stuck in Russia… or is he? As he attempts one final mission behind enemy lines, will he be able to get the information and make it out of Moscow safely?

A wonderful chapter in this world that Mr. Lawton created, with many old friends playing key roles in the story, including Inspector Troy as a Russian ambassador who would be much happier raising pigs. Although this can be read as a standalone novel, those who have followed the journey are richly rewarded as the characters develop throughout the years.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

We open with a series of vignettes: 1969, Berlin, the Glienicke Bridge and a prisoner exchange - there's a definite humour to this scene. But then it's 1945, Poland and it's all very horrible indeed. And finally, it's 1941, London and it's all change again.
After the snappiness of the prologue, there is a long stretch of quiet chapters building the layers of people and settings and secrets, but if you skip ahead you'll miss a lot.
For starters you'd miss the geographical and emotional journeys of multi-lingual, multi-husbanded Charlotte, aka Coky. She's not always likeable despite her charm, but this woman with nine lives is fascinating nonetheless - tough, skilled at both the dirty work and the creation of the veneer of respectability that hides so much. And reading between the lines, it seems she's paid a large price more than once.
You'd also miss Charlie Leigh-Hunt, who knows Charlotte of old and is very happy to bump into her in Washington after being sent there by MI6 to replace one Guy Burgess, who has inconveniently defected to Russia. Kim Philby too makes a memorable appearance; the mixing in of real people and places embeds the story in the post-war, Cold War period neatly. Charlie gets a few more stamps in his passport before also ending up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, with delightfully dismal surroundings.
Finally we catch up with Joe Wilderness again "somewhere east of Berlin", recovering from being shot while crossing the Glienicke Bridge in the divided German city. A few weeks later, he's rather further east, and as he receives a visitor, we spool back to the planning of the Berlin operation seen in the opening pages.
Thankfully for Wilderness, there are still some people who believe in him, so he gets what he wants, his contact (sort of) gets what he wants, and the Russian general gets what she wants. The reader gets a deft, often funny, large-scale yet frequently intimate portrait of spies and spying.

[Jean Kolinofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Cold War intrigue John Lawton ranks among the best. The Moscow Exile takes you from WWII England to Russia and Berlin in the 1960s. Along the way Lawton introduces Charlotte, related to Churchill through marriage and later the wife of an advisor to the American president. She becomes a hostess in Washington for gatherings of influential people, but she is also a Russian agent. Charlie Leigh-Hunt is a British agent who is sent to Washington to replace Burgess after he was discovered spying for Russia. Charlie must get back into the good graces of American Intelligence. Unfortunately, Britain has unknowingly replaced Burgess with another spy for Russia. After working with Charlotte for several years, Charlie is recalled to England and reassigned several times before finally defecting to Russia.

This is a Joe Wilderness novel and he finally makes his appearance well into the story. Joe was last seen on the Bridge of Spies, wounded and taken by the Russians. He was there to oversee an exchange of agents, but there was more to his assignment. It is finally in Moscow that he comes into contact with Charlie, who has the information he needs. Getting Joe into Moscow, however, was a lot easier than getting him out.

With a number of surprising twists and crisp dialogue, this is a story that will keep you intrigued. From congressional hearings on unamerican activities to life in Russia under the watchful eyes of the KGB it is a fascinating slice of history, made even more interesting by the entwined relationships of Lawton’s characters. His fans will be happy to see the return of Frederick Troy in a crucial role. This book is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and stories of Cold War espionage. I would like to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing this book for my review.

[Sherry Chiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is billed as the fourth installment in the Joe Wilderness series, but Joe doesn't show up until just over the halfway point. Good things come to those who wait, however, and the first half of the book is compelling in and of itself, in addition to setting the stage for Joe and, in a key supporting role, the lead character of another series by John Lawton, Frederick Troy.

Confused? You might be if you're not familiar with either series. I've read the three previous Wilderness books and two of the Troy books, and even I was confused about some elements of the back story that I'd forgotten. I imagine someone coming in cold would be confused in parts. (What's a scheiber? Who was Cobb?) Even so, it's easy to get happily swept along with Lawton's buoyant prose, vivid mise en scene, and energetic pacing.

What bothered me most was a lack of insight into Joe's emotional life. The guy's trapped in Soviet Moscow for months with no word to or from anyone on the other side of the Iron Curtain, and he doesn't once wonder how his wife and kids are. I know that's not the point of the story, but it distracted me and made me more aware of the tale's artifice.

If you enjoy fast-moving, witty Cold War spy fiction, you'll like Moscow Exile—though you'll like it even better if you read the previous Joe Wilderness books first.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Greville Waterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is best to savour a John Lawton book slowly and allow yourself to luxuriate in the richness of the language, the intricacy of the plotting, the in-depth characterisation and the manner in which he somehow contrives to bring the narrative to a satisfactory conclusion depose the interweaving of myriad plot lines.

This is no exception. Is it a Wilderness book? Is it a Troy book? Yes to both as they along with other we loved characters such as Frank, Eddie and even the traitorous Charlie Leigh-White, Philby and Burgess all appear.

Sometimes not much seems to be happening and that is when readers can immerse themselves in the descriptions of time and place and the manner in which real life historical figures and events add verisimilitude to the overall plot.

One minor mistake - perhaps deliberate - is describing the immortal Fred Trueman as a spin bowler - but I believe that the cricket bible Wisden did the same in 1950 so maybe this is another Lawton in-joke.

You have to think when reading his books but this is no bad thing.

We are now up to 1969 and some of the main characters are entering late middle age but hopefully we will be massively entertained yet again within the next few years.

[Edwin Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

MOSCOW EXILE, by John Lawton is a book full of global espionage and international intrigue. Spies never really tell the truth and the question in this novel quickly becomes who is lying, whose is telling the truth and the reality that no one is really doing either.
This book, being part of a series, weighs heavily on the assumption that the reader has met several of the characters before. There is also large dose of colloquialisms that were not all easily decipherable. As the book progresses, there is a learning curve so that by the end, the reader knows all of the players. Closer to the end of the book, the faster the revealing twists and misdirections start to layer on top of each other and build to a fun ending. The way Lawton wrapped his fictional tale are actual history is a lot of fun and convinces the reader that something like this could have happened.
The benefit of reading the whole series would make the book easier to connect to and enjoy, but I still found MOSCOW EXILE entertaining and I was looking forward to see how all of the characters ended up.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic, John Lawton, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moscow Exile is a treat, featuring as it does both Joe Wilderness and Inspector Troy (well, ex-Inspector Troy now) and fleshing out their complicated world. That world exists in a web of relationships which cuts between politics, Society, and espionage, meanwhile hacking into the private corridors, the dining rooms, and some seedy motels of the mid 20th century.

The book covers lots of ground both physically and temporally. We visit Winston Churchill's inner circle in his wilderness years (no pun intended). There's the Attlee and Wilson Labour governments, postwar Washington in its pomp, with the US still a rising power, and late 60s Moscow, the USSR's decay well advanced.

Tying all this together are two fascinating characters. Charlie Leigh-Hunt, field agent for MI6 and a bit of a rogue (he has a scam going passing useless intel back to the KGB, for cash) is posted suddenly to Moscow to replace the disgraced Guy Burgess. (But replace him as what, exactly?) Charlotte Mayer-Churchill, a socialite who burns through husbands like party candles, formerly accompanied HG Wells on his travels, including to Moscow, and her Washington parties are now legendary. The story that emerges when the two meet dovetails with Lawton's previous evolving world, forming part of a work that begins to remind me of CP Snow's Strangers and Brothers sequence, but for espionage rather than straight politics. (I don't think you'd get a Cold War prisoner swap on Glienicke Bridge in Snow, still less that that goes as spectacularly wrong wrong as this).

That said... yes, I say "for espionage" but the thing about this sequence is that while the context, the legend, to borrow a spooky term, may be espionage (and related forms of criminality) what's really going on here is much more about the heart. These books form a wonderfully nested collection of personal stories. For example, the motivations for shifting loyalties, as exposed here, are deeply labyrinthine. A spy's work-life balance must permit some happiness, mustn't it? Some downtime, some compensation? The various British figures seen here, caught in the amber of 60s Moscow, are all caught in enforced downtime. Whether they sought to be there or are trapped by circumstances, whether they are wanted there by their Soviet hosts, or wherever their residence will be permanent or short term, they are all, as it were, on the bench, watching the game but not playing it. How they deal with that struggle, some adapting well, some consumed by homesickness (for a home that no longer exists), by drink, or regret - it's all finely nuanced and meticulously explored.

The focus here is on the intimate, on people not big events, and the victories and defeats chronicle here for the different factions of spooks are marginal ones at best, the particular intelligence scooped up and passed on pretty much anonymous and the results of betrayal by this asset or exposure of that one far form there centre of the story. It's the people that matter, their histories, choices and plans as much as they're worth in an exchange or left in place.

I felt everybody - will nearly everybody, perhaps not Senator Redmaine, the leftie-baiting McCarthy like figure who features in the second quarter of the book - was treated with some sympathy. Equally, nobody has completely clean hands: events which have been described in earlier books leave them all compromised or trapped, unable to rise to every occasion as they might wish. From racketeering in post war Berlin to scams such as the one Charlie is running here to outright murder, there are secrets here which also have a value and it's anybody's guess how long they will remain secrets.

All in all, an absorbing, intricate and beautifully paced thriller which I greatly enjoyed reading.

For more information about Moscow Exile, see the publisher's website here - and of course the other stops on the blogtour which you can see listed on the poster below.

[MisterLiberry Head · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although officially labeled the fifth of the ‘Joe Wilderness’ novels, the unpredictable spook/smuggler/burglar doesn’t actually appear in MOSCOW EXILE until loc.3625. Up to that point, Lawton stirs a complicated brew of fictional and thinly veiled historical characters, letting things simmer over a decade in Cold War time. MOSCOW EXILE is replete with traitors who “cannot have, cannot believe in, loyalty to a country anymore” (loc.4061). Former Scotland Yard inspector Troy, now miserably ensconced as UK Ambassador to the USSR, is fully aware that he serves “dubious masters. People for whom expediency eclipses morality”(loc.4538) – and he would much prefer to be back home on his country estate with his pigs. Taken hostage by the Soviets with the complicity of MI-6, Joe Wilderness is tasked with wriggling a name out of a former school chum of Troy’s who “betrayed countries, not individuals” (loc.5499). The plot is distracted and employs too many minor characters, but stays true to the Troy/Wilderness world resuscitated again by John Lawton.

[Michael Hassel Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moscow Exile by John Lawton This is my kind of Espionage novel. Not much happens and this novel takes place over about 50 years! And yet the pace is just right. There is a little “Kiss, kiss” but no “Bang, bang” except for one errant shot. I have read a few of Mr. Lawton’s novels but this was quite a few years ago. In this book the protagonists of his two series: The Troy Series and The Wilderness Series are both involved and end up in Moscow on different sides of the prison walls during the same period. A few of the Cambridge Spies (all but Anthony Blunt) make appearances that adds to a sense that the book is non-fiction. It almost is believable. The overall point of the book seems to be to close up some lose ends from his previous novels. I almost sense this may be Mr. Lawton’s last novel. I hope not but if it is so. Thank you for some excellent reads.

[David Lowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with Moscow Exile. Joe Wilderness, whose fourth book this is, doesn’t appear until well into the narrative. The beginning was very confusing. Too many characters and plot lines. The middle section, featuring Charlie and Charlotte, was excellent and is the book’s saving grace. The ending is vaguely satisfactory but rather odd at times.
I suspect that, anyone tackling Moscow Exile, would get the best out of it by reading the three previous Joe Wilderness novels immediately beforehand.

David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War, The Summer of ‘39 (all published by Sacristy Press) and Ordinary Heroes to be published by I M Books (October 2023)

[Roberta Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by John Lawton .... was surprised when organizing my to read selection of books to discover another. I will be moving it up on the pile after reading this book.

It is always hard to come into a series of books later in the series. Yes, there were some things I probably misses and a few that didn't make sense, but it was still a good book.

There were a lot of characters to keep track of. Some of the story lines were almost able to stand alone. The more I read the more I want to keep reading which is always a good thing in a book.

A slow moving thriller that keeps one guessing.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is the fourth Joe Wilderness novel, & my first introduction to this author’s work, this reads well as a standalone.

A spy novel yes, but a spy novel that draws you in & plays with your emotions so that you have sympathy for those on both sides of the game. There is treachery & betrayal. The dialogue carries you along giving each character a life & voice which evokes the fears of the Cold War era. A fast paced plot aided by short succinct chapters, full of intrigue & suspense leading to a showdown & exciting finale.

A highly recommended entertaining read. Right, I’m off for a lie down!

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all the prefaces, big and small, at the beginning of this book. Some just remind me of previous characters in previous books. Then Charlotte and Herbert appear, and we are off on interesting NEW people.

I was waiting patiently to find out what happened to JOE WILDERNESS, as he was shot in Berlin at the end of the last fabulous installment. He didn’t even show up in this one until CHAPTER 149!!! It was worth the wait.

I liked everything about this ending, especially Charlotte and Troy playing Frank and Joe. I didn’t want Charlotte to die. She is a good character. Hope John Lawton doesn’t intend to stop these books as I am addicted to the characters, the humor, the intrigue and the history.

[Paul Sabine · Rating 4 out of 5]

why no bath plugs in Moscow?

How to review this book? Well it’s brilliant and the chapters are easy to read and keep it together. Some sort of satisfying conclusion to previous books. On the negative side with every sentence I felt as though I needed to go all the way back to the very 1st Troy story to get the people and storyline’s clear in my brain. On the positive side the intersections of characters throughout the story is splendid. A bit grubby on the sex I reckon. Anyways a good one!

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moscow Exile by John Lawton- Intrigue and spies as several operatives try to secure the release and rescue of one of their own. Joe Wilderness is being held behind the iron curtain and his friends and colleagues are trying to get him out. Situations of changing alliances, miscues, and down-right treachery occur. It’s 1969 and the Berlin Wall still stands as does the Bridge of Spies. Another thrilling spy chase by a master. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

[Jak60 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a John Lawton book, Moscow Exile is a mess, and this being John Lawton, the book is well written and is, despite all, quite readable.
The main, though not only, problem I had with the book is that Mr Lawton presumes every reader has read and remembers with a high degree of precision each and everyone of the 3 previous books of the series. I'll break a news to the author: this is not a realistic expectation.

[Andy Blanche · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been enjoying the Joe Wîlderness series and John Lawton has a very distinct style. The books lean more to authentic espionage than the more gun totin’ bravado of some authors.

This, however, wasn’t a favourite. I felt it started really well, the excellent detail, momentum and plot building, but began to meander somewhat about halfway in and it became a bit of a chore to finish the 600+ pages.

[Anonymouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Joe Wilderness novel and I enjoyed meeting a new spy. This book is set in mid-century in the Philby-Burgess era and the characters live similar lives. Spys, double agents, grand cocktail parties, unsuspecting spouses, it's a story set to music we know.

Moscow Exile is a good standalone novel. I almost think I enjoyed it more because I hadn'd read any of the others.

I received a review copy of this book directly from Grove Press.

[BrianC75 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some authors can REALLY write and John Lawton is one of them. This book is wonderful in oh so many ways. The prose is exquisite - funny, wise, entirely engaging and written in sync to the action on the page. The storyline entraps the reader and forces him/her to follow its intricate and perfectly timed reveal. All of the characters are oddballs but engage together in a superb melange of action and intrigue. EXCELLENT.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC.

Moscow Exile might be the conclusion of two series by John Lawton, Troy and Wilderness series as it seemed to tie up loose ends with most characters.

There wasn’t background or depth of characters. Historical details were randomly mixed in but not part of the plot. This didn’t read as a historical thriller.