The Quiller Memorandum

Quiller #1

by Adam Hall

This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West Berlin, 15 years after the end of WW II. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. In the process, he discovers a complex and malevolent plot, more dangerous to the world than any crime committed during the war.

On its publication in 1966, THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM received the Edgar Award as best mystery of the year.

Genres: Espionage, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Germany, Mystery Thriller

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Author also wrote as Elleston Trevor.

Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also published as "The Berlin Memorandum" (UK title).

15 years after the end of WW II. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. In the process, he discovers a complex and malevolent plot, more dangerous to the world than any crime committed during the war.

A film was made of the book, Quiller is played by George Segal. Also staring Alec Guinness and Senta Berger. Screenplay by Writer: Harold Pinter.

It has been considered part of a wave of spy novels influenced by John le Carré's groundbreaking 1963 work "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". Trevor later said he had been inspired by reading a review of but not, fearing he might take too close an influence, the actual text of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold".

[Feliks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Hall is the careful, meticulous, and patient author of the interesting character/spy, "Quiller". The series of unorthodox novels built around Quiller are extremely odd, as far as espionage fiction runs. 'The Quiller Memorandum' (first in the sequence) was published in 1966 and it was just not common at that time, for an author to make a point of flaunting his own genre's conventions. But his "Quiller" --a cynical and jaded free-lance agent--does just that. As rogue-ish as Len Deighton's 'Harry Palmer' (but not as sardonic), Quiller is a character type not seen repeated until something like Charles McCarry's modern 'Paul Christopher'. World-traveling and multi-lingual; quick reflexes, but definitely a loner, a "thinking man's spy".

What you really have to applaud Hall for is his setting out with a deliberately antithetical and unique notion of what a spy can be and do. Quiller--a shrewd, cerebral individual--is one of the few spies in the violent post-WWII era who refuses to carry a gun. Instead, he trusts his acumen and his resourcefulness to give him advantage. Though he's a solidly well-built agent with a high pain threshold, able to withstand rigorous abuse--more than this, Quiller is simply so thoroughly seasoned by his past wartime experience that guns are rather superfluous to the real business of spying which--as Hall suggests--relies far more on observation, perspicacity, and insight into the psychology of your opponents. Quiller can often see the next move of his enemy before his enemy makes it.

The first Quiller novel--a brooding, spooky affair--is not a snore-fest, though. There are sharp bursts of action which, refreshingly, Hall brings out slowly, as the result of a stomach-sickening and nerve-wracking build-up. Its not Alistair MacLean's style of zesty, energetic dust-ups every few pages; (all of which the hero recovers from in just a few moments). Creativity and realism both reign here: Hall accurately writes about physical brutality the way it really is: clumsy, pointless, and wearying; with throbbing painful after-effects that linger and follow one around. Its part of a general level of ugly harshness and roughness in Quiller's world which he does his best to avoid; and an important key to his character. Quiller is tired, disgusted, bruised, battered. Barely hanging on.

What drives him..? Well, he's not LeCarre's George Smiley wanting to "do his part for those who went before". He's more in the camp of a Jonathan Hemlock (Trevanian); who sees no particular merits on either side of the detente' conference table. We get the noir-ish vibe that he has no other sense of what other life he might lead, apart from spying. Its what he knows best; the only thing he's suited for. At the same time--in the first novel--we do see that Quiller harbors an especial hatred for Nazis; he considers them targets of his particular interest and worthy of his pursuit wherever they may re-appear.

And as far as that is concerned, 'The Quiller Memorandum' is actually one of the finest stand-alone tales of neo-Nazism you can ask for; I would say its even *definitive* for this sub-genre. The strength of Hall's peculiar vision lent itself to a damn fine 1967 film starring Alec Guinness, Max Von Sydow, Sente Berger, and George Segal (titular role); and a screenplay by Harold Pinter. That is certainly top talent, and the flick (though not a milestone) is one of the most evocative films featuring a re-built but uneasy, post-war Berlin.

In general, Hall writes with both poise and grit in equal doses; a touch of 'spy vs spy' surreality, as well as a very noticeable atavism. Initially, it seemed as if Hall's quirky formula might bring him a lot more renown. He's written a string of later Quillers set in the Mid-east and southeast Asia and they feature a variety of flairful enemy organizations and exotic titles like, 'The Kobra Manifesto'. In spite of this, he's always remained a dark horse doing his own thing. Quiller is so subtle that it just won't lend itself to cinema more than once (Hall had other success with 'The Flight of the Phoenix')

Still, the genre is very lucky to have Adam Hall; and all of his works deserve probing--if for nothing else other than his insistence on breaking convention.

[stormhawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

No gun.
No codebook.
No suicide pills.
No family.
No friends.
No name.
No flashy cars.
No ejector seats.
No hidden compartments.
No gadgets.
No remorse.

Next to Quiller, James Bond is a cautions old lady.

Originally published in the mid-1960s, the story is a product of it's time .. Berlin, The Wall, Cold War, still enough Nazis alive for war crimes trials to continue.

It's not written like a spy novel, though. It's more lyrical than the usual hard edges and steely glares that are strewn through adventure/thrillers. "The afternoon is the halcyon, the calm coming between earnestness and drama." You don't get words like that in most 'literary' novels. Yet here they are in a first-person spy tale. The spy craft is top notch, the action well-written, and the plot twisty. nothing is as it seems, even after you've got it figured out.

[Tony Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorites and the film too

[Terence M [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read and enjoyed many years ago.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Berlin Memorandum, or The Quiller Memorandum as it is also known, is the first book in the twenty book Quiller series, written by Elleston Trevor under the pen name of Adam Hall. The Quiller series is highly regarded by the spy-fiction community, and as strange as it may seem – because I have had most of the books for years – I have never actually read them. I thought it was time to rectify that oversight, and start at the very top.

As the novel begins, we meet Quiller at the theatre. His evening of merriment is interrupted when a man enters his viewing box. The man’s name is Pol, and he has a new assignment for Quiller. Actually it’s an old assignment, but the person who had been on the case has been killed. Pol (meaning ‘Control’) wants Quiller to take over the assignment. It appears that there is a group of neo-Nazis in Berlin who are planning a major operation. Control want to know what it is. Quiller reluctantly agrees to take over the assignment, but he has one condition. He wants all cover called off. He wants to go in alone – no watchers or assistants – just him.

During the first hundred odd pages of The Berlin Memorandum, not too much happens. The story fleshes out Quiller’s background – and how he has been rounding up Nazi war criminals since the end of the war. It also lays down quite a bit of trade-craft, showing how Quiller thinks, acts and communicates with his superiors. At this stage of the book, you could be forgiven for thinking that The Berlin Memorandum is just another spy story – another Nazi hunting spy story… and you’d probably be correct. But, it what happens at this juncture – where Quiller is taken captive by the neo-Nazis – that kicks this story up a notch and moves the book to a higher level.

Pages 124-125 Collins 1965

So it wasn’t pentothal. It was the sleep-kick trick: gradual narcosis with sodium-amytal then a shock dose of benzedrine or pervitine to kick the sleeper awake. My brain was so clear that I could remember the exact words my lecturer has used in 1948: the brutal awakening makes the verbal objectivisation of psychic contents most urgent, so that they come into the speech phase with an explosive force hitherto unknown.

The psychological sparring between Quiller and his captor, Oktober is gripping reading. As the story progresses, it becomes more fascinating with each subsequent attempt to make Quiller talk. Almost like a chess game. Sometimes Quiller falls into a trap and has to tough it out. On other occasions, he manages to outwit his enemies. And as much as Oktober (and Uber-Nazi, Zossen) and his minions are the primarily objective for Quiller, the real driving force in the story is the very unusual relationship that Quiller enters into with Fraulein Inga Lindt. Inga was a child of only nine years old when the war ended – but she had a rather different view of the end – or at least the end for Adolph Hitler – because she was in the Fuhrerbunker when Hitler killed himself.

Inga worshiped Hitler as a god – and she became a staunch neo-Nazi. But then she fell in with a bad crowd called Phonix. Now she wants to get out. The thing is, as you could imagine in anyone who had lived in such a dark world, surround by death, she is now, what would be euphemistically called ‘damaged goods’. Why Quiller is drawn to her, is never really explained, but at the same time, with the snippets of his own background story which we are afforded, you could possibly see why he would be attracted to such a woman.

As you have no doubt guessed, this group Phonix, that Inga used to belong to, are the neo-Nazi organisation that Quiller is after, and through her, he sees a way in. Of a kind anyway. Quiller had been making enough waves – and scoring media attention – arresting neo-Nazis, that sooner or later the bad guys were going to come looking for him.

Many readers may have seen the film The Quiller Memorandum, based on this book. I actually think it is one of the better spy films made in the sixties, but despite a few scenes retained from the book, they are two very different beasts. The film is essentially a wafer thin palimpsest of the book – and I must admit I don’t know how good the film would be if it were faithful to the novel. Firstly it would have to be twice as long, and most likely have to have a voice-over narration explaining Quiller’s though processes. For example, there’s a passage in the book, where Quiller, while being interrogated, induces himself to faint. In a film, that sequence would take about three seconds and make very little sense – except to paint the character as a weaker man than he actually is. Anyway, the thing to take from this, is not to dismiss the film, but to suggest to those who have seen the film, that they are not being presented with the full story. And therefore, I recommend tracking down a copy of book.

As I said at the start, this is essentially my first Quiller novel. And I would suggest reading it, is a bit like going for a swim on a cloudy day. When you first put your foot in the water, your first reaction is that it is cold, and you don’t really want to go in. But then you persevere, and then once you’re in, you actually find that the water is warm and comfortable and you don’t really want to get out – because it seems colder outside the water than in. That’s The Berlin Memorandum – it has a bit of a cold start, but once you’re in, you don’t really want to get out.

[Dipanjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't NOT begin by saying, "This Is A MUST Read For Every Fan Of The Espionage Genre". The setting is the most shadowy "post WWII Berlin" with the master players lined up against each other - The Brits and The Nazi Heirs.

This book introduced Quiller and it's a treat. He works for an unnamed and elusive British Agency, dedicated to hunt down the war criminals. However, in this book, his mission is purely to infiltrate and expose. What took my breath away was the view of the world through the mind of a master spy. It's truly a mesmerising journey through the detailed reasoning and analyses that Quiller uses to move forward and stay alive. He is no invincible spy. He is highly flawed and makes tragic and avoidable mistakes. There is no black and white, but different hues of grey in all the characters of the story. This is an intricate web of psychological minefields influencing behavioural patterns, deductions and reasonings.

But what I thoroughly enjoyed in "The Quiller Memorandum" is old school spycraft. In a world without technology, lives hang in the balance of pure intelligence and subsequent judgements. Quiller takes us into this amazing journey where we get to see how he collects, collates and transmits messages; how he plays various scenarios to improvise, adapt and survive; how he endures interrogations and pressure tactics and lastly, how he plays the mind games like a true master.

This is definitely an OUTSTANDING spy novel that should be in the collection of the "espionage fan".

P.S - The movie starring George Seagal (released in 1966) couldn't even capture 10% of the mind games that kept on playing in this book in every page. Read the book first at all costs.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quiller Memorandum is the first of nineteen Quiller spy novels written by Elleston Trevor under the pseudonym Adam Hall; Trevor was remarkably prolific, writing 58 other novels under other names (including his Flight of the Phoenix), a number of children’s books, stage plays and short stories.

Quiller is an “executive” (super covert agent) for the super-secret “Bureau,” an organization so secret that you fear they’ll have to kill you if you read the book. But not to worry!

Quiller is the anti-Bond. He hates guns, he doesn’t drink, he is antisocial and women don’t figure in his life. He is an all-around expert on martial arts, tradecraft, death, and flying military jets (Trevor was an RAF pilot). He also is one of the few executives with a “9” attached to his codename, meaning that he is highly reliable under torture. In spite of all these talents, Quiller doesn’t look forward to a new mission—he hangs back and has to be manipulated into it; but once in, he is totally committed. He doesn’t do his work for God and Country—it just fits his solitary psychology and he loves the rush. The novels contain little explicit dialogue—the style is stream-of-consciousness/observation in real time.

It is 1966 and Quiller—who had been a Dachau prisoner and had testified in the 1945 Nuremberg trials—has just returned from a grueling six-month mission to be “asked” to replace a murdered executive on a case involving Nazi war crimes. Ex-Nazis are in high government positions in Germany, allowing them to escape punishment, to protect their colleagues, and to set a foundation for a new National Socialist Democracy. On Naziism, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet and Quiller is tasked to make her squeal.

The bad guys are organized into a program called Phoenix, an apt name indeed as they work to restore the good old Germany. The key man is Heinrich Zossen, and Quiller’s goal is to flush him out. In the process there are several attempts on his life, he enjoys a woman named Inga who is a defector from Phoenix, and he undergoes interrogation-by-drugs under the guidance of a psychiatrist names Oktober. Throughout he maintains a stiff, well…upper lip.

Quiller shares a number of characteristics with George Smiley. Both characters speak directly to the reader in nuanced tones as they attempt to sort out truth from lies, agents from double agents, and agendas from red herrings. Both are brainy rather than simply fun—from Quiller you learn a lot about the tradecraft or espionage; from Smiley you learn the history of intrigues. Le Carre certainly has the edge, but Hall (Trevor) is well worth the time. Four stars.

[Sam Reaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first grown-up movies I was allowed to go see by myself as an impressionable adolescent (yes, this was some years ago now) was the Quiller Memorandum, with George Segal. I recall being duly impressed by the menacing atmospherics, if much of it went over my head. The book and movie made a bit of a splash in the spy craze of the mid-sixties, when James Bond and The Man From Uncle were all the rage.
I never read the book until now, a half-century or more later. It turns out that the original British title was The Berlin Memorandum, and the author's real name was Elleston Trevor. Wikipedia lists an impressive total of nine pseudonyms for him and credits him with more than a hundred books. Whatever his name was, he kept busy.
The novel takes place in Cold War Berlin; however, the enemy is not the Russians but rather a gang of unreconstructed Nazis who have not only escaped punishment but have built a power base in the postwar German military and are scheming to resuscitate the Reich. Not terribly historically accurate, maybe, but Nazis always make great villains. Quiller is a British agent assigned to ferret them out; he has a personal grudge against one of the Nazis from a wartime encounter.
The gimmick is that he insists on "going in alone", without backup, because... well, really just because it makes for more drama, though he mumbles something about not being interfered with.
All of which sets up the real point of the book, which is an impressive (and implausible) extravaganza of tradecraft, with Quiller constantly evading tails in empty Berlin streets (infallibly sensing them the instant he hits the pavement, of course) and showing off his expertise in weaponry, psychology, pharmacokinetics, cryptology, you name it. Quiller can do everything from foiling eavesdroppers by speaking in Rabinda-Tanath ("the dialect of the Lahsritsa hill-tribes of East Pakistan") to self-inducing syncope to resist interrogation, and he is careful to explain it all as he goes along. "The bullet from a small 8 mm short-trigger Pelmann and Rosenthal Mark IV spins in the region of two thousand revolutions per second... When an operator starts out to shadow another, the outcome will be found among five main possibilities..." It's all highly technical, and we are duly impressed.
A bit silly really, but it's an entertaining yarn, deftly told, a reliable page-turner. And it has Nazis.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This excellent spy thriller won the Edgar Award in 1966. It is a timely story though in 1966 I had no idea that trials to convict former Nazis in Germany were still taking place. Quiller, the hero of this tale, has been in Berlin finding Nazis and bringing them to trial. He is an operative of an unnamed British agency and on the eve of his return to Britain he is recruited to stay for another assignment. Apparently, despite the trials, Nazis are on the rise, reaching out to various countries with plans to start another war.

It took me reading the first chapter three times to figure out what was going on. Then I was hooked and found myself reading a novel as good as anything by John le Carre. The most intriguing aspect was being put by the author into Quiller’s mind as he constantly figured out his tactics, which made the story psychological in an unsettling way.

Quote from Chapter Two: “People never start wars. Politicians and generals start them.” So true, so chilling. It still goes on today.

[msleighm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook. Book 4 stars, narration by Simon Prebble 4 stars.

A different kind of spy story. Very intelligent protagonist; very intelligent writing. It's a fairly quick or short read. The series is very long. 20 books? I'm fairly sure I'll pick up the next one at some point.

[Secret Agent Fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm up for practically any Cold War spy thriller set in West Berlin. That divided city was virtually Ground Zero for tales of espionage and international intrigue. In "The Quiller Memorandum" we're introduced to Quiller, who is just finishing up a tour of duty in West Berlin tracking down and exposing ex-Nazis living under assumed names. Many of them are in high level positions and have successfully buried their pasts. Some of them are attempting to revive that past.

Quiller is convinced by his employer--a secret organization called the Bureau--to continue his stay in West Berlin to track down a particular Nazi named Zossen. Quiller encountered Zossen during World War II and Zossen is responsible for the deaths of two of Quiller's colleagues.

The resulting cat-and-mouse game never leaves the city limits and results in uncovering various plots and counterplots. While "The Quiller Memorandum" ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion, the action does get to be a little repetitive after a while. How many times can Quiller zig-zag around the streets of West Berlin smoking out and eluding the "tags" that are following him? How many times can he be knocked unconscious? How many times can he be subjected to torture?

The strength of the book lies in the characterizations--the Nazis Quiller is pursuing; his allies (who may not be allies); the people he meets who survived the War but are broken inside. These characters--and the attention to detail in describing West Berlin in the mid-'60-- bring the book to life.

The Kindle edition of "The Quiller Memorandum" also includes an essay by Otto Penzler providing some interesting background information on Quiller. It's a helpful introduction to the character, but I I would recommend reading the novel first and the introduction second.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read a half dozen or so other "Quiller" books, so when I saw that Hoopla had this first story, I figured I should give it a listen to see how Quiller got started.

Well, this wasn't bad, but it was a very different Quiller. First, it is not a Cold War story, but is one of the earlier "let's round up those remaining Nazi" books like, say, Marathon Man. As such, it's not really a spy story, but almost a detective story, with Quiller working together with the German police. There were some common Quiller elements here - in particular, a LOT of car and foot surveillance (including the obligatory car chase that ends in flames) - but otherwise, I have to say this was just very different from Hall's subsequent books, and as such not really much of an indicator of what was to come.

I also realized here that, much like James Bond, Quiller is apparently immortal. This story is set in 1965, and has Quiller remembering his experiences during WWII. So assuming we was a young 18 in 1945 (although he was probably older), he was already at least 35 in this story - which would put him in his late-60s by his final book in 1996. I haven't read any of the last few books, so not sure if Hall was writing in real time, but I do believe Quiller Bamboo (1991) takes place in a post-Tiananmen China - i.e., after 1989 - and so Quiller would have been at least late-50s by then. I therefore found it mildly amusing that this book ends with Quiller's rumination that "I must be getting old. Getting old." Because, well…apparently not.

Back to the whole Nazis thing - this takes place a full 20 years after the end of the war, and yet the West was apparently still worried that surviving Nazi elements might somehow rise back into power. I therefore couldn't help mentally comparing this to our current situation here in the U.S., where it is all-too-depressingly feasible that our own far-right, proto-Fascist fringe that continues to worship at the alter of Donald Trump might continue to be a threat to American democracy two decades hence...a most unsettling thought...

FINAL NOTE: This book was also the basis of the one and only Quiller movie, 1965's "The Quiller Memorandum." It is available in full on Youtube, but PLEASE don't waste your time - it is just awful. No action, Quiller is an American no less, and rather than being introspective, intense and deadly, he is just kind of smarmy and feckless. Two big thumbs down!!

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've only seen the somewhat tepid 1966 film starring George Segal which is based on this classic post-WWII espionage novel, don't let it stop you from reading the original. While the rest of the cast (Alec Guinness, Max Von Sydow and George Sanders) are good and Harold Pinter tries hard to turn a very internal story into the visual medium, George Segal is totally miscast as Quiller. The book itself sets a standard for the psychological spy thriller as an agent (code-named Quiller) plays a suspense-filled cat-and-mouse game with the head of a neo-Nazi group in post-war Berlin. It keeps the reader engrossed right up to the last couple of lines. As classic as it gets. - BH.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spy thriller for chess players. A few missteps toward the end so that a few of the twists felt thin and not solidly set up, but overall very nicely plotted and written. I liked that the main character was ornery and tired and smart and still made mistakes and tried to see all possible outcomes at once and fought more against jumping to conclusions and staying alert and clear-headed than he did directly against the villains themselves. I can see where some might find it more exhausting than anything else, though--he does get tired :)

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отличный шпионский детектив про преследование нацистов, разными способами избежавших Нюрнберга и скрывающихся п��д фальшивыми именами.

Заснеженный ночной Берлин образца 1965 года невероятно колоритен.

Интрига закручена до невозможности. Каждое действие, каждая фраза содержит скрытые смыслы, причем зачастую на несколько уровней вглубь.

Оперативник Квиллер по своей суровости напоминает Джека Бауэра из сериала «24».

Мрачно, умно, талантливо. Однозначно буду читать продолжения.

[Kdfrawg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a few of these many years ago when they first came out. I recently found and purchased all 19 of the series in hardback and read them serially. The novels are esoteric thrillers, very cerebral and highly recommended.

[John Mccullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agent Quiller is relaxing in a Berlin theater the night before returning to London and rest after a difficult assignment when he is accosted by Pol, another British agent, with a new, very important assignment. Weary, Quiller only accepts the assignment on the assumption that he can fulfill a self-made promise – revenge for a friend. The quarry for all the work is old Nazi higher officials who are now hiding behind new names and plotting to return Germany to the “glory days” of the Third Reich, complete with a resurrected Führer twenty years after the end of WW II.

This is a spy story and a thriller. Hall’s story has the usual twists and turns expected of the genre. The action is fast-moving and told by Quiller himself. The book is, in part, a how-to manual for the wannabe spy. “Tags” are found everywhere and surround Quiller as well as a love interest, maybe better said, a sex interest. On the whole, the book is better than most Bond books I have read in seeming to be just as action-packed without the fun but occasionally immature fantasy element that requires suspension of belief in some Bond books. There are also some delicious quotes and descriptions mentioned in other reviews (guns as penis extensions, descriptions of facial expressions on neo-Nazis, etc.).

One element I found jarring was the presumption of Quiller that the “good-guy” Germans with whom he interacted were stereotyped - largely humorless, marginally-intelligent zombies who would follow orders under any circumstances. The only Germans who were more fully-fleshed out were the neo-Nazis. Still, a good read, especially today in the US when out-of-office politicians are plotting a similar take-over of the country. Where is Quiller today??

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know several spy fiction fans who rate Quiller highly; I'd read a couple and thought they were only OK, plus seen and enjoyed the film (which fans of the novel tend to dislike).

There's a lot more detail in the book about hunting Nazi war criminals, and the love interest is a much darker character, interestingly described as 'Lesbian, narcissist, sado-masochist, necrophile, any at all'.

As usual it's the spycraft and language I like best, and there are plenty of 'tags' to be 'flushed', codes, ciphers and ways of making contact. It's unfortunate that a lot of the story revolved around the enemy agencies trying to find each other's bases, which just reminds me of playground games.

[Justin Nelson]

I read the whole Quiller series when I was younger, and loved it. Thought I'd try again and found this one a bit dated and dry - I will persevere with the series

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam Hall (one of Elleston Trevor' many pseudonyms) wrote many classic spy stories, and this one is considered one of his best. Apparently, it was made into a classic movie and there is even a website compiled by Trevor devotees. He was the author of Flight of the Phoenix which became a really great movie. His Quiller books have been compared favorably to Le Carre' novels although the first was written before Le Carre' Trevor himself has noted the similarity but claims his Quiller is much less intellectual. Quiller is a secret agent, a spy, and in this early work he has been assigned to track down a neo-Nazi organization (this was written in the sixties) called Phoenix that is directed by Heinrich Zossen. Quiller is familiar with Zossen whom he last saw at an execution pit. During the war, Quiller had operated under cover as a German soldier and attempted to save the lives of Jews. He considered his mission a failure. Indeed, much of what we know about Quiller comes from negatives. He doesn' smoke or drink, has no relatives, apparently owns nothing, and his relationship with his controllers could best be described as untrusting. He knows they manipulate him, but he must put up with it because they are his only entree into the shadowy moral never-never-land that he thrives in. He despises fools and dilettantes, priding himself in his professionalism. He also refuses to carry a gun, claiming that not having one gives him a substantial psychological edge over his enemies. There' a great explanation of his rationale that I can' resist quoting in its entirety because it accurately reflects my own position. Quiller has been drugged and captured by the Phoenix group and is being held for interrogation. There are about four men in the room and he explains why not having a weapon provides him with an advantage. " you have the advantage unarmed providing the enemy knows that you are....Knowing you have no gun they' not afraid of you. There is a natural spur to alertness. Unarmed you disarm them. . . .A gun is psychologically a penis substitute and a symbol of power, the age range of toy shop clientele begins at about six or seven, rises sharply just before puberty and declines rapidly soon after the discovery of the phallus and its power. From then on guns are for kids and the effete freaks and misfits who must seek psycho-orgasmic relief shooting pheasants." Great line. So Quiller must rely on his wits (refreshing change).

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of a mixed effect clouds this novel. Adam Hall/Elleston Trevor certainly produces the unexpected. The book is built around a continual number of reveals. Each reveal, in turn, provides a separate level of truth--or, as it may be, self-deception. In many ways, it creates mystery through the notion of exploring "mystery" itself. Hall's truncated writing style contributes to this effect. Also the increasing descent into the minutiae of spycraft plays into the reveal, plot-wise as well as psychologically. So, at this level, The Berlin Memorandum, aka The Quiller Memorandum is quite an impressive piece of work.

But many times you come to a work with other expectations. A Cold War spy novel set in West Berlin is among the most expectation laden stories you can try to create. And I suppose I wanted to see atmosphere. But there is very little of it. Perhaps because to load the story with atmosphere would interfere with the psychological reveals mentioned above, it may have been impossible to carry this out. At any rate, the Cold War Berlin that I knew personally doesn't exist in this novel. It's hidden behind mists, clouds, and a clutter of streets--as Quiller engages, loses, and re-engages with his "tags." Just as a sidenote, the film version of the novel does impart enormous atmosphere into its production. But it does so at the cost of the layering of the reveals. The movie also tidies up the plot, too. Perhaps in a way the author would not have approved??? For confusion and clarity were never meant to be the end result of a spy game conducted between conspiring ex-Nazis and British secret service agents in an occupied city under the control of four different countries.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quiller Memorandum is the first book in the Quiller spy series by Adam Hall. Quiller has spent the post WWII tracking down Nazis to be tried by the post War tribunals. He has just seen the final case and is due to return to England for a well-earned vacation. Attending a play in the New Germany, he is approached by Pol, from a UK government agency with a proposal to track down a notorious Nazi, Zossen who is reported to have returned to Germany from exile in Argentina. The agent previously involved in this case was found murdered. During the war, Hall had infiltrated the Nazis, working in concentration camps to save as many Jews as possible. Zossen ran one of these camps.
This begins an interesting spy story with excellent explanations of spy craft, how spies communicate with their bosses, how to fight interrogation, etc. The story moves along very quickly, plenty enough action and a fascinating story. There are points that 'irritated' me, or more likely that I started to find somewhat humorous; Quiller loves making lists; 3 scenarios, how many types of interrogation drugs he might have been given, etc. But at the same time it provides a picture of how he reasons through his work. The picture of post-War Germany is also interesting, the trials of Nazis, the Nazis still hidden in clear sight and what they are plotting to return to power, etc. Interesting spy story, well worth trying. I'll continue reading the books (3.5 stars)

[Matt Raubenheimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quiller Memorandum is the third Quiller novel that I have read, and it firmly establishes my opinion that Quiller is one of the finest series of espionage novels to have ever been written. This is the first in the series, and it seems to have a reputation for being a little different from what would become the typical Quiller novel. I probably haven't yet read enough to be fully aware of what the typical Quiller characteristics are, but never mind...the key thing is that it was a pacy, intense and thrilling read. The setting is as classic as the come...Berlin during the 1960s. The plot revolves around former Nazis and the rise of a Neo-Nazi organisation known as Phonix. One of the most interesting elements of the novel is Quiller's explanation of tradecraft and the way he narrates his way through receiving signals from his Control via coded stock market reports on the radio, and a seemingly endless string of people following him around Berlin as he goes about his mission. He also has to endure some narcotically enhanced interrogation, which is the basis of one of the novel's most thrilling chapters. The intense first person narration which is the defining characteristic of the Quiller books comes into its own during this interrogation scene, and also during the latter chapters of the books as events begin to come to a head. I enjoyed this novel just as much (if not more) as the previous books that I have read, and I will certainly be purchasing any further Quiller novels that I come across in my exploration of second-hand bookshops.

[Scott E · Rating 4 out of 5]

aka: The Quiller Memorandum... the first in a series of 19 Quiller books.

The Quiller Memorandum is detail rich on what it means to be a (fictional) spy. While maintaining a strong narrative, Adam Hall also details such processes as how to deal w/ a tail (not just how to spot one, but how to lead one on, double back on said tail, etc.). Quiller also uses his training to determine what drugs are administered to him during an interrogation, which in turn allows him to know how long he's been under, how long before he goes back under, and just how much information he get away with revealing before his adversaries realize what he is doing.

This is all just to say that Quiller is a professional spy who applies all of his tricks and training against the forces of evil. The evil in this one is a group of Nazis who, twenty years later, are still following the ultimate plan set down by Hitler. The Quiller Memorandum, and I suspect the rest of the series, is grounded in serious spying...spies on the ground, doing the work of spies.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this one 3.5 starts more than 4. The Quiller Memorandum was enjoyable in a sober kind of way (many chilling and gruesome details about WW2 were incorporated). I wasn’t enthralled and on the edge of my seat, but it kept my interest throughout, never dragging on. It offers a glimpse into the after effects of WW2 on both sides - the trauma, the grief, the unwavering dedication to defeated ideals. Inga’a attempted defection and ultimate return to the comfort of her “religion” was unexpected but also unsurprising. Quiller is a character without much depth (he’s a more serious James Bond after all). We spend the whole book in his mind, and yet we learn hardly anything about him. Perhaps that was intentional - an attempt at universal appeal maybe. Anywho, not a favorite, but it was worth the read. It’ll be a while before I ever pick it up again, if ever.

[Cliff Scovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crisply written story that captured my attention from beginning to end. I was really surprised, because I don't usually like books written during the 50s or 60s. The protagonist, Quiller, is not a superhuman, like the James Bond types, nor does he have a satchel full of fancy electronic tricks up his sleeve. That makes the story much more believable, and Adam Hall's writing style kept me engaged. I read it in two evenings.

Cliff Scovell
www.prison-earth.com

[Swan Bender · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am listening to this on my ipod
Your name is Quiller. You are the hero of an extraordinary novel that shows how a spy works, how messages are coded and decoded, how contacts are made, how a man reacts under the influence of truth drugs, and that traces the story of a vastly complex, entertaining, convincing, and sinister plot.
This was an entertaining and interesting storyline and I enjoyed it very much.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an espionage series that started in the '60's and ran through the '90's. The Wall Street Journal said it was one of the best espionage/spy series of all time. This was the first book, and I liked it. The book is more focused on thinking as a spy and I found it to be very realistic. I enjoyed the book.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This spy novel about neo-Nazis 1960's Berlin seemed dated and a little stilted to me. But good enough to hold my interest till the end.