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Joe Wilderness #2
The Unfortunate Englishman
Having shot someone in what he believed was self-defense in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Wilderness finds himself locked up with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go—although forever in Burne-Jones’s service. His newest operation will take him back to Berlin, which is now the dividing line between the West and the Soviets. A backstory of innocence and intrigue unravels, one in which Wilderness is in and out of Berlin and Vienna like a jack-in-the-box. When the Russians started building the Berlin wall in 1961, two unfortunate Englishmen were trapped on opposite sides. Geoffrey Masefield in the Lubyanka, and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov) in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965 there is a new plan. To exchange the prisoners, a swap upon Berlin's bridge of spies. But, as ever, Joe has something on the side, just to make it interesting, just to make it profitable. The Unfortunate Englishman is a thrilling tale of Khrushchev, Kennedy, a spy exchange . . . and ten thousand bottles of fine Bordeaux. What can possibly go wrong?
400 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2016
330 people are currently reading
742 people want to read
About the author
John Lawton
34 books329 followersJohn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
August 28, 2021
The Unfortunate Englishman is the second book in the author’s Joe Wilderness series, the follow-up to Then We Take Berlin. I listened to the audiobook version of that in 2020. I was fortunate enough to win a copy of the third book in the series, Hammer To Fall, from Readers First last year so I thought it was about time I read its predecessor (a copy of which I spotted in my local Oxfam bookshop).
The book’s opening chapter continues directly on from the final scene in Then We Take Berlin. Once more Joe Holderness (known to his friends as Wilderness) is in a scrape and on course to get a tongue lashing from his wife Judy, if and when he gets home. (By the way, I love Judy. She always knows when Joe’s up to something nefarious, dangerous, or both.)
Then it’s back to 1945 and the story of how a KGB agent managed to assume the identity of another man, Bernard Alleyn, and live undiscovered for nearly fifteen years, all the time passing secrets back to the Soviet Union until he is unmasked.
Moving forward to 1960, Wilderness is involved in recruiting business man and metallurgy expert Geoffrey Masefield to travel to the Soviet Union as part of a trade delegation in the hope of discovering information about the Soviets missile capability. The storyline is reminiscent of the case of Greville Wynne, arrested as a spy and sentenced to eight years in a Soviet prison. (His experiences have recently been dramatized – with quite a lot of artistic licence – in the film The Courier, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.) Wilderness disappears from the picture in this part of the book, the focus instead on Masefield’s time in Moscow. Masefield is rather the innocent abroad, fulfilling his boyhood dream of becoming spy yet a little disappointed that it’s not quite like in the James Bond books. He’s rather easy prey for the KGB who know exactly how to take advantage of a man’s weaknesses.
There’s a brief trip back in time to Berlin in 1947 to discover more about those ten thousand bottles of Bordeaux before the book picks up where it started, with Burne-Jones rescuing Wilderness from a Berlin jail in 1963. After a few frustrating years shuffling paperwork, Wilderness is ordered to return to Berlin to oversee the spy exchange. As you might expect, not everything goes to plan, especially when Wilderness encounters two old sparring partners from the past plus the woman who, for a brief time, captured his heart. Perhaps he should have heeded the advice of his friend Eddie: “Joe, Berlin has been a disaster area for you. It’s marked on the map with a big black cross and a sign saying ‘here be dragons’.”
Although written five years ago, the book seems surprisingly up-to-date. Proving nothing much changes, the failure of the Americans and British to anticipate the construction of the Berlin wall cutting off West Berlin is described as a ‘failure of intelligence’. Where have we heard that recently? And no doubt Burne-Jones’s observation that ‘it is far better to say nothing and appear ignorant than to admit we knew and appear futile’ still applies as well.
I loved the brief appearance by a character from the author’s other series and also how the title of the book could be interpreted in a number of ways. Is ‘the unfortunate Englishman’ Alleyn, separated from his family and languishing in a British jail, Masefield, the inept spy captured by the Soviets, or even Wilderness, more at home in the field than behind a desk?
The author clearly has a love of short chapters – The Unfortunate Englishman has 171! – but it’s a classy, perfectly paced spy thriller with great period atmosphere and a plot which is a satisfying blend of the personal and the political. I can’t wait to pluck Hammer To Fall off my bookshelf and get stuck in.
The book’s opening chapter continues directly on from the final scene in Then We Take Berlin. Once more Joe Holderness (known to his friends as Wilderness) is in a scrape and on course to get a tongue lashing from his wife Judy, if and when he gets home. (By the way, I love Judy. She always knows when Joe’s up to something nefarious, dangerous, or both.)
Then it’s back to 1945 and the story of how a KGB agent managed to assume the identity of another man, Bernard Alleyn, and live undiscovered for nearly fifteen years, all the time passing secrets back to the Soviet Union until he is unmasked.
Moving forward to 1960, Wilderness is involved in recruiting business man and metallurgy expert Geoffrey Masefield to travel to the Soviet Union as part of a trade delegation in the hope of discovering information about the Soviets missile capability. The storyline is reminiscent of the case of Greville Wynne, arrested as a spy and sentenced to eight years in a Soviet prison. (His experiences have recently been dramatized – with quite a lot of artistic licence – in the film The Courier, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.) Wilderness disappears from the picture in this part of the book, the focus instead on Masefield’s time in Moscow. Masefield is rather the innocent abroad, fulfilling his boyhood dream of becoming spy yet a little disappointed that it’s not quite like in the James Bond books. He’s rather easy prey for the KGB who know exactly how to take advantage of a man’s weaknesses.
There’s a brief trip back in time to Berlin in 1947 to discover more about those ten thousand bottles of Bordeaux before the book picks up where it started, with Burne-Jones rescuing Wilderness from a Berlin jail in 1963. After a few frustrating years shuffling paperwork, Wilderness is ordered to return to Berlin to oversee the spy exchange. As you might expect, not everything goes to plan, especially when Wilderness encounters two old sparring partners from the past plus the woman who, for a brief time, captured his heart. Perhaps he should have heeded the advice of his friend Eddie: “Joe, Berlin has been a disaster area for you. It’s marked on the map with a big black cross and a sign saying ‘here be dragons’.”
Although written five years ago, the book seems surprisingly up-to-date. Proving nothing much changes, the failure of the Americans and British to anticipate the construction of the Berlin wall cutting off West Berlin is described as a ‘failure of intelligence’. Where have we heard that recently? And no doubt Burne-Jones’s observation that ‘it is far better to say nothing and appear ignorant than to admit we knew and appear futile’ still applies as well.
I loved the brief appearance by a character from the author’s other series and also how the title of the book could be interpreted in a number of ways. Is ‘the unfortunate Englishman’ Alleyn, separated from his family and languishing in a British jail, Masefield, the inept spy captured by the Soviets, or even Wilderness, more at home in the field than behind a desk?
The author clearly has a love of short chapters – The Unfortunate Englishman has 171! – but it’s a classy, perfectly paced spy thriller with great period atmosphere and a plot which is a satisfying blend of the personal and the political. I can’t wait to pluck Hammer To Fall off my bookshelf and get stuck in.
June 8, 2023
Another fine Cold War thriller from John Lawton. Former Cockney wide boy Joe Wilderness has turned into a top field agent for Britain's secret service and this time round he has to organise an exchange of spies in Berlin - an exchange which goes disastrously wrong for some of those involved. I love how Lawton manages to blend in fictional characters with real events - in this case, the building of the Berlin Wall (which originally featured barbed wire bought from Britain - but we Brits don't like to talk about that!) and the Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev's meetings with USA President John F. Kennedy. Lawton manages to take several caustic swipes at various UK, USA and Soviet politicians and their various not-so-wonderful intelligence services. In doing so, he tears away the veneer of Soviet and Western propaganda which has surrounded the Cold War during the past 50 years in the media and - sadly - many history books. Anyone who enjoys history and/or spy stories should read this book - it makes a marvellous change from the dross that passes for fact/fiction espionage stories featuring characters who belong in the world of James Bond and his ilk. Joe Wilderness is a wonderful character and I hope Mr Lawton has more of his story to tell.
October 17, 2018
John Lawton is perhaps one of the best practitioners of the art of Cold War noir. He has written two separate series that deal with historical events behind the Iron Curtain and other areas and each has a scintillating plot that reeks of historical probability. The third installment of Lawton’s Joe Wilderness series, THE UNFORTUNATE ENGLISHMEN is an excellent example of this successful genre. The novel is set in the early 1960s with Nikita Khrushchev master of the Soviet Union in competition for the hearts and minds of third world countries with John F. Kennedy. In England MI6 is growing concerned about Soviet nuclear capability as are the Americans.
The story unfolds with a return to post war Berlin when former MI6 operative Joe Wildnerness accidently shoots a woman who is involved with a plot to smuggle a nuclear physicist out of East Berlin to send her to newly created state of Israel. Wilderness is arrested and is freed by the West German authorities through the intervention of Alec Berne-Jones, an MI6 fixture for years, who happens to be Wilderness’ father-in-law. In return for his freedom, Wilderness agrees to rejoin MI6. Further, Lawton introduces Bernard Forbes Campbell Alleyn, a British Squadron Leader who is shot down over Silesia in March, 1963, captured and finally liberated by the Russians. The NKVD, never would never miss an opportunity, takes the body of Alleyn which they have recovered and use his identity and substitute an agent, Leonoid L’vovich Liubimov to infiltrate the British Defense establishment.
British Intelligence has its own plans to infiltrate the Soviet Defense apparatus. It seems that their entire Russian operation has been rolled by a treasonous spy by the name of George Blake, who of course had ties to the Cambridge Five. MI6 decides to develop an “out of the box” agent, Geoffrey Masefield, an expert in metallurgy who suffers from low self-esteem, but had delusions that he could be a successful spy. The story that is concocted deals with idium, a rare metal that Masefield, posing as an industrial representative will try and purchase in Moscow. The goal is to gain Soviet interest in Masefield which would allow him to visit certain sites that might be of interest. Lawton’s development of Masefield’s character and spy ability is classic and his adventures in Russia become a core of the novel. Masefield develops a relationship with Tanya Dmitrievna Tsitikova his “Russian watcher,” of course a KGB spy, as well as Professor of Physics Grigory Grigoryevich Matsekyolyev of the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute, who also is a KGB spy, which makes for interesting scenes and dialogue.
Lawton’s novel is presented in layers. First, introducing the major characters and their possible relationship to the world of intelligence. Second, developing each character fully, and lastly tying them together in an intricate plot that attracts the readers complete attention. While doing so Lawton integrates historical events, concepts, and figures that provide the novel with an air of accuracy when applied to the course of the Cold War. Events that are easily recognizable are the Kennedy-Khrushchev meeting in Vienna, the U2 Incident, the building of the Berlin Wall, trading of spies, among others. The realism that is evident does at times seems at times to be a tad far fetched as is evidences by Wilderness’ meeting with Khrushchev on the western side of the newly constructed Berlin Wall in late September, 1961. But to Lawton’s credit his sarcasm papers over several situations as his somewhat dark humor presides.
Lawton presents all the clichés associated with the world of spies through the character of Masefield. Further, the reader gets a sense of Moscow during the Cold War with the lines for poor quality goods, the black market, overcrowded and run down housing, and the ever present KGB which seems to be everywhere. Other important characters play important roles. Wilderness’s wife, Judy, a saucy BBC producer, and daughter of her husband’s boss tries to keep her husband on track. Tom Radley is an incompetent British MI6 Station Chief in Berlin who makes a series of errors, Nell Burkhardt who was close with Wilderness after the war and finds herself running a refugee camp, the Marooned Centre in Berlin in the early 1960s, Frank Spoleta, a self-indulgent CIA operative who seems to alienate everyone he encounters, among others.
British intelligence chiefs are in a quandary as to how to further employ Masefield. Wilderness is extremely skeptical in extending Masefield’s leash, so he can try and penetrate the Soviet Defense Ministry further. On the other hand, Radley, the Berlin Chief wants to provide his agent carte blanche. The result is that Radley’s view is put forth leading to disastrous consequences and his removal from his position. At this point the novel takes on an exceptionally serious hue as M16 officials, Wilderness, and his father-in-law must change course in order to contain the intelligence gaffe, and deal with the fallout that may foster more drastic Soviet actions.
Lawton, as per usual has written an exciting Cold War mystery, with strong character development, the ability to integrate the unusual into his dialogue and story line, and take the reader back and forth from post war Berlin to the machinations of the 1960s. For those who enjoy David Downing, Olen Steinhauer, Philip Kerr, or Luke McCallin, they will find Lawton to be equal to, if not a step up in his approach to Cold War espionage. Lawton is a great read, no matter what book of his you might pick up, so enjoy.
The story unfolds with a return to post war Berlin when former MI6 operative Joe Wildnerness accidently shoots a woman who is involved with a plot to smuggle a nuclear physicist out of East Berlin to send her to newly created state of Israel. Wilderness is arrested and is freed by the West German authorities through the intervention of Alec Berne-Jones, an MI6 fixture for years, who happens to be Wilderness’ father-in-law. In return for his freedom, Wilderness agrees to rejoin MI6. Further, Lawton introduces Bernard Forbes Campbell Alleyn, a British Squadron Leader who is shot down over Silesia in March, 1963, captured and finally liberated by the Russians. The NKVD, never would never miss an opportunity, takes the body of Alleyn which they have recovered and use his identity and substitute an agent, Leonoid L’vovich Liubimov to infiltrate the British Defense establishment.
British Intelligence has its own plans to infiltrate the Soviet Defense apparatus. It seems that their entire Russian operation has been rolled by a treasonous spy by the name of George Blake, who of course had ties to the Cambridge Five. MI6 decides to develop an “out of the box” agent, Geoffrey Masefield, an expert in metallurgy who suffers from low self-esteem, but had delusions that he could be a successful spy. The story that is concocted deals with idium, a rare metal that Masefield, posing as an industrial representative will try and purchase in Moscow. The goal is to gain Soviet interest in Masefield which would allow him to visit certain sites that might be of interest. Lawton’s development of Masefield’s character and spy ability is classic and his adventures in Russia become a core of the novel. Masefield develops a relationship with Tanya Dmitrievna Tsitikova his “Russian watcher,” of course a KGB spy, as well as Professor of Physics Grigory Grigoryevich Matsekyolyev of the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute, who also is a KGB spy, which makes for interesting scenes and dialogue.
Lawton’s novel is presented in layers. First, introducing the major characters and their possible relationship to the world of intelligence. Second, developing each character fully, and lastly tying them together in an intricate plot that attracts the readers complete attention. While doing so Lawton integrates historical events, concepts, and figures that provide the novel with an air of accuracy when applied to the course of the Cold War. Events that are easily recognizable are the Kennedy-Khrushchev meeting in Vienna, the U2 Incident, the building of the Berlin Wall, trading of spies, among others. The realism that is evident does at times seems at times to be a tad far fetched as is evidences by Wilderness’ meeting with Khrushchev on the western side of the newly constructed Berlin Wall in late September, 1961. But to Lawton’s credit his sarcasm papers over several situations as his somewhat dark humor presides.
Lawton presents all the clichés associated with the world of spies through the character of Masefield. Further, the reader gets a sense of Moscow during the Cold War with the lines for poor quality goods, the black market, overcrowded and run down housing, and the ever present KGB which seems to be everywhere. Other important characters play important roles. Wilderness’s wife, Judy, a saucy BBC producer, and daughter of her husband’s boss tries to keep her husband on track. Tom Radley is an incompetent British MI6 Station Chief in Berlin who makes a series of errors, Nell Burkhardt who was close with Wilderness after the war and finds herself running a refugee camp, the Marooned Centre in Berlin in the early 1960s, Frank Spoleta, a self-indulgent CIA operative who seems to alienate everyone he encounters, among others.
British intelligence chiefs are in a quandary as to how to further employ Masefield. Wilderness is extremely skeptical in extending Masefield’s leash, so he can try and penetrate the Soviet Defense Ministry further. On the other hand, Radley, the Berlin Chief wants to provide his agent carte blanche. The result is that Radley’s view is put forth leading to disastrous consequences and his removal from his position. At this point the novel takes on an exceptionally serious hue as M16 officials, Wilderness, and his father-in-law must change course in order to contain the intelligence gaffe, and deal with the fallout that may foster more drastic Soviet actions.
Lawton, as per usual has written an exciting Cold War mystery, with strong character development, the ability to integrate the unusual into his dialogue and story line, and take the reader back and forth from post war Berlin to the machinations of the 1960s. For those who enjoy David Downing, Olen Steinhauer, Philip Kerr, or Luke McCallin, they will find Lawton to be equal to, if not a step up in his approach to Cold War espionage. Lawton is a great read, no matter what book of his you might pick up, so enjoy.
December 12, 2020
4.2 stars. I am not at all efficient at keeping up with John Lawton’s novels, nor at reading them in the right order (which I would normally find irritating). However, as soon as I started this, I remembered enough about Joe Holderness’ misadventures in post war Berlin for it not to matter. These books are slightly more lighthearted than many in the espionage genre, but the mix of great characters, major and minor, in a convoluted plot made it a very entertaining and enjoyable read. I shall return to Lawton soon.
May 25, 2022
Gosh! I really enjoyed this book. A sort of espionage thriller with lots of subtle humour. You don't even need to have read its predecessor to appreciate (even though most of the leading characters are the same) it which makes it even better.
I can't say more. It's fun, it's a good read.
What's stopping you?
I can't say more. It's fun, it's a good read.
What's stopping you?
February 2, 2022
As I has hoped might happen, I enjoyed my second outing with petty criminal turned intelligence officer (with the occasional not-quite-aboveboard sideline) Joe Wilderness a lot more than the first book. This one actually had some espionage stuff going on, something the previous book was regrettably short on, the pace wasn't as glacial, and the protagonist has even grown on me a little. Hopefully the next book will be equally entertaining.
May 23, 2016
I actually went to my local public library and checked out the first “Joe Wilderness” novel because I was certain that the cliffhanger ending of THEN WE TAKE BERLIN would be a critical jumping-off point for the sequel, that the set-up and the incident would warrant re-reading. I mean, our Cockney hero had just mistakenly shot an important intelligence asset in a public park in 1963 Berlin. I might have spared myself the short drive to the library. John Lawton’s fondness for discursively (sometimes evasively) moving back & forth on a central character’s timeline lessened the renewed impact of Joe’s shooting of the defecting (but to whom?) Austrian physicist Marte Mayerling. Almost immediately, we’re back to May 1945 and a circuitously-related story that eventually wends its way forward again to 1965. Most of THE UNFORTUNATE ENGLISHMAN is about the contrasting careers and fates of two disparate spies – a Russian mole who got his start impersonating a dead Canadian POW and a haplessly starry-eyed metallurgist unwisely sent on Moscow missions by MI6. One thoroughly acculturated spook yearns for the London home life, the other for the purposeful career of the 35-year-old Wilderness – who stubbornly (and selfishly) escapes both family and office at every opportunity. As Joe tells his father-in-law; “I’d have sat out the charge of the Light Brigade with a ham sandwich and a couple of bottles of pale ale” (loc.770). Being an MI6 field agent isn’t excitement enough for restless Joe. By ‘65, he’s back in Berlin on a field assignment, but mostly for the scam – for the smuggler’s and black-marketer’s extra dose of danger and for the dishonest cash. Finding illicit profits in his MI6 missions, Joe rationalizes as “a pleasing coincidence” and a kind of class warfare against toffs like his MI6 boss and father-in-law Alec Burne-Jones. This time, Joe’s pursuit of ill-gotten loot has a Peter Pan quality, a “won’t-grow-up” defiance of adult responsibility that diminishes him in comparison to the two spies he’s meant to exchange in the middle of a snow-swept Berlin bridge.
THE UNFORTUNATE ENGLISHMAN delivers some enjoyable cameos by Lawton fictional personalities (the retired-at-49 ex-copper Frederick Troy) and the historical (a cartoonish USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev) but not nearly enough of the moral center of these two novels: indomitable, beautiful Nell “Breakheart,” who may finally be despairing of trying to reform her erstwhile lover, Joe.
THE UNFORTUNATE ENGLISHMAN delivers some enjoyable cameos by Lawton fictional personalities (the retired-at-49 ex-copper Frederick Troy) and the historical (a cartoonish USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev) but not nearly enough of the moral center of these two novels: indomitable, beautiful Nell “Breakheart,” who may finally be despairing of trying to reform her erstwhile lover, Joe.
June 8, 2016
Lately, well actually it has been for over a year, I seem to have been drawn to British authors or British novels. And once again on a recent trip to the local library I glanced to the right on my way out and the cover of this book caught my eye. I picked it up and perused the dust cover and it sounded promising, so it got added to my reading list. Well, it was not a bad read, and I am bored with those who think that only Le Carre can write an espionage thriller about the Cold War. But I felt completely in a fog at the beginning of the book because it referred to action and plot that appears to be a hold over from the first novel of this series. After a few chapters I got a chance to get into the book and there were parts of this that were extremely well written in terms of plot and characters. Not being an expert in Espionage or Espionage Thrillers I am unsure as to a lot of the details in the book, but it appears to be well researched, however some of the double-dealing seems a bit much especially when we get into Scams and old characters from 1947 (this book is set in the 1960's). The ending seemed contrived and hard to believe, from the hotel scene in East Germany, to the escape into the British Sector of West Germany, to the delivery of a special package at the end of the book.
Also hard to digest is our protagonists relationship with his wife, who is the daughter of his superior and how he always keeps getting put into situations that just seem hard to believe.
This book is not for everyone, but if you are a fan of Espionage thriller books then give it a read. I doubt seriously that I will pick up the first book of the series nor any others the author may write in this series.
Also hard to digest is our protagonists relationship with his wife, who is the daughter of his superior and how he always keeps getting put into situations that just seem hard to believe.
This book is not for everyone, but if you are a fan of Espionage thriller books then give it a read. I doubt seriously that I will pick up the first book of the series nor any others the author may write in this series.
March 3, 2016
Eh. His style is too disjointed, and there's no likable characters. Trying too hard to imitate Le Carré.
June 1, 2020
‘Wilderness had done stupid things in his time.’
I’ve just read the third instalment in the Joe Wilderness series (‘Hammer to Fall’). Somehow, I’d missed the second instalment. Not good enough, I said to myself, and borrowed a copy.
I like well-written Cold War fiction: it brings back memories of a different uncertain world, and Joe Wilderness is fast becoming a favourite character.
This novel opens in Berlin in 1963. Wilderness, by then a former MI6 operative, accidently shoots a woman. He’s locked up. His father-in-law Alec Burne-Jones, a senior officer at MI6, arranges his release. But there’s a twist: Wilderness has to agree to re-join MI6.
Berlin is now divided. The West on one side, the Soviets on the other. Tensions between the USA and the USSR concerns in the UK and the USA about the USSR’s growing nuclear capacity. Some things haven’t changed: the black-market skills Joe developed during World War II are still with him, as are some of those who worked with him. A spy exchange, and the collection of ten thousand bottles of Bordeaux. Plenty of intrigue, lots of machinations.
There are two unfortunate Englishmen in this novel: Geoffrey Masefield, imprisoned in the Lubyanka and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov), imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965, a prisoner exchange is proposed. And Joe is posted back to Berlin to oversee the exchange.
The story shifts between places, characters and timelines. The stories of Masefield and Alleyn (Liubimov) and their capture, the events they are part of. There are opportunities for those able to take advantage, and traps for the unwary.
If you like novels set in the Cold War period, enjoy intrigue and humour, and you’ve not already read this series I can strongly recommend it. I now need to track down and read Mr Lawton’s Inspector Troy series. I’m looking forward to it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I’ve just read the third instalment in the Joe Wilderness series (‘Hammer to Fall’). Somehow, I’d missed the second instalment. Not good enough, I said to myself, and borrowed a copy.
I like well-written Cold War fiction: it brings back memories of a different uncertain world, and Joe Wilderness is fast becoming a favourite character.
This novel opens in Berlin in 1963. Wilderness, by then a former MI6 operative, accidently shoots a woman. He’s locked up. His father-in-law Alec Burne-Jones, a senior officer at MI6, arranges his release. But there’s a twist: Wilderness has to agree to re-join MI6.
Berlin is now divided. The West on one side, the Soviets on the other. Tensions between the USA and the USSR concerns in the UK and the USA about the USSR’s growing nuclear capacity. Some things haven’t changed: the black-market skills Joe developed during World War II are still with him, as are some of those who worked with him. A spy exchange, and the collection of ten thousand bottles of Bordeaux. Plenty of intrigue, lots of machinations.
There are two unfortunate Englishmen in this novel: Geoffrey Masefield, imprisoned in the Lubyanka and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov), imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965, a prisoner exchange is proposed. And Joe is posted back to Berlin to oversee the exchange.
The story shifts between places, characters and timelines. The stories of Masefield and Alleyn (Liubimov) and their capture, the events they are part of. There are opportunities for those able to take advantage, and traps for the unwary.
If you like novels set in the Cold War period, enjoy intrigue and humour, and you’ve not already read this series I can strongly recommend it. I now need to track down and read Mr Lawton’s Inspector Troy series. I’m looking forward to it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 28, 2019
A terrific Book
John Lawton does an exceptional job at character development:Russian, American and British. His twists and turns in plot interaction makes it difficult to anticipate where his story is going to end.AKA, who is the unfortunate Englishman. Loved this book and look forward to his next Joe Wilderness installment.
John Lawton does an exceptional job at character development:Russian, American and British. His twists and turns in plot interaction makes it difficult to anticipate where his story is going to end.AKA, who is the unfortunate Englishman. Loved this book and look forward to his next Joe Wilderness installment.
August 24, 2023
I’m loving this series. I’m listening to the audible version. The narrator, Lewis Hancock, is fantastic. I can’t emphasize that enough. The interactions between the Cockney Joe and the Bronx Italian Frank is pure gold…Lewis nails the accents. I’ll writeup more once I’m done with books 3 and 4.
May 12, 2016
Joe Wilderness is an excellent spy. His analysis and judgement are on the money. He's tough and always knows the right thing to do, an especially high accomplishment for someone who found his way into MI6 as a substitute for prison.
How different Lawton's MI6 is from LeCarre/Deighton's portrayal of same. There don't seem to be that many operatives or personnel for one thing. Burne-Jones the boss seems positively pedestrian compared to George Smiley, the grand intellectual. Radley, the goofus Berlin station chief, is miles different from Deighton's sophisticated Frank Harrington who has the big mansion in Grunewald.
Wilderness the hero is aptly named and nothing resembling Bernie Samson except for his iconoclastic panache. Joe W has cut his teeth on the Berlin black market. By and large, JL’s characters are not upper class. Delicious small details as household products, jingles, and the like, the setting and background of this book are first rate. As in previous JL work, he is critical of the US and especially here of JFK. Jack Dash, the CIA guy, is a vulgar drunk.
Joe Wilderness has won me over. Tip of the hat.
How different Lawton's MI6 is from LeCarre/Deighton's portrayal of same. There don't seem to be that many operatives or personnel for one thing. Burne-Jones the boss seems positively pedestrian compared to George Smiley, the grand intellectual. Radley, the goofus Berlin station chief, is miles different from Deighton's sophisticated Frank Harrington who has the big mansion in Grunewald.
Wilderness the hero is aptly named and nothing resembling Bernie Samson except for his iconoclastic panache. Joe W has cut his teeth on the Berlin black market. By and large, JL’s characters are not upper class. Delicious small details as household products, jingles, and the like, the setting and background of this book are first rate. As in previous JL work, he is critical of the US and especially here of JFK. Jack Dash, the CIA guy, is a vulgar drunk.
Joe Wilderness has won me over. Tip of the hat.
December 18, 2016
The second Joe Wilderness novel The Unfortunate Englishman is even better than the first which was itself excellent. What makes both novels so entertaining are the credible plots and the top class characterisation. Wilderness is a working class genius rescued from the RAF glasshouse by MI6 and educated at Cambridge. He speaks several languages fluently and has a working knowledge of several sciences. However, while carrying out hazardous tasks as an agent in the field, he can't resist involving himself in nefarious schemes having been an apprentice cat burglar in his youth.
Holderness really is a fascinating character. This novel has many Le Carre like themes and the basis of the narrative is about two spies, one English and one Soviet. Great entertainment.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
Holderness really is a fascinating character. This novel has many Le Carre like themes and the basis of the narrative is about two spies, one English and one Soviet. Great entertainment.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
May 3, 2017
Dreadful: I was taken in by the Times endorsement on the fron cover however the dialogue of this book was horrendous. Set in 1960's the ridiculous characters spoke as if it was 2010...modern swear words etching gave the feeling the er wasn't very well researched.
June 26, 2025
A cold war spy exchange with a surprising unexpected ending turned into a spy kidnapping and with the usual and unexpected twists that we can expect from John Lawton (JL).
As with my other reviews of JL's work, this one is based on a recent rereading, with full knowledge of the remaining books in both the Troy and Wilderness series.
Accordingly, this review also places the book within the broader context of the entire series.
The Unfortunate Englishman (UE) is a follow-up to Then We Take Berlin (TWTB). As we've come to expect from JL, he weaves together multiple timelines,
which can make the beginning a bit confusing. It may help to revisit TWTB which covers the years 1945–1948, 1955/56, and 1963.
UE opens briefly in 1963, picking up where TWTB left off—though with already one unexpected twist.
From there, the narrative shifts back to 1960/61, before moving forward to 1965 and with an interlude in 1947.
Despite the complexity, JL manages the overlapping timelines effectively—as he has in previous books. In fact, some of the events involving Wilderness in 1961, described in UE, were already referenced earlier in TWTB in the context of 1963 events. In UE we also learn why he left the service in 61 and then, why he was later "reenlisted" in 63.
The Masefield story offers some intriguing moments. Masefield himself is an interesting mix of a naive man aspiring to be a hero and someone with sharp wit.
Masefield's relation with his superiors, Burne-Jones and Joe W, is also interesting. On one hand, Burne-Jones needs to rely on Masefield's operation, while on the other, Joe has a deep distrust towards the entire mission. Interestingly, the soon-to-fail operation, fails not because of the reasons thought by Joe but for something else.
It’s a pity that the Alleyn/Lyubomov storyline isn’t longer. Given JL’s talent, the early section could easily have been expanded into a much more atractive and in-depth chapter—or even multiple chapters. One particularly striking moment is when Alleyn tells his interrogator why he is a spy, not a traitor.
Alleyn’s second interrogation by Joe, and also later developments also provides rich material that could have deepened the narrative of such a chapter.
His revelations touch on significant historical moments, such as the Suez invasion, and even an unexplained mystery surrounding the Bay of Pigs incident.
A distinctive strength of JL’s writing is how much character and plot development is conveyed through dialogue. The exchange between Joe and Alleyn during the interrogation hints at why Joe begins to like Alleyn which was, in my opinion, the trigger for the rather unexpected ending.
The building of the Berlin Wall, and its effect on people, was very well captured and even made more attractive
by adding relevant characters of the story such as the nice "po-faced" Nell.
We also see why she got close to Willi Brandt (something that was a fact in the later part of TWTB).
The behaviour of the Americans, "we will do nothing" compared with the behavior of the West Germans "we can do nothing" also makes a mark in the story (it reminds me of something that is happening nowadays).
As I've noted in other reviews of JL's work, the author does a remarkable job managing the non-chronological structure of his book series. With knowledge of later books, readers can often spot meaningful connections between volumes, even when they weren't written in order. Several of the books reference events that occur earlier in the timeline but are only explored in detail in later installments. It's unclear whether this structure was fully planned from the beginning, but it certainly reflects careful planning. One notable example appears in UE. During a meeting between Joe, Troy (his only appearance in the book), and Eddie, Joe reflects on an earlier encounter with Troy in 1958—a meeting that is fully described in JL's next novel, Friends and Traitors. The paragraph detailing Joe's thoughts provides a short and effective summary of that future book without revealing any specific details.
Another great book by John Lawton.
As with my other reviews of JL's work, this one is based on a recent rereading, with full knowledge of the remaining books in both the Troy and Wilderness series.
Accordingly, this review also places the book within the broader context of the entire series.
The Unfortunate Englishman (UE) is a follow-up to Then We Take Berlin (TWTB). As we've come to expect from JL, he weaves together multiple timelines,
which can make the beginning a bit confusing. It may help to revisit TWTB which covers the years 1945–1948, 1955/56, and 1963.
UE opens briefly in 1963, picking up where TWTB left off—though with already one unexpected twist.
From there, the narrative shifts back to 1960/61, before moving forward to 1965 and with an interlude in 1947.
Despite the complexity, JL manages the overlapping timelines effectively—as he has in previous books. In fact, some of the events involving Wilderness in 1961, described in UE, were already referenced earlier in TWTB in the context of 1963 events. In UE we also learn why he left the service in 61 and then, why he was later "reenlisted" in 63.
The Masefield story offers some intriguing moments. Masefield himself is an interesting mix of a naive man aspiring to be a hero and someone with sharp wit.
Masefield's relation with his superiors, Burne-Jones and Joe W, is also interesting. On one hand, Burne-Jones needs to rely on Masefield's operation, while on the other, Joe has a deep distrust towards the entire mission. Interestingly, the soon-to-fail operation, fails not because of the reasons thought by Joe but for something else.
It’s a pity that the Alleyn/Lyubomov storyline isn’t longer. Given JL’s talent, the early section could easily have been expanded into a much more atractive and in-depth chapter—or even multiple chapters. One particularly striking moment is when Alleyn tells his interrogator why he is a spy, not a traitor.
Alleyn’s second interrogation by Joe, and also later developments also provides rich material that could have deepened the narrative of such a chapter.
His revelations touch on significant historical moments, such as the Suez invasion, and even an unexplained mystery surrounding the Bay of Pigs incident.
A distinctive strength of JL’s writing is how much character and plot development is conveyed through dialogue. The exchange between Joe and Alleyn during the interrogation hints at why Joe begins to like Alleyn which was, in my opinion, the trigger for the rather unexpected ending.
The building of the Berlin Wall, and its effect on people, was very well captured and even made more attractive
by adding relevant characters of the story such as the nice "po-faced" Nell.
We also see why she got close to Willi Brandt (something that was a fact in the later part of TWTB).
The behaviour of the Americans, "we will do nothing" compared with the behavior of the West Germans "we can do nothing" also makes a mark in the story (it reminds me of something that is happening nowadays).
As I've noted in other reviews of JL's work, the author does a remarkable job managing the non-chronological structure of his book series. With knowledge of later books, readers can often spot meaningful connections between volumes, even when they weren't written in order. Several of the books reference events that occur earlier in the timeline but are only explored in detail in later installments. It's unclear whether this structure was fully planned from the beginning, but it certainly reflects careful planning. One notable example appears in UE. During a meeting between Joe, Troy (his only appearance in the book), and Eddie, Joe reflects on an earlier encounter with Troy in 1958—a meeting that is fully described in JL's next novel, Friends and Traitors. The paragraph detailing Joe's thoughts provides a short and effective summary of that future book without revealing any specific details.
Another great book by John Lawton.
March 23, 2020
An excellent Cold War spy novel that kept this reader turning the exciting last two hundred pages well into the night. It is the second of the “Joe Wilderness” novels by Mr. Lawton, and it is not necessary to have read the first,” And Then We Took Berlin” to appreciate this one.
At the beginning of the story, Joe is safe and bored at a desk job in England, shuffling papers at the spy shop in London where his boss , his wife’s father, never lets Joe forget how he rescued Joe from a mess in Berlin. She is happy to know where her husband is and that he is not skulking around dark corners. Not for long. Berlin, and the tangled messes Joe got into there, haunt him still. But events outside of his stuffy office, will drag the reluctant spy back into the cold, if I may steal a some titles from LeCarre that exactly fit Joe Wilderness. He is the go to guy sent in to clean up a mess.
Joe is just unpredictable ruthless and cunning enough to slip into and out of trouble. “ The Unfortunate Englishman” refers to a character in the book, a man who gets in over his head while doing a bit of salesmanship/ spying in Moscow.He ignores all the cautions about trusting any Russians, especially any female tour guides ( Nkvd agents all) and winds up in the Lyubianka, which sets the story running.
Mr. Lawton moves the pieces around his chessboard deftly to keep the suspense building. He never tells the reader too much detail, but instead allows the plot answer all. Yet his descriptions of Moscow let the reader feel the heavily looming manace. Joe is a fascinating mixture of con man , loyal friend, respecter of no social niceties, and somewhat of an idealistic cynic (is that an oxymoron?) . No matter, a great character. His low opinions of those whom he works for and with are in contrast with the grudging respect for his Russian foe, who shot him almost dead in their first meeting.
I would love to see these two novels adapted into a screen play series, not that there is any hope that justice would be done to the style and quality of the novels. If there is out there somewhere a clone of the young Michael Caine —perfect casting.
Otherwise, I will simply wait for the new, third book for more of Joe Wilderness trying to avoid his own funeral in Berlin.
Content notes: nothing objectionable.
At the beginning of the story, Joe is safe and bored at a desk job in England, shuffling papers at the spy shop in London where his boss , his wife’s father, never lets Joe forget how he rescued Joe from a mess in Berlin. She is happy to know where her husband is and that he is not skulking around dark corners. Not for long. Berlin, and the tangled messes Joe got into there, haunt him still. But events outside of his stuffy office, will drag the reluctant spy back into the cold, if I may steal a some titles from LeCarre that exactly fit Joe Wilderness. He is the go to guy sent in to clean up a mess.
Joe is just unpredictable ruthless and cunning enough to slip into and out of trouble. “ The Unfortunate Englishman” refers to a character in the book, a man who gets in over his head while doing a bit of salesmanship/ spying in Moscow.He ignores all the cautions about trusting any Russians, especially any female tour guides ( Nkvd agents all) and winds up in the Lyubianka, which sets the story running.
Mr. Lawton moves the pieces around his chessboard deftly to keep the suspense building. He never tells the reader too much detail, but instead allows the plot answer all. Yet his descriptions of Moscow let the reader feel the heavily looming manace. Joe is a fascinating mixture of con man , loyal friend, respecter of no social niceties, and somewhat of an idealistic cynic (is that an oxymoron?) . No matter, a great character. His low opinions of those whom he works for and with are in contrast with the grudging respect for his Russian foe, who shot him almost dead in their first meeting.
I would love to see these two novels adapted into a screen play series, not that there is any hope that justice would be done to the style and quality of the novels. If there is out there somewhere a clone of the young Michael Caine —perfect casting.
Otherwise, I will simply wait for the new, third book for more of Joe Wilderness trying to avoid his own funeral in Berlin.
Content notes: nothing objectionable.
September 4, 2023
To be fair, if Goodreads allowed for greater nuance I'd give this a 3.75.
I seem to have read the Joe Wilderness books out of order. I read the first book, 'Then We Take Berlin, initially. Then, having really enjoyed it, I found my way somehow to 'Hammer to Fall' which I also really liked. I had no idea there was a book in the middle, and just discovered this one recently.
Joe Holderness, the hero of these novels is a charming rogue, a firecracker in his unique way. Too young to have fought during WWII he was drafted into the RAF in 1946 and stationed in Berlin. Though he comes from a poor Cockney family and was trained as a thief by his late grandfather, Wilderness, as he's aptly named by an array of women who find him appealing, is also smart. And he's always looking for an angle in order to profit, whether financially, personally or both.
Due to his smarts, talent for languages, scheming nature and some luck, Wilderness becomes an MI6 agent. This allows him to do some respectable good for his country, and if he can manage it, to weave in some questionable albeit sometimes lucrative side hustles for himself.
Though the plot followed a similar arc and framework to the other two books, and contained many of the same characters, for some reason, this volume somehow fell flat for me. It seemed to lack the sense of fun along with the fizz I found in the other two books.
Perhaps if I had read the books in the appropriate order I might have felt differently about this one, but of course, who can say. All told however, as a series the Wilderness books are still a good, enjoyable bet.
I seem to have read the Joe Wilderness books out of order. I read the first book, 'Then We Take Berlin, initially. Then, having really enjoyed it, I found my way somehow to 'Hammer to Fall' which I also really liked. I had no idea there was a book in the middle, and just discovered this one recently.
Joe Holderness, the hero of these novels is a charming rogue, a firecracker in his unique way. Too young to have fought during WWII he was drafted into the RAF in 1946 and stationed in Berlin. Though he comes from a poor Cockney family and was trained as a thief by his late grandfather, Wilderness, as he's aptly named by an array of women who find him appealing, is also smart. And he's always looking for an angle in order to profit, whether financially, personally or both.
Due to his smarts, talent for languages, scheming nature and some luck, Wilderness becomes an MI6 agent. This allows him to do some respectable good for his country, and if he can manage it, to weave in some questionable albeit sometimes lucrative side hustles for himself.
Though the plot followed a similar arc and framework to the other two books, and contained many of the same characters, for some reason, this volume somehow fell flat for me. It seemed to lack the sense of fun along with the fizz I found in the other two books.
Perhaps if I had read the books in the appropriate order I might have felt differently about this one, but of course, who can say. All told however, as a series the Wilderness books are still a good, enjoyable bet.
February 22, 2017
John Lawton brings us back into the world of Wilderness, a British spy with a sideline in shady deals. Wilderness is the kind of bloke who thinks rules are there as decoration, to be glanced at and ignored as he sees fit.
In this book, he's back working for his father-in-law, MI6 spymaster Burne-Jones. Wilderness is flying a desk and most unhappy about it. When an unlikely British spy is arrested by the KGB, Wilderness steps back into the field, returning to his old stomping ground of Berlin.
The story veers between the tale of a Russian spy in Britain, who becomes more English than the English, a fantasist of a British spy in Russia and Wilderness' attempts to set up a deal to swap them on the Bridge of Spies. Along the way, there's the erection of the the Berlin Wall, Wilderness' ex-girlfriend running a refugee camp in Berlin, and a lorry load of vintage claret.
For me, the story is at its best when it focuses on Wilderness. He's an appealing character. A practical man with roguish sensibilities. He's a quick thinker, always working out the best way to make things work to his advantage. Alleyn and Masefield, the two spies, aren't half as interesting as Wilderness and the women in the story are mostly sidelined. There's also a quick and completely unnecessary cameo from Lawton's other hero, Frederick Troy, and his cabinet minister brother, Rod.
I enjoy John Lawton's work and always pick it up, but it did seem to take an awfully long time to read this one.
In this book, he's back working for his father-in-law, MI6 spymaster Burne-Jones. Wilderness is flying a desk and most unhappy about it. When an unlikely British spy is arrested by the KGB, Wilderness steps back into the field, returning to his old stomping ground of Berlin.
The story veers between the tale of a Russian spy in Britain, who becomes more English than the English, a fantasist of a British spy in Russia and Wilderness' attempts to set up a deal to swap them on the Bridge of Spies. Along the way, there's the erection of the the Berlin Wall, Wilderness' ex-girlfriend running a refugee camp in Berlin, and a lorry load of vintage claret.
For me, the story is at its best when it focuses on Wilderness. He's an appealing character. A practical man with roguish sensibilities. He's a quick thinker, always working out the best way to make things work to his advantage. Alleyn and Masefield, the two spies, aren't half as interesting as Wilderness and the women in the story are mostly sidelined. There's also a quick and completely unnecessary cameo from Lawton's other hero, Frederick Troy, and his cabinet minister brother, Rod.
I enjoy John Lawton's work and always pick it up, but it did seem to take an awfully long time to read this one.
January 23, 2018
First advise to the reader: do not start this book without first having read the previous (Then We Take Berlin), which actually was conceived as a pure context setting for the subsequent novel. Just to give an idea, The Unfortunate Englishman starts in the exact same place and minute where (and when) Then We Take Berlin finished: it could be just the next chapter of the previous book....Truth to be said, it would have been more transparent if the publisher had presented this as one story divided in two books....
The overall atmosphere that Lawton creates is kind of the right one for a Cold War novel, but the plot is disjointed, it's less about espionage than about smuggling and racketing, too many loopholes, the classic Cold War tradecraft is absent, virtually no twists nor turns; last but not least, the Wilderness character is insufficiently developed, without the stature neither of a hero nor of an anti-hero.
The Lawton I have known so far (ie the one who authored the Wilderness series) does not live up to the highest benchmarks of the genre; and I don't refer here to the abused comparison with Le Carré, but if you are looking for the kind of cynical, disenchanted, anti system Cold War character, you better look into Edward Wilson's Catesby or into Den Leighton's Bernard Samson.
I'll give the author a last shot with one of Inspector Troy series, which is supposed to be stronger...
The overall atmosphere that Lawton creates is kind of the right one for a Cold War novel, but the plot is disjointed, it's less about espionage than about smuggling and racketing, too many loopholes, the classic Cold War tradecraft is absent, virtually no twists nor turns; last but not least, the Wilderness character is insufficiently developed, without the stature neither of a hero nor of an anti-hero.
The Lawton I have known so far (ie the one who authored the Wilderness series) does not live up to the highest benchmarks of the genre; and I don't refer here to the abused comparison with Le Carré, but if you are looking for the kind of cynical, disenchanted, anti system Cold War character, you better look into Edward Wilson's Catesby or into Den Leighton's Bernard Samson.
I'll give the author a last shot with one of Inspector Troy series, which is supposed to be stronger...
December 4, 2018
Not quite the level of its predecessor but still excellent. I repeat my review of Then We Take Berlin since I read both books back to back and together, they complete a story.
This is a truly excellent spy novel. If the very best spy novels ever written are those of Graham Greene, the Joe Wilderness duo (perhaps more to come?) books deserve a spot on the next shelf down with Tom Clancy.
Unlike Clancy's deep intrigue and action, Lawton writes a story much more focused on the mission of an agent, as well as his deviations from his script. Our here Joe is not the serious strict duty-driven agent of Clancy, nor the dashing 007, nor the tortured souls of Greene. He's a street smart unlikely agent who has a good heart.
Then We Take Berlin is 2 (or 3) stories in one with flashbacks that are novels into themselves and set critical background for the action of today. Taken as the current two book series, this has the possibility of giving as much comfort and enjoyment, if not quite the literary flair, as Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey Marturin books.
Total bravo and I look forward to many more.
This is a truly excellent spy novel. If the very best spy novels ever written are those of Graham Greene, the Joe Wilderness duo (perhaps more to come?) books deserve a spot on the next shelf down with Tom Clancy.
Unlike Clancy's deep intrigue and action, Lawton writes a story much more focused on the mission of an agent, as well as his deviations from his script. Our here Joe is not the serious strict duty-driven agent of Clancy, nor the dashing 007, nor the tortured souls of Greene. He's a street smart unlikely agent who has a good heart.
Then We Take Berlin is 2 (or 3) stories in one with flashbacks that are novels into themselves and set critical background for the action of today. Taken as the current two book series, this has the possibility of giving as much comfort and enjoyment, if not quite the literary flair, as Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey Marturin books.
Total bravo and I look forward to many more.
February 26, 2025
“Having shot someone in what he believed was self-defense in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Wilderness finds himself locked up with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go—although forever in Burne-Jones’s service. His newest operation will take him back to Berlin, which is now the dividing line between the West and the Soviets. A backstory of innocence and intrigue unravels, one in which Wilderness is in and out of Berlin and Vienna like a jack-in-the-box. When the Russians started building the Berlin wall in 1961, two unfortunate Englishmen were trapped on opposite sides. Geoffrey Masefield in the Lubyanka, and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov) in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965 there is a new plan. To exchange the prisoners, a swap upon Berlin's bridge of spies. But, as ever, Joe has something on the side, just to make it interesting, just to make it profitable. The Unfortunate Englishman is a thrilling tale of Khrushchev, Kennedy, a spy exchange . . . and ten thousand bottles of fine Bordeaux.”
February 8, 2023
So much Cold War history, a divided Berlin in the 1960s, Khrushchev, Kennedy and LBJ. As in all John Lawton novels, returning characters, Eddie, Frank, Nell, and Yuri, wander back into Wilderness’s life, forcing him to return to the field, where his 169 IQ is best used. By the time of the spy exchange, the reader also “knows” the spies, remembers their stories and what brought them to be imprisoned in various places for various crimes.
Wilderness has twin daughters and his wife, Judy, is the perfect wife for him. She can keep him in line if anyone can. The Troys BOTH make an appearance in this one. This is one of my favorite characteristics of THE JOHN LAWTON STYLE, his attachment to characters as if they are old friends who wander into his consciousness at random times and consequently into the text he is working on.
Wilderness has twin daughters and his wife, Judy, is the perfect wife for him. She can keep him in line if anyone can. The Troys BOTH make an appearance in this one. This is one of my favorite characteristics of THE JOHN LAWTON STYLE, his attachment to characters as if they are old friends who wander into his consciousness at random times and consequently into the text he is working on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2020
An ok book, but not at all as good at the first one, Then We Take Berlin, so I am a bit disappointed. This takes place 15 years later when as Joe Wilderness is again sucked into the world of British Intelligence, but much of the book centers around two other characters. A Russian spy in England and a British spy in Moscow.
My overall impression is that the author is trying to find a middle ground between copying a previous success and writing a novel novel. In the end the book becomes a lot of independent fragment that don't form an interesting whole.
My overall impression is that the author is trying to find a middle ground between copying a previous success and writing a novel novel. In the end the book becomes a lot of independent fragment that don't form an interesting whole.
December 7, 2020
Full admission: I read the first in the series because it's set in Berlin. This starts in 1963 and is another cold war thriller, although I also checked the mystery box. I enjoyed this more as the end neared and the suspense built. My husband was reading the third in this trilogy while I read this. Seems it may overlap in time. I've not read his series about a London detective during WWII, but I think he makes an appearance. I'll give it time--a few months or years--before reading the third, but Lawton spins a good yarn. I also enjoyed the tone in his notes at the end. Self-deprecating and humorous. I'd like to hear the author speak.
February 26, 2017
I really like John Lawton's books and this is no exception. As usual there few women characters but the strength of the writing means I forgive him for that. These are set in the same universe as the Troy books and whilst there isn't any plot cross-over some characters (inc Troy) do get seen in the background.
This is set in the era of Kennedy & Khrushchev and the closing of Berlin it is a thriller with a strong political thread running through albeit as structure and setting rather than absolutely front and centre. A good choice if you like cold-war era books particularly
This is set in the era of Kennedy & Khrushchev and the closing of Berlin it is a thriller with a strong political thread running through albeit as structure and setting rather than absolutely front and centre. A good choice if you like cold-war era books particularly
May 3, 2018
A 'pretty good' espionage story taking place in Berlin and London during the Cold War.
Check out the book cover for a review of story.
However, this will not be among my favorite of books. Too much jumping around in time (from the 40's to the 60's and back and forth). I kept having to check back as to where I was, as the characters moved also. Should I have read the previous book in this series? Maybe, but not according to other reviewers.
In the end, the scam fails, the Russian stays, and the Englishman returns, in a major screwup on the bridge of exchange.
Check out the book cover for a review of story.
However, this will not be among my favorite of books. Too much jumping around in time (from the 40's to the 60's and back and forth). I kept having to check back as to where I was, as the characters moved also. Should I have read the previous book in this series? Maybe, but not according to other reviewers.
In the end, the scam fails, the Russian stays, and the Englishman returns, in a major screwup on the bridge of exchange.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2020
I am starting to enjoy Spy Novels! Thanks to Joe Wilderness! The back and forth between 1947, 1962, 1965 or so, seems more like watching a movie and the back story. This author, John Lawton, is able to bring me, the reader, into the event. No small feat. I also enjoyed the last few pages which include the author's casual inclusion of his take on the actual historical facts, and how he chose to extract or mold details to his story line. Very enjoyable and captivating read. Looking forward to my next historical encounter with Joe Wilderness!
July 13, 2017
The top...so far..
I have lost track of the John Lawton books I've read...all featuring Inspector Troy... so this is my first experience with Joe Wilderness. As characters go, he's plenty hard boiled, but as plots and suspense go, The Unfortunate Englishman is the best yet. Part Cold War, part elegy for lost love, part spy novel, part con man caper, it satisfies on all counts...
I have lost track of the John Lawton books I've read...all featuring Inspector Troy... so this is my first experience with Joe Wilderness. As characters go, he's plenty hard boiled, but as plots and suspense go, The Unfortunate Englishman is the best yet. Part Cold War, part elegy for lost love, part spy novel, part con man caper, it satisfies on all counts...
October 2, 2017
Joe Wilderness and George Smiley. Each a member of MI6. Each a spy of the Cold War era. George rarely went into the field, whilst Joe chaffs if he is not in the field. The Unfortunate Englishman is a well-written story of the perils of Cold War espionage. Those on one's side are not always to be trusted. Those who ply their trade for the opposition may, from time to time, in a mutually advantageous situation, be an ally. This book is a must-read.
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