The Break in the Line

by Berkely Mather

1972. First Edition Thus. 190 pages. Pictorial paper cover. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Paper cover has mild edge-wear with light rubbing and creasing. Some light marking and tanning. Book has a rolled spine.

Genres: Thriller

190 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 1970

About the author

Berkely Mather was a British author who published fifteen novels and a book of short stories. He also wrote for radio, television and the movies. Berkely Mather was in fact the pseudonym of John Evan Weston-Davies, whose family, shortly before World War I, emigrated to Australia, where he received his education. Finding himself in England without prospects at the height of the Great Depression, he enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery, but failed to gain a commission. He therefore applied to join the Indian Army, in which he rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He served in the Iraq campaign under Slim, and ended the war as an acting lieutenant-colonel. After India gained independence in 1947, he rejoined the British Army, serving in the Royal Artillery until he retired in 1959.

Mather's first novel, The Achilles Affair (1959), was a minor best-seller, and his second, The Pass beyond Kashmir (1960), which received glowing reviews from Ian Fleming and Erle Stanley Gardner,did even better. Ernest Hemingway owned copies of both these novels. Mather's espionage thrillers can be read separately, but are linked to each other by recurring characters, in particular the sardonic and resourceful British agent Idwal Rees, who appears in The Pass Beyond Kashmir, The Terminators and Snowline. The author's military experience and years spent abroad give his work richness and depth. His last three novels were an ambitious trilogy that followed the fortunes of the Stafford family in the Near and Far East from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth.

Two of Mather's early books stand somewhat apart from the rest in that they are spin-offs from his work in other media. Geth Straker (1962) started out as a radio serial, hence the tag on the front cover: "Further daring exploits from the log of radio's trouble hunting mariner". The book contains four stories. Genghis Khan (1965) is a novelisation of the 1965 film of the same name, for which he had written the original story. Mather's other motion picture credits include The Long Ships and Dr. No.

In later years a leaning towards the historical turned him in the direction of the family saga, his final three novels - The Pagoda Tree (1979), Midnight Gun (1981) and Hour of the Dog (1982) - was a trilogy featuring the fortunes, and misfortunes, of a family in the Near and Far East from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th.

John Evan ("Jasper") Weston-Davies (Berkely Mather), writer: born Gloucester 25 February 1909; married 1938 Kay Jones (died 1991; two sons and one daughter deceased) died 7 April 1996.

Reviews

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not only a good thriller but a geography lesson too. Berkely Mather’s books seem to involve apparently mildly incompetent individuals working for the government doing dirty deals with supposed enemies and running double or triple agents.
James Wainwright, following a botched extraction of a fellow agent from China into Hong Kong, is tasked with following an ex agent called Bowyer who is due to be released from a Calcutta jail and who seems set on travelling up through Burma to wherever the Chinese espionage system corresponds with their European friends en route to Albania - the so-called Break.
Wainwright is given no choice and less than complete knowledge of his task as he bumbles his way, irritated by his own incompetence and demeaned by the effortlessly superior skills of his helpers, in particular Idwal Rees (a stalwart of Mather’s tales) whose brilliance is especially irksome. Against his better judgement he sticks to his task which involves traversing endless and terrifying Himalayan passes - the description of the biting cold is particularly acute - into Chinese territory where things become even more uncomfortable even as the realisation of the fix he’s in becomes apparent.

[ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

what a journey. both for me and for wainwright. selected from a hostel shelf in hvar as it was one of the few english books and the only without a blurb.

with no context, it took me a long while to understand the direction of plot but the consistent use of 'bloody' and casual racism ensured I understood after a few chapters that this was an late 60s espionage.

the ending was exhilarating and exactly what i'd hoped would come after what felt like years of geographical description. i truly enjoyed this though i'm hardly surprised i can't find much written about it. it's not the most accessible novel, unless you have a keen interest in the physicality of borders.

update: just discovered rees is in others of mather's books ... yyyyeeeeessssss

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

British Intelligence Agent, James Wainwright, is given an assignment of finding the 'Break' in a Chinese communication line, where European agents hand over information. The plan goes into action when a double-agent is freed from prison and Wainwright is told to trail him along the line until the Break is discovered. It takes him from Calcutta to Burma and into the wild high country of Tibet. The reader follows his journey as he contends with extreme cold and hunger.

Not usually my genre, however I really enjoyed the action packed story.

[Wesley Azzopardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a slow-burner that is worth the read, but personally it would do with some more vividness and liveliness in its plot setting. But overall, it has a very nice story to it, quite underrated for its genre, and is best recommended to those who like thrillers but with a lingering feeling throughout its plot. Read this about a year ago and I still can picture most scenes accurately.

[Ian Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many,many years ago and found it an utter romp from start to finish. Full of derring do and heroics. Hopelessly dated but full of so much forward momentum you're just swept along.