Revolt In Berlin: Part One: A Spy Story

by Noel Hynd

“Revolt in Part One” is the fifth book in Noel Hynd’s ‘Flowers From Berlin’ series.

It is the early 1950s, the end of the Truman Administration and the start of the Eisenhower years. A divided Berlin remains the focal point of the Cold War, the political tinderbox that threatens to ignite World War Three.

American intelligence agent – and expert on Berlin – William Cochrane returns to Berlin under the cover of an instructor at the Free University, a beacon of western thought and freedom in a city still devastated by the world war. Berlin remains surrounded by Soviet troops from all sides. With dismay growing against Stalinist rule in East Germany, the streets seethe with violence and insurrection. Soviet tanks role into Berlin to crush a workers’ revolt, and the world has its most critical American-Soviet confrontation since 1945. For Bill Cochrane the mayhem on the streets and back alleys of Berlin propel him into yet another world of espionage, assassination, abduction, compromised principles and constant danger. And this time, the personal stakes are greater than ever, the threats directed not just at Berlin and the free world, but at Cochrane, his family and the woman he loves.

“Revolt in Part One” is another brilliant stand-alone spy story in this captivating series. It will lead into “Revolt in Part Two” later in 2024.

Raves for the
"Noel Hynd knows the ins and outs of Washington's agencies, both public and private." - Publishers Weekly.
"A few notches above the Ludlums and Clancys of the world..." - Booklist.
"Intricate...Bloody good!" - NY Times Book Review.

Raves for the

On Flowers From Berlin
Library Journal.: “Complex in characterization, crisp in dialogue, and thorough in its background."
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "First rate!"
Los Angeles Times: “A Chiller!"
The Savannah "A Super spy novel!"

On Return to

Paul Collins, The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph, January 30, 2020

"A Compelling Spy Thriller of War-Torn Berlin" - Lovers of World War Two stories will devour this stunning tale that is a perfect combination of knife-edge intrigue and history brought to life, as Noel Hynd writes period fiction that is mesmerizing. From the outset, he hooks readers and takes them on a tension-filled emotional roller-coaster ride. He populates the story with characters that are so richly drawn that, for me, it was often difficult to believe that they were all brought to life from the author's imagination. The pages are filled with suspense that is crafted in a style that is thoughtful, gripping and that had me racing through the pages, and yet not wanting the story to end. 'Return to Berlin' possesses all the hallmarks of a compelling international spy thriller by an author who writes in a confident and gripping style that summons the intrigue of WW2 in a unique way that breathes life into fictional characters in tautly drawn settings that are filled with nail-biting scenes. This is a book that will have you reading long after the rest of the world has gone to sleep.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 28, 2023

About the author

I've been a published novelist for longer than I care to admit, since 1976. I'm frequently asked, however, how I first got published. It's an interesting story and involved both Robert Ludlum and James Baldwin, even though neither of them knew it --- or me --- at the time.

My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.

The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."

The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.

That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.

My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.

Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.

That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.

Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve

Reviews

[Bemorse · Rating 1 out of 5]

I understand this is fiction, but he presents it as based on facts. In Ch 16, he spends, in my view, an unnecessary paragraph placing Linse in a Stasi prison in the DDR, which he falsely claims is Lichterfelde Kaserne, a former cadet training school and then a base for Hitlers personal regiment. In fact it was both....BUT IT WAS NOT IN THE DDR or east Berlin. It was in the American sector of West Berlin on Finckenstein Allee and was renamed Andrew's Barracks, housing American troops of Berlin Brigade. I lived across the street from 1973-1975 as a military spouse. I did laundry in the laundromat, shopped in the small PX and ate in the restaurant.
The complete falsity of this paragraph puts all of Hynd's "historical" fiction in question. If I want fantasy I'll chose those who proudly build worlds not one who pretends to build.from facts.
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[Debbie Trammell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book/series

I absolutely love the way this author writes he writes where all can understand spy stories and real history. The main character is awesome and the others are perfect. I read this book all in one sitting. Can't wait for part 2 but I know it will be sometime. I highly recommend this author and his books.

[Ray Pagano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author. He combines nonfiction with real history using places, names and previous events. I love stories of WW2 and post war Europe which he has written about in very enjoyable ways. Main character is a patriot in an era of rising nazism, communism and enemies of the free world. Highly recommend his books.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

A very interesting book. Very informative about Berlin and what it was like after the war and also tells an excellent story about a U D spy in Berlin and what and now he arranged revenge for a kidnapped American.

[Kenn Goslin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting return for many of my childhood memaries!

William Cochrane is a quiet, unassuming man, academic and sometimes spymaster. Wolfgang is a quiet competent wholely disaffected German sniper!

[Don Baskerville · Rating 5 out of 5]

could not put this book down

A good use of English vocabulary and grammar made it a delight to read.
A cleverly constructed plot demanded that I did not put it down.

[JOHN STUEMKY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two thumbs up

Enjoyed the historical component. The action was quick with lots of background information provided which was very, very helpful. Worth your time.

[James Obrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

always first class

Noel just leads u by the hand, and then u get on his rollercoaster and try to hang on. wow

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little ponderous at the start as the author sets the scene, but an atmospheric novel set in 1952 Berlin

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm glad Hynd has picked this setting for his next Bill Cochrane stories. I don't think spy fiction writers have done enough with the East German revolt of 1953. I doubt few people nowadays even know about it, as it doesn't get written about much. The only fictional treatment I can recall is in one of William F. Buckley Jr.'s Blackford Oakes books.

I'm also charmed he is using William Harvey, a real life CIA agent, in his story. A character based on him is central to Robert Littell's epic spy novel "The Company," where the fictional character based on him is nicknamed the Wizard. The streetwise Berlin op contrasts sharply with the Ivy League types who dominated the CIA of that era, and mentors the young Yalie assigned to his spy shop.

In real history, Harvey was the one who glommed to Kim Philby being a spy. That's not nothing.

Like Hynd's characters tend to, Harvey came from the FBI, where he had some celebrated victories but managed to tick off the vainglorious J. Edgar Hoover and was picked up by the CIA.

Cochrane is also an FBI agent, or was, with his side deal as a spook. FBI agents tending to be more square, Hynd can plausibly write his stars not jumping into bed at every opportunity, a pleasant variation from much spy and action fiction.

Cochrane, happily married to the bewitching English gal Laura with whom he has a daughter, not only resists temptation but seems annoyed that it even offers itself. Like when Harvey stages meetings in a bawdy Berlin joint.

Cochrane returns to Berlin in 1952, bringing his family with him as he teaches a university course in American literature, his cover. He checks in quietly with the school's head, who's also in the game.

A prominent anti-Communist has just been kidnapped off the street in broad daylight. It's obviously a Stasi operation, but they and the Russians deny knowledge. They're becoming bolder of late.

This is years before the Berlin Wall is built. East Berliners can still work in West Berlin; they can and do defect.

It's also easy for Communist goons to roam the city, to terrorize and intimidate Western parts they don't formally control. Police and the Allies have to tread carefully around them; the Soviets surround the city.

It's also not that difficult, of course, for Western ops like Cochrane or his minions to get in and out of East Berlin.

He reunites with his own secret team, Americans and Germans loyal to him, people whom he pays but has never identified to the CIA. Helmut, whose bar is a key hangout. Jimmy Pearson, an American master sergeant who's his driver, paymaster and man Friday. Otto, Cyril and Max, who bring muscle and various clandestine skills to the table. Frau Swensen back in England, where Cochrane has a few people stashed.

He's focused on the kidnapping of Walter Linse, and what it may portend. The Communists seem more willing to use violence to disrupt West Berlin. Will they up the stakes even more to seize power there?

And scenes from the Communist side show just how far East Germany's new lords are willing to go. They're training former Wehrmacht snipers—to go after civilians.

Cochrane convinces a young woman he spirited out of East Berlin, to go back in once more to poke around. No spoilers but I like the bit at the end, where high-ranking Stasi thug Erich Mielke gets sent a message. I also like Cochrane's explanation of why he spits on Mielke's shoes.