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Then We Take Berlin (2013)

by John Lawton(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0802121969 (ISBN13: 9780802121967)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Atlantic Monthly Press

review 1: A mix of history with a dash of spy thriller, this book is mostly set in post WWII Berlin. A young Cockney thief is sent to Berlin to spy. While there he sets up a black market ring. If this had been the main plot, I would have enjoyed the book far more. However, the introduction takes place many years after the war and that time period isn't revisited until the very end. I was left wondering what the point was. Worse still, the ending was a cliffhanger. So my appreciation for the book dropped even farther.
review 2: We go way around the historical bend, namely World War II in Berlin, for the setup for this story of wiseguys with hearts of gold with one last big operation during the Berlin Airlift. Our protagonist is a Cockney who escapes a life of second-stor... morey jobs and brutalization at the hands of a sadistic pop when he's tapped by an upper class swell to join the nascent ranks of the military spy organization at the dawn of WWII. His exploits and a colorful cast of sidekicks and antagonists play realistically as Lawton delivers a ground-level view of the reconstruction of Europe, one scam at a time. In a divided Berlin, we've got deals between the Brits, the Yanks, and the Ivans, with lots of doublecrossing and wonderful atmosphere. I was a bit confused by the ending, but didn't much care as the pleasure came from the authenticity of setting and the appeal of the characters anyway. less

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