Publisher's Weekly Review
Lawton scores another hit with his third Joe Wilderness novel (after 2016's The Unfortunate Englishman). Joe starts off in familiar territory, 1948 Berlin, where he's nominally in the Royal Air Force but in reality an MI6 agent; he's also smuggling coffee and cigarettes into East Berlin. During one of his usual deliveries, he's approached by a young Russian, Konstantin "Kostya" Zolotukhin, who wants to place an order for a hundred jars of peanut butter. Joe agrees, setting in place a relationship with Kostya that re-emerges in 1968 England. As the years pass, Joe's often in trouble with various authorities, until his father-in-law and spy boss, Alec Burne-Jones, decides to get Joe out of the U.K. for a while and sends him to Finland, where Joe takes up his old smuggling habits. Most of Joe's old cronies and even his Berlin lover, Nell Burkhardt, appear, and it's a pleasure for series fans to see them all again. Terrific writing, a complex plot with a twist ending, and a roguish lead will have readers eagerly awaiting his next adventure. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (U.K.). (Mar.)
Kirkus Review
The adventures of Joe Wilderness across Cold War Europe.From Berlin, surviving on airlift support, to Finland, England, and, ultimately, Prague in the spring of 1968, MI6 spy Joe Holderness, aka Wilderness, gets into and out of a number of compelling spots of trouble in this installment of his story (The Unfortunate Englishman, 2016, etc.). At first, and only for a short while, Wilderness and a loose gang of smugglers sell coffee and later peanut butter across the sectors of divided Berlin. Frank, the irritating American, Swift Eddie the driver, the Russians Yuri and Kostya, and Nell Burkhardt, Wilderness' lover, are all complete and compelling creations, and each member of the group reappears in more grown-up political costume later. Except for small digressions, the action jumps to 1966 Finland, where Kostya and Wilderness establish a nice black-market enterprise and Wilderness exposes an ugly plot involving clandestine cobalt and dirty bombs. Unfortunately, the end user of the cobalt is not the USSR, as Wilderness had assumed, but the U.K., and though his efforts result in the abandonment of an ill-advised weapons program, Wilderness is not everywhere in good odor, hence his assignment to Prague, where all the old conspirators come together in surprising and satisfying ways. But a cursory plot summary does the novel little justice. By turns witty, erudite, and exciting and supporting a host of interesting characters, imaginary and historical (for example Willy Brandt, Milo Forman, and Vclav Havel), the story admirably captures the spirit of post-World War II espionage. With the possible exception of "Wilderness," a not-unreasonable distortion of "Holderness" which might seem less disruptive to British ears than American ones, there's not one sour note.A terrific thriller: fun, satisfying, and humane. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Joe Wilderness, incorrigible black marketeer and unconventional MI6 spy, can't stop offending bureaucrats on both sides of the Iron Curtain, a propensity that keeps getting him booted out of wherever he's posted. In the doghouse after an apparently bungled spy exchange in Berlin (The Unfortunate Englishman, 2016), Joe is shunted off to Finland, where he is instructed to keep his head way down. That's not in Joe's DNA. First, he bides his time at the improbable task of smuggling vodka to Russia; but, soon enough, that comic interlude morphs into something else: exposing a plot by someone to procure cobalt from the Finns. Feathers are ruffled in London, and Joe is packed off once more, this time to Czechoslovakia, where he is to take over for a blown agent. Ah, but wouldn't you know it, it's the late sixties, and a revolt is brewing in Prague. Not only that, but various figures from Joe's past including former lover Nell Burkhardt and London copper turned diplomat Frederick Troy are in Prague, too, fomenting their own kind of trouble, which takes Joe back to Berlin, where he must have another go at exchanging spies on a bridge. Lawton does a brilliant job of incorporating backstory here, deepening our understanding of and feelings for rule-breaking Joe, who cares more for people than governments, while delivering a jaw-dropping finale that will leave readers palpitating for more.--Bill Ott Copyright 2020 Booklist
