There are very few people writing in this traditional spy novel genre, and even fewer as good as this man. This is his fourth novel, a tale of nerve and intelligence set as the Berlin Wall is torn down. This title is also available as an Audiobook in CD format.

Comparison: Robert Harris, John Le Carré, Gerald Seymour.
Similar this month: Terence Strong, Douglas Reeman.

Synopsis

The Stasi was among the most sophisticated intelligence organisations in the world, but by the end of the 1980s the Orwellian state of East Germany was collapsing around it. The special squads of armed officers, the torture chambers in the Stasi jail, the hundreds of thousands of informers could do nothing to prevent the rebellion that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It is in the context of these last few paranoid weeks of the Communist world, when a population that had been oppressed for nearly sixty years found the will to rise up, that this outstanding thriller is set. Its hero is Dr Rudolf Rosenharte, an academic from Dresden and agent for MI6; his
controller is Robert Harland, from A SPY'S LIFE and EMPIRE STATE.

When Rosenharte's security is compromised he is faced with a stark choice: to defect to the West, leaving his beloved family to the mercies of the Stasi, or return to East Germany to carry out a dangerous assignment under the Stasi's suspicious eye...

Reviews

"A first-rate thriller.... Porter sustains an elaborate plot skilfully and portrays memorable, multi-faceted characters. But his achievement lies in producing a remarkably comprehensive counterpart in fiction to Anna Funder's nonfiction study Stasiland, recreating the paranoid, Kafkaesque state. This gives Brandenburg a richness of texture... and exhilaratingly testifies to the thiller genre's ability to transcend its primary role as entertainment." John Dugdale, THE SUNDAY TIMES

"This is Porter's fourth novel, set in those beautifully dark and intriguing days of the Cold War, and is by far his best. Rudi is a brilliantly drawn character, both complex and sympathetic... [Porter] is proving himself more than a match for John Le Carre. Thankfully the spy novel lives on." Henry Sutton, DAILY MIRROR

"Porter handles this convoluted plot with considerable skill, driving the narrative at a cracking pace. Rosenharte comes alive on the page.. Ulrike is equally well-drawn. A real page-turner... a thriller of high ambition." Philip Jacobson, DAILY MAIL

About the Author

Henry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He was editor of the Atticus column on the Sunday Times, moving to set up the Sunday Correspondent magazine in 1988. He contributes commentary and reportage to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of the American magazine Vanity Fair and divides his time between New York and London. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation