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lisagreen65's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
edithmariegreen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
greybeard49's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent writer. Up there with Le Carre, Furst etc. Really creates the locations and historical setting for you and weaves around these great characters who you want to follow.
jdeval's review against another edition
3.0
Fabulous character in Joe Wilderness, very atmospheric, and an interesting hook, and yet it all fell apart about 2/3 through when the plot became telescoped and rushed. The book needed another round of edits to bring balance and pacing. Plus the dozen or so typos all the way through were so distracting.
alipickle's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
psteve's review against another edition
4.0
Joe Holderness, called Wilderness, is raised by his grandfather as a very adept cat burglar, who can easily steal most anything he wants and get away with it. He's drafted into the RAF right after the war, and is taken under the wing of an intelligence officer. Wilderness' language skills and stealth make him a good candidate for performing all sorts of intelligence acts for the RAF. Eventually, he winds up in Berlin at the time of the building of the wall, and then later. For the most part, it's a fascinating book, as Wilderness' exploits are shown. And the older woman who his boss sends him to for an education, is a well-drawn character, very fascinating. In Berlin, Wilderness works beyond his remit and creates a complicated way to sell contraband in the Eastern sector; that leads to some personal disasters and the mission goes wrong. The book dragged a bit in the last half, and the ending was pretty abrupt and not very satisfying. Still, I did like the character and will probably read some more.
nigelbrown's review against another edition
4.0
There were sections of this book I found difficult to understand why they were included, extraneous and irrelevant. The ending was disappointingly abrupt, but boy, can he write. this should have been a five all the way and even though those minor points prevented that ( I'd like to award it 4.5) I look forward to my next John Lawton.
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