Winter Work

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A fun and efficient thriller, with a compelling main character (and some tropey supporting roles). The very final days of the Cold War in Berlin provided a great setting and the internal politics of the various spy agencies were interesting, but the main story was a mix of a bit too many twists and deus ex machina. An exhilarating spy thriller inspired by a true story about the precious secrets up for grabs just after the fall of the Berlin Wall—from the acclaimed author of The Cover Wife One of the novel's main characters is Emil Grimm, a Stasi agent who is concerned about his future in the post-wall world. Though he may be a member of the notorious Stasi, Grimm is a surprisingly sympathetic character who is trying to secure his place in the West. Fesperman masterfully weaves together real-life historical figures such as Markus Wolf with fictional characters like Grimm, creating a world that is both evocative and suspenseful. As a spy novel, it has it all. Interesting layered characters, fast and often brutal action, suspense, good place descriptions and well-drawn context. This masterful historical thriller blends espionage, domestic drama, and murder. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the final coda to the Cold War and ushered in massive geopolitical and social change. . . . This evocative murder mystery vividly captures what happened on the Eastern side of the wall on a political level—including how the cache of secrets ultimately found its way to the CIA—and a personal one, from the perspective of an unusual protagonist, a sympathetic East German spy with a complicated and messy home life.”

Winter Work’ by Dan Fesperman - WSJ Mysteries: ‘Winter Work’ by Dan Fesperman - WSJ

Ron Rash is renowned for his writing about Appalachia, but his latest book, The Caretaker, begins ... Winter Work is a gripping, tightly plotted old-school spy novel...Claire [Saylor] makes a welcome return from Fesperman's last book, The Cover Wife...Berlin—'spying's most storied theme park'—is vividly rendered, as is a time of convulsive change and the hopes, anxieties, and machinations of those caught up in the chaos. Later Note: This is what happens to old people - the memory is not reliable. Of course I have read and enjoyed several books from this author! Just forgot like I forget many things. Oh well. On a walk through the hilly countryside, he comes upon a team of the Stasi’s secret police examining a corpse by the side of the nearby lake. The body is that of Emil’s neighbor and friend, Lothar Fischer. Suddenly, a lieutenant in the Volkspolizei—”cops, not secret police”—arrives on the scene and, to Emil’s astonishment, persuades the Stasi men to leave. Clearly, the balance of power in East Germany has shifted. And that offers Emil hope as he sets out to learn who murdered his friend. Dan Fesperman does a fine job conveying much the same. History buffs will love it: lots of detail, not so much about life in Berlin, though that’s there, too. This is more a behind-the-scenes look at the intelligence community in 1990, the Wild West-like atmosphere of each nation trying to learn about what the dying Stasi knows. It’s actually based on a real covert operation – amazing!

This is a John le Carré vibe, more in the vein of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in that there’s a ton of exposition and interaction in the first 60% or so. Only once in that early span is there real movement, an act requiring a getaway. Mostly it’s a description of roles, of meetings held, of life circumstances and situations. Think a bit like a flowchart being explained. Perhaps not as bad as I’ve described it, since understanding how spy networks operate is a big part of this. But I concede it’s a bit slow. On the other side is Claire, a thirtysomething American CIA operative assigned from the Paris office. She has, almost predictably, a harsh female boss who is not about to take the blame if anything goes wrong. Her job is to meet with a Stasi officer (someone other than Grimm) who has promised to deliver names of former agents in return for his safety.

Winter Work by Dan Fesperman: Summary and reviews - BookBrowse Winter Work by Dan Fesperman: Summary and reviews - BookBrowse

If there's any period that must have been as flush with spy action as the WW2 era, it must be the fall of the Belin Wall. Dan Fesperman dives into this time head first, delivering a smart thriller that juggles Stasi spies trying to plot their next steps, a population elated to tear it all apart, Russians trying to salvage and Americans looking to benefit from the chaos. I don't want to give anything else away, except to say that bodies start to pile up, and both Claire and Emil must figure out how to find their way amidst paranoid and distrustful competitors. The story leads to an exciting conclusion—a thoroughly surprising spin on the typical spies-on-the-run finale—but it is the relationships among the principals that give the novel its depth andpower. Like Joseph Kanon in The Berlin Exchange, Fesperman builds his story around the inner lives of his characters, an approach that transforms typical espionage tropes into universal human drama.”The story leads to an exciting conclusion—a thoroughly surprising spin on the typical spies-on-the-run finale—but it is the relationships among the principals that give the novel its depth andpower. Like Joseph Kanon in The Berlin Exchange, Fesperman builds his story around the inner lives of his characters, an approach that transforms typical espionage tropes into universal human drama.