The Partisan: The explosive debut thriller for fans of Robert Harris and Charles Cumming

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Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played. In the Soviet Union, if you get tired of reality, a new one will come along and replace it. Every new leader ushers in a glorious new past. Na zdrovye!’” It is the summer of 1961 and the brutal Cold War between East and West is becoming ever more perilous. It takes a while for Worrall to get all of his pieces onto the board but once he does the plot plays out like a game of chess. There are moves and counter moves, sacrifices and long term plays. While young lovers Michael and Yulia are in the middle of the action they are more pawns in the hands of much more powerful players. Worrall weaves the pasts of all of the main characters into the narrative, leading to some clever last minute reveals. Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played. Shadowing them is Greta, a ruthless resistance fighter who grew up the hard way in the forests of Lithuania, but who is now hunting down some of the most dangerous men in the world. Men who are also on the radar Of Vassily, perhaps the Soviet Unions greatest spymaster, A man of cunning and influence.

Placed under threat by Karpov, Yulia has to rely on her former body guard ‘Vassily’ a fixer and an agent in the GRU, Soviet army intelligence, and a rival of Karpov’s. The author also adds to the near confusion by starting a chapter with a previously unmentioned event and then proceeds to explain said event as the chapter moves on, so it eventually does become relatively clear as to what's going on! Her mother, Anna, was the first woman to join the Politburo, so Yulia is carefully guarded at all times. When she attends the chess tournament, she is constantly escorted by two menacing men, who actually sleep in her suite at the hotel.

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Chapters move between the years and places and people. I could have used a good cast of characters to refer to and some maps. These were complicated times with Soviets on the side of the Allies, fighting Nazis, but just as viciously dangerous, with the secrecy and prison camps and gulags for which they were known. In 2004, one such partisan, Greta, a member of the formidable team known as the three sisters is relating the story of her time as a partisan to a member of the Lithuanian ministry responsible for memorials. Since the war she has become a skilled Nazi hunter, tracing and killing war criminals. Her biggest hunt however was in 1961 for a Russian called Maxim Karpov, now high up in the Kremlin and known as the Chief Administrator who was responsible for killing a whole village of Lithuanians, suspected of aiding the partisans. Summer, 1961. At the height of the Cold War, two young people meet at a chess tournament in London. Yulia Forsheva, daughter of Sergei, a scientist and Anna, a powerful member of the Politburo, meets Michael, son of Sir Stephen Fitzgerald, British Director of Naval Intelligence. They fall in love and plan to meet at the chess championship to be held in East Germany. Michael and Yulia meet in Berlin, aided by Vassily a powerful Soviet spy whose role is to protect Yulia. I am Lithuanian. I grew up with the stories about partisans. I watched the documentaries and fictional movies about that part of the history. As a rule, they're written and produced locally and they always have a tragic ending. The real history was brutally tragic. The ending of the book was also a bit of a disappointment. In several ways. Some of what some characters did just makes very little sense beyond doing something that sounds dramatic when explained, but not when shown. Other aspects are very Hollywood and thus highly unrealistic.

I have hesitated to speak specifically of plot points because the novel conveys these much better than I ever could. I will simply conclude by saying that this is an extremely well written novel and is a must read. I recommend this book to those well acquainted with the spy/thriller/historical fiction genres and also for those who are looking to read a genuinely good book that might be out of their usual reading lists! The author highlights Russian atrocity after Russian atrocity, like the British and Yanks never committed any atrocities?! Gies peace!! Although the plot is extremely complicated and requires some patience initially, Worrall skillfully and methodically weaves his different threads into an engaging whole brought together in a succession of breathtaking finales in Sweden, London, and Spain. As the parallel narratives in 1961 and 1944 come to violent ends and Worrall gives some unexpected final twists, the novel’s second half is very gripping. Like Tom Bradby’s novel Yesterday’s Spy, The Partisan is intriguing and accurately depicts several historical events. It’s also a true portrayal of the horrors and brutality of war and the Soviet Union during the cold war. De verwijzingen naar schaken en schaakpartijen komen regelmatig terug in De partizaan. Toch lijkt het schaaktoernooi waar Joelia en Michael elkaar ontmoeten naar verhouding van weinig belang. Het lijkt de bedoeling te zijn dat het verhaal gelijkenis heeft met het spelen van het middenspel en eindspel van een schaakpartij. Joelia’s vader leerde haar om in het middenspel zo snel mogelijk alle stukken uit te ruilen en te offeren. In het boek lijkt dit juist onderdeel van het eindspel uit te maken. Pas op het laatst vallen de meeste slachtoffers.

If Sergei had something big and he’s taken it to one of the capitalist countries, we’ve got a problem. Like suddenly the machine isn’t playing with chess pieces, it’s playing with Germany and Poland. Figuring out all the moves. What chance would our senile generals have against that?’” True, there were some good female characters who played pivotal roles without taking over everything as sometimes happens when people misinterpret what a 'strong' female character is, but a lot of the rest wasn't fantastic. In his current position, Karpov has plans for Europe. Vassily has plans to thwart him, while Greta plans to destroy him. Yulia’s parents will also be caught up in this plot, as will Michael’s father. It was unlikely that the Russians would try any thuggery in a busy London thoroughfare in broad daylight, but you never knew. In the mid-1950s two agents from what was then the Ministry of Internal Affairs had attempted to snatch her in Paris while she was walking down a shopping street much like this one. Be bold again if you want to, my little friends, she thought. I splashed your blood all over the white paving stones that day, and I will do it again.”