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Then We Take Berlin

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Then We Take Berlin

By: John Lawton
Narrated by: Lewis Hancock
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Summary

John Holderness, known to the women in his life as ‘Wilderness’, comes of age during World War II in Stepney, breaking into houses with his grandfather. After the war, Wilderness is recruited as MI5’s resident ‘cat burglar’ and finds himself in Berlin, involved with schemes in the booming black market that put both him and his relationships in danger.

In 1963 it is a most unusual and lucrative request that persuades Wilderness to return - to smuggle someone under the Berlin Wall and out of East Germany. But this final scheme may prove to be one challenge too far....

©2014 John Lawton (P)2014 Oakhill Publishing Crime Fiction Espionage Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Mystery Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military World Literature War Military Suspense
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Critic reviews

"A superbly well-built Cold War cocktail - bracing, deliriously delicious, but carrying the slightly bitter aftertaste of dreams gone bad." (Booklist)
"John Lawton finds himself in the same boat as the late Patrick O'Brian - a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack but overlooked by too many readers for too long." (Daily Telegraph on A Lily of the Field)
All stars
Most relevant
Thank you to Rory Stewart for recommending this on The Rest is Politics. I really enjoyed everything about this gripping story. Every character is convincing and the settings are fascinating especially the descriptions of Post-War Berlin and Vienna. the narration is excellent and each character comes to life. I can forgive the pronunciation of a lot of the German as he gets the general tone right. I will definitely move on to the next in the series.

Gripping

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Although the story of chancer Joe is deftly written and narrated, the Cold War really only appears in the final hour of this talking book. However it is a very detailed and finally observed history of the end of World War II and its aftermath. I kept expecting something to happen, but it never really did.

Not really a Cold War thriller at all

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Great performance. They story starts in one direction, ends somewhere that is confusing. The character of Wilderness has great potential but I feel Lawton missed an opportunity. Working class lad, off the scale IQ but still confined by his formative years as a thief. It could have gone wider. Interesting to see how the other novels develop

Episodic - not too successful

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I've long been a fan of John Lawton and I think this is one of his best books. Wilderness is a really likeable, roguish anti-hero, whose personality is brought out well through the story. I also like the attention which the author pays to developing the other characters, particularly Nell. As with other John Lawton books you learn a lot about the time, place and events within which the story is placed and I found the detail absolutely fascinating. He really does evoke the chaos, the grimness, horror, and the ludicrous, sometimes funny, events that characterised Germany, particularly Berlin, at the end of the war. He also draws out the different reactions of the survivors - those who will survive at any cost (who will do anything at any cost) and those who cannot continue to carry the burden of what they have experienced. I can't agree with others who criticise the ending. It stands up well alongside other endings which leave the reader to use their imagination - it made me think of the classic ending to the Italian Job and Michael Cain saying "Just wait while I think of something" (apologies if I have got the quote wrong) as the coach teeters on the edge of the precipice.

Atmospheric story of post-war Berlin

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Although I enjoyed Then We Take Berlin, I wasn’t entirely a fan of its structure. At times, it seemed like (at least) three different books all rolled into one. (I see I made a similar comment about Friends and Traitors by the same author.)

Then We Take Berlin opens in 1963 as Joe Holderness travels to New York to be offered a job by a colleague of Frank, a buddy from his days in Berlin after WW2. I enjoyed Joe’s wide-eyed reaction to seeing the sights of New York for the first time. The job he’s offered will involve him returning to Berlin and making use of his knowledge of that city. However, it will be a long time before the reader learns more about what Frank and Joe got up to in post-war Berlin and even longer until the mission Joe is offered takes place.

Instead the book goes back in time to 1941 to reveal Joe’s wartime childhood, including his experiences at the hands of a violent father. Events occur which mean Joe is brought up by his grandfather, Abner, and Abner’s girlfriend, Merle. It’s during this time that Joe is tutored in the dubious skills that will prove to be of such value in the future. Later, after the war has ended, he’s called up for National Service and Joe’s facility with languages is spotted by the British Secret Service. The result sees him embark upon an entirely different kind of education.

Then in what I thought was one of the most powerful sections of the book, the story moves to Germany and introduces a new character – Nell. Evacuated during the war from her home in Berlin to live with her uncle, the end of the war brings her by chance to the site of a wartime atrocity. Using her powers of persuasion and a few untruths, she gains work as an interpreter for the Allied forces and begins documenting the identities of survivors. She is nevertheless determined to return home to Berlin because, as she frequently says, “I am a Berliner”.

Eventually the story of Joe’s exploits in post-war Berlin takes centre stage as he and some comrades with connections in the right places take advantage of the flourishing black market. But have they got in over their heads? There’s an impressive amount of detail about the Berlin of the time which is clearly the product of a lot of research.

As the book reaches its climax we’re back in the year 1963 and Joe finally undertakes, albeit with reservations, the job he’s been contracted to do. Events move along at pace and woven into the story is an iconic moment in history that takes place in West Berlin. The author gives Nell a pivotal role in this, as signalled in the opening chapter. The last few chapters of the book are full of tension and the ending leaves enough loose ends to make a sequel irresistible.

Although only around 400 pages, the book has a lot of chapters, many of which are extremely short. Having taken a quick peek at my copy of The Unfortunate Englishman, I see that it also has many short chapters so this must be a deliberate style choice on the part of the author. The audiobook version has over two hundred chapters and I’m guessing its narrator, Lewis Hancock, must have been pleased when it was finally time to say “Chapter 206”. Talking of the narration, Lewis Hancock does a great job coping with the different accents required – Russian, German, American, etc. – although I did have difficulty at times recognising it was Nell speaking.

Then We Take Berlin is an entertaining spy thriller with a charismatic central character and, despite my reservations about its structure, I definitely intend to read the next two books in the series at some point.

Entertaining spy thriller - first in a series

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