DAY OF JUDGMENT - Book review

 Vintage Jack Higgins! Day of Judgment was published in 1978. This is the third and final Simon Vaughn novel, as originally written under the pen-name Martin Fallon.

It’s 1963. The story mainly centres on Berlin and East Germany. Father Sean Conlin, a survivor of the concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Dachau, was responsible for smuggling people out of Communist East Germany. Unfortunately, on one such mission he was betrayed, captured and taken to the nearby Schloss Neustadt. The Communists intend to employ a rogue American, Harry Van Buren to brainwash the old priest so he could reveal he was working for the CIA; he would announce this publicly at the time of President Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, thus creating massive embarrassment and public humiliation for the West.

Secret agent Vaughn, ‘the beast of Selangor’, is tasked with rescuing Father Conlin from the seemingly impregnable schloss before the president’s visit in a few weeks’ time. Vaughn brings together a formidable team, including Lutheran monks, an American Jesuit, an ex-Luftwaffe ace, a Jewish undertaker, and the ex-SS caretaker of the schloss itself.

The method of penetration into the schloss is imaginative, quite unique and particularly unpleasant and fraught with danger. The map provided actually gives away the means of access, but does not detract from the actual drama and difficulties encountered.

Towards the end there’s a poignant sequence involving Father Hartmann, a man who has found his purpose in life at last.

Higgins effortlessly creates the claustrophobic communist environment the characters have to contend with; as Kennedy remarked at the time: ‘Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in.’ 

Sadly, even now, freedoms we take for granted were – and are – crushed or perverted in certain communist states.

Day of Judgment is An exciting, fast-paced page-turning adventure. (But this copy has a very poor dust jacket.)

Editorial comment.

Oddly, in the text ‘judgement’ is spelled with an ‘e’ – unlike the book title.

A female character ‘wore a man’s trench-coat and a scarf tied peasant-fashion round her head’ (p12). I’ve lost count of the Higgins books where the ‘scarf worn peasant-fashion’ is used.

WITH A MIND TO KILL - Book review

 

 

Anthony Horowitz’s third and final James Bond novel (2022) is an excellent finale. 

In many ways this feels and reads like an Ian Fleming novel. Horowitz has yet again captured the voice, the mood, the period, even to the point of naming his chapters such as ‘A Room with No View’. 

The story is taken up two weeks after the conclusion of Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun. So it’s set in 1965. You don’t have to have read this last Fleming novel, though it might help.

It begins with the funeral of Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, known to some as ‘M’. (Too many other characters in this chapter have names that begin with ‘M’ – Sir James Molony and Sir Charles Massinger). A dramatic beginning. But. Things are not what they seem. 

Bond is assigned to investigate a new organisation in Moscow, Stalnaya Ruka – Steel Hand. They seem to be planning some outrageous action that will tip the balance in Russia’s favour in the Cold War. We are then privy to the machinations of the members of Steel Hand guided by Colonel Boris who was previously responsible for brainwashing Bond after You Only Live Twice. This section is reminiscent of Fleming’s insight into the Smersh meeting in From Russia With Love, though somewhat shorter. In this scene there is a chilling exhibition of the power of Boris’s mind-control over a subordinate (p47).

Indeed, there are numerous cross references to previous assignments, villains, female conquests and books; none of them are heavy-handed, merely apt. 

Bond was ambivalent about the assignment. Re-entering the brainwashing lair was dangerous. Could he survive? Yet ‘Bond needed death, or the threat of death, as a constant companion. For him, it was the only way to live.’ (p209)

Needless to say there is a beautiful Russian woman, Katya. And he is faced with a particularly unpleasant Russian whose name is so unpronounceable it is invariable shortened to Colonel G.

A satisfying conclusion to Horowitz’s series.

A great new action heroine to be watched

A new 5-star review for the first documented  mission of Tana Standish, psychic spy. 

"Tana Standish, now 38, was an orphan Jewish girl trying to escape Warsaw by sneaking on a ship with her brother. Her brother is killed trying to find food on the ship. She was also caught later but before she is killed a British submarine torpedoes the ship. The survivors included the young girl. MI6 learns that she has psychic abilities, and when she grows up they train her as an espionage agent. She doesn’t really read minds, but receives impressions, and can detect danger, hostile and friendly elements, as well as pick up hidden names. She is also studying remote viewing in connection to her abilities.

"Mission Prague is not her first assignment, but it is the first published tale about this psychic spy...
 
"This is a brand new British espionage thriller set in the Cold War, and Tana Standish is a great new action heroine to be watched. 

"The novel is topnotch, though the author goes off on tangents a bit too much in order to tie the story and real people into real events. Still, if you are looking for a great new series, try this author out. 

"You’ll like Tana Standish, the psychic spy. Highly recommended."

Thank you, Virginia E. Johnson! 

Mission: Prague
Available from Amazon as a paperback and e-book here

 

'... felt I'd actually been there.'

Amazon 5-star review for Mission: Khyber
 
'First, the detailed descriptions of Afghanistan; I felt as if I’d actually been there. Also, the fascinating history of the area I found illuminating. I liked the way the author further developed his character, psychic spy Tana Standish. In the first two novels she seemed almost invincible. Here, she is more vulnerable, and therefore more rounded. The one negative aspect for me was that I found the descriptions of the weaponry a bit challenging to follow, having never picked up a gun in my life, and some of the military manoeuvres left me a bit bewildered. But that was part of the book’s authenticity: the attention to precision was admirable, and the general atmosphere reminded me of John le Carré’s work. I highly recommend it: clearly the work of an experienced writer.'

Thank you, Maureen Elizabeth Moss 

Available from Amazon as a paperback or e-book here

Writing - Background to historical stories (4)

For those readers who are interested in the background to stories, here are a few notes on the short stories in my fourth collection, Codename Gaby. The printing history for the stories ranges from 1975 to 2011.

            In the late 1950s and early 1960s, I read a lot of true war stories – The White Rabbit, Carve Her Name With Pride, Odette, The Naked Island, Boldness Be My Friend, The Colditz Story, Commando Extraordinary, and Ill Met By Moonlight, among many others. I always hankered after writing a French Resistance novel. I have still to do that, but I have compensated a little by writing two stories on the subject: ‘Codename Gaby’ and ‘Hammer and Honey’. The former won a writing competition and the comments gleaned are here:

                ‘(Codename Gaby) is a tale of betrayal and extreme courage in the face of overwhelming adversity, written with great insight and sensitivity. The emotional conclusion is well crafted, leaving the reader bruised but relieved, just as it should for such an intense period of wartime history.’ – Award Organiser’s comments

            ‘This short story captures suspense, drama and wonderful character depiction. In less than 2,500 words, we know and relate to our heroine, the period and her situation. The story is complete and compelling. It is a remarkable achievement and demonstrates this author’s outstanding writing skills.’ – Kate Cavendish, Book Awards reviewer

            The earliest story represented in this collection is ‘The Trilby Hat’, which was originally broadcast on British Forces Radio, Malta, read by Reverend Ray Jones, November 1975. For the time transition, the production team used incidental music which proved effective. I’ve still got the recording from the radio. I jiggled the date-time for the printed version some years later. It grew out of an evening visit to a Portsmouth pub in the early 1970s when I was propping up the bar and an old gent wearing a battered trilby hat came in…

            ‘Tealeaf’ is slang for ‘thief’. Society rightly frowns on thieves. Theft is despicable, and even more so in a closed community, such as a ship or submarine. Servicemen were sent to detention if caught thieving; I used to type up the warrants. This story extrapolates.

            The early days of Australia have been of interest since I read The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. I’m also fascinated by myths. So I was drawn to write ‘Creation Myth’.

            In my Tana Standish psychic spy series, I have introduced a number of secret agents, friends of Tana. I wanted to write some short adventures about them and when the writing circle prompt was ‘turkey’ I came up with ‘Cold Turkey’. Another prompt was ‘leather’ so ‘Hell for Leather’ was the result. In keeping with the Tana series, both stories blend fact with fiction. I’ll probably attempt a number of slightly longer stories about these agents in the near future. The events involving Alan Swann occur before he acquired a limp and a glass eye, as revealed in Mission: Prague and explained in Mission: Khyber.

            The reconstruction required in the aftermath of the Second World War must have been daunting. Reading about it, I was inspired to write ‘One day we’ll walk through’, which was also intended as a celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

            When my wife and I saw the rather small pyramids on Tenerife, I conjured with the idea that certain craftsmen could have travelled there from Egypt in the prehistoric past. Certainly, having seen the pyramid of Altun Ha in Belize, I find that Heyerdahl’s theory that reed boats could have travelled across the Atlantic most compelling. This story is an attempt at visualising that ancient journey. The title is taken from Matthew chapter 11, verse 7.

            In my research for other work, I’d come across John Dee (1527-1609) and found him a fascinating character. I wanted to attempt realising his life and the best way to do that was for him to reminisce in writing. An occultist, mathematician, philosopher, astrologer and possibly spy for Queen Elizabeth, he was hoodwinked by an ex-criminal Edward Kelley into believing that angels communicated through Kelley. Dee died in poverty under the care of his daughter ‘about’ 1609. What drew me was the accusation of ‘calculating’ being a heinous crime! And we thought we had problems with the PC crowd finding offense at the drop of an innocent word or two…

            I wrote ‘For Valour’ expressly because I was inspired by the Help for Heroes campaign and it coincided with the time of commemorating the first awards of the Victoria Cross.

            ‘Born of Joy’ was written for Remembrance Day and its explanation is in a dedication note at the end.

            Another period that intrigues me is the English Civil War (1642-1651). I recalled the 1950s comic series featuring Cavalier Claude Duval (though in fact the real Claude Duval was a gentleman highwayman who came to England after the Civil War; he was sentenced to hang by Sir William Morton in 1670). ‘The Reckoning’ is a nod to a period I’d like to return to at greater length.

            ‘The Proper Thing to do’ evolved from reading about the ill-fated HM Troopship Birkenhead. I wanted to experiment and write this with a single person speaking, present tense. This was the birth of a tradition, too: women and children first. The story gained an ‘honourable mention’ in a competition before being published a couple of years later.

            ‘When the flowers are in bloom’ was inspired by the true tales of survivors from the war being discovered on tropical islands years after hostilities ended. Also, I wanted to attempt a detective quest in a strange land. I’d been to Japan in the late 1960s onboard HMS Zulu, but didn’t get the opportunity to travel far. The story was a runner-up in an international writing competition and published in the organisation’s anthology. The story was the title for an anthology of my short stories published in the US, now out-of-print.

            ‘Day of the Unicorn’ was written from another writers’ circle prompt – ‘unicorn’. A fun piece, mixing humour with myth, it sadly didn’t find a home in any of the limited number of magazines I deemed suitable.

            Having attempted to transport myself into the mind of a child in 1803, I fancied empathising with a tree – or rather all trees for ‘A Shared Experience’. This can be construed as whimsy, fantasy, an ecological or a religious piece.

            Finally, a sort of bonus: ‘Angel’s Trumpets’ is based in Tenerife, an island my wife and I have visited often; it is the first chapter of a planned novel in Victorian times concerning a detective duo, Bradbury & Hood. Tenerife features in my novel Blood of the Dragon Trees, which has been republished as An Evil Trade.

Codename Gaby - Collected short stories volume 4

Available as a paperback and e-book from Amazon here

Other books in this series are:

Gifts from a Dead Race – Collected stories vol.1 (science fiction, horror, fantasy, ghost)

Nourish a Blind Life – Collected stories vol.2 (science fiction, horror, fantasy, ghost)

Visitors –  Collected stories vol.3 (westerns)

I Celebrate Myself – Collected stories vol.5 (crime and adventure) 

'Atmospheric descriptions of life under the yoke of Soviet rule'

Latest Amazon review of The Prague Papers (e-book) from reader 'Sandbagger'.

Set during the Cold War behind the Iron Curtain in the mid- 1970s the storyline follows the young, intriguing Tana Standish, a British secret agent, who was orphaned and yet managed to survive the brutality and the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto in WWII. She possesses a psychic ability that gives her an advantage but occasionally appears to be something of a double-edged sword.

Tana is called in to help repair the beleaguered underground network in Czechoslovakia, who had been stymied after the so-called Prague Spring, when the reformist First Secretary, Alexander Dubček, well meaning attempts of reform were brought to heel seven years earlier by the arrival of Soviet tanks.

This is a well-researched novel with atmospheric descriptions of life under the yoke of Soviet rule.

A real page turner. Highly recommended.

 ***

Many thanks, Sandbagger! 

The follow-up is The Tehran Text, set in Iran in 1978.

My apologies for not posting here regularly of late, but I'm moving towards the end of the third Tana Standish mission, set in Afghanistan in 1979: The Khyber Chronicle.

Book review - Red Sparrow

The Cold War isn’t dead and buried, it’s still with us, very much so, if Jason Matthews’ debut thriller Red Sparrow (2013) is to be believed. And since Matthews is a retired Operations Executive of the CIA, the tradecraft and information letter-drops suggest authenticity. Mr Putin may even have avidly read a translation, particularly as he figures in the story. As an ops officer observed, Putin’s intent on putting together USSR Mk 2, and he will do it by any means possible, probably creating instability in the West and Europe in particular. There’s a deep psychological need to create a new, feared Russian Empire.

We first meet CIA agent Nate Nash in Moscow, clandestinely meeting with his asset, code-named MARBLE. The Russians are aware that a mole exists, but have no clue - so far. The meeting seems to go as normal, then mere chance thrusts them both into danger. The manhunt is on – and Nash is identified by the Russians as a foreign agent. The fact that he evaded the hunters is good news, but the bad news is that his asset, a major general in the SVR, the successor to the KGB’s First Chief Directorate, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, is at risk if Nash arranges to handle him further.

At about the same time, Dominika is a new member of the SVR, her recruitment engineered by her uncle, Vanya Egorov. Her career leads her to the Sparrow school, where she learns the techniques of seduction, then suborning targets by blackmail. Dominika’s background is veined with tragedy, her parents’ and her aspirations smothered by the system. Strangely, she is able to view coloured auras around people’s heads, signifying their moods, but keeps this arcane knowledge to herself. It comes in handy when dealing with conspirators, and even her uncle. Considering the controversial lineage of the Kirlian imagery of the 1960s-1970s, this is not too far-fetched, perhaps, noting that my spy heroine happens to be psychic!

Certainly, Dominika is depicted as a strong, sympathetic and convincing character.

Nash is redirected to Helsinki. His boss is Forsyth, a no-nonsense kind of guy, aided by Gable, a quick-talking, apparently glib yet cunning agent, very much in the mould of Tom Arnold’s character Albert Gibson in True Lies, providing light relief.

Before long, Dominika is tasked with going to Finland to ferret out any clues to the mole suspected to exist in the SVR. A fascinating cat-and-mouse affair begins between the attractive pair, each planning to recruit the other.

Disaster strikes and almost at the point where Nate and Dominika become lovers, they are brutally parted.

Dwelling in the shadows is Sergey Matorin, a ‘mechanic’, an executioner of the Russian secret service. This is a dark, unpleasant creation, his deadly cruelty given release in Afghanistan.

Matthews has imbued the story with authentic settings and knowledge about the Russian system and psyche. There are tense, suspenseful moments, and a few brutal interludes, and throughout there’s the constant stench of betrayal hovering. Even though it has 546 pages, it’s a fast read, because you become involved with the characters and want to know how their stories are resolved.

If you like espionage books, then Red Sparrow should greatly satisfy.

Soon, I expect to be reading the sequel Palace of Treason.

Footnote: I cannot fathom why he has inserted recipes at the end of each chapter, admittedly relevant to the food eaten in that chapter. I got to the point where I stopped reading them as they affected the narrative flow!

'The ending left me wanting more of Tana Standish!'

From Nancy Jardine on her blog:

I'm catching up with my reviewing of novels read recently. My ‪#‎Monday‬ Moments today are with Nik Morton's Tana Standish Spy Series. This is a genre I don't read all that often but might get addicted to... Pop in and read my short thoughts on #1 and #2 of this excellent series. http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com

Thank you, Nancy for not one but two reviews - The Prague Papers and The Tehran Text!

The Prague Papers and The Tehran Text - e-books available from:

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http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Nik+Morton/_/N-8q8?_requestid=185965

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A dangerous place

There’s a lot of publicity over the fly-by activities of the Russian warplanes close to the UK. If a mistake is made, the consequences could be dire. The Cold War seems to be hotting up, to mix metaphors.

Yet little notice is taken of another Communist state despatching its warplanes in similar fashion – and risking conflict by default.

Several Japanese islands in the East China Sea are in dispute with China. And the Japanese air base at Naha, scramble on average more than once a day – and achieved a dubious record of more than 400 times last year.

Wikipedia commons

 

China outnumbers Japan almost eight-to-one in air force manpower and is building its capacity. Apparently, the Chinese pilots lack the training and experience of their Japanese counterparts, raising the risk of a near miss or collision. These fly-bys also imperil ties between these two economic giants.

When Major General Yasuhiko Suzuki was first posted as a fighter pilot to subtropical Naha in the 1990s it was a military backwater. Now the commanding officer, he says China’s assertiveness has made it Japan’s most important base.

Japan’s defences, particularly in the southwest islands, are being increased; they’re set to establish a new military observation unit on Yonaguni island, close to the contested islets.

Japan and China each claim ownership of the uninhabited islets - known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China - that are administered by Japan. This dispute has apparently affected Japanese investment in China. China says it has records of the islands going back about 600 years and that it administered them until it lost a war to Japan in 1895.

Japan sent aircraft to head off foreign military planes flying close to its airspace in excess of 740, heading for the highest annual total since the end of the Cold War. While dispatches against Russian aircraft are back down after an increase last year, sorties against Chinese aircraft, have continued to rise.

China is probably seeking to glean data through its fly-bys, a similar technique employed by the Russians in the West.  

Right now, the world is a dangerous place.

***

Read about the old Cold War in two explosive e-books featuring psychic spy Tana Standish, published by Crooked Cat Publishing.

THE PRAGUE PAPERS - Czechoslovakia, 1975

THE TEHRAN TEXT - Iran, 1978