Reading for pleasure: March 2023

Winter Work

Dan Fesperman (Head of Zeus: £9.99; e-book £3.49)

Set in Berlin 1990, former senior Stasi officer Emile Grimm finds his friend, colleague and neighbour Lothar Fischer dead by the lakeside. Grimm suspects foul play. The Berlin Wall has just fallen, the East German state is in turmoil and the senior officers know their time as the guardians of the state and ruling party is over. However, they do know the secrets of the failing state. Markus Wolf, the head of the East German foreign intelligence service, is another close neighbour in this enclave outside Berlin.  

So opens an intriguing spy thriller.  

The Americans are in town. CIA agent Claire Saylor is sent to Berlin to assist an Agency action against their collapsing East German adversaries. However, she is designated as the contact for a high-ranking Stasi foreign intelligence officer. Their first meeting is a failure with almost fatal consequences. She calls upon on a former CIA agent to assist her.

The Russians are interested in securing whatever former state secrets are available in this increasingly open market.

The tensions and effect of reversal of fortunes between the former, feared senior Stasi officer and the local police, the latter investigating Lothar’s death, is intriguing and, one suspects, born of reality. The internal wrangling and caution within the US Berlin station creates another layer of tension, as Saylor walks a tightrope of who she can trust, while seeking to avoid danger to herself and her contact.

In the reality of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Stasi did seek to destroy documents to avoid them falling into the hands of the people’s committees. There was limited success. However, almost all the papers of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung foreign intelligence service were destroyed. The exception was the Rosenholz Papers, 280,000 records, which fell into the hands of the Americans, where they remained until being returned to the German authorities in 2003. How they came into the possession of the CIA remains contentious.

Drawing loosely on this important footnote in history, the author has written an entertaining, fast paced thriller. The description of Berlin and its environs is spot on.  There has clearly been a significant degree of careful research. All told, a book to enjoy.

Taming the Beast

John F Smyth (Maclean Dubois: £12.99)

Professional men and their memoirs. Don’t you just hate them? Over the years I’ve reviewed a fair few vainglorious little tomes penned by lawyers. In some cases I’ve had to do it twice: once with what I really thought, then another watered down version which would get past the editor’s steely gaze. There shall live forever in my mind the pompous old fool who wrote of his holidays in Fife, “buying kippers fresh off the boat”.

Well, the first of many fine things about this autobiography is that no lawyers are involved. The subtitle is Memoirs of a Pioneering Cancer Physician. Another odd one. There are hundreds of physicians involved in cancer, are there not? Why, the Oncology department at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital has a staff of 200. 

Yes, but when John Smyth founded it in 1980, there was but one – him. If you had cancer before that, you had a choice of two professionals, the surgeon or the undertaker. Smyth’s career took off in Chicago where he developed the pioneering techniques which justify the title.

You might expect stories of a doctor’s life to be as dull as those of a lawyer’s. After all, when you judge our two professions by our levels of arrogance it has to be a score draw. Yes, but how many of us can fly an aeroplane? Or catch a 20lb salmon? Or, for 50 years, sing as the only amateur member of the prestigious Monteverdi Choir?

Alexander McCall Smith’s introduction describes John Smyth thus: “Scottish medicine has had many heroes in the past. This is one of them.” The cover notes remark, “Not many medical oncologists can claim to have delivered a baby, flown a Tiger Moth and recorded a classical CD – all on the same day!”

So, a remarkable life and a remarkable story, well told. But, are you harbouring the secret feeling that the guy must be a real pain? Sadly, you have to park that thought. I can attest that he is charming, funny and a great dinner companion. A belated declaration of interest: he is my brother-in-law. Despite that, and despite no commission being offered, this is still a terrific read.