If you're my age, it's hard to think about a spy novel set in 1990 as an "historical thriller," but Winter Work, an excellent book, is set just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germans are moving pretty freely, and East German spies – Stasi – are worried about their future. Emil Grimm is one of those, but he comes off as a good guy (if such a thing can be said about a Stasi agent), and he wants to secure a future in the West. 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.

Winter Work,’ by Dan Fesperman - The New York Times Review: ‘Winter Work,’ by Dan Fesperman - The New York Times

A] well-paced thriller...Fesperman accurately depicts the corrosive effect of life under a surveillance society...Most Cold War spy novels focus on the Manichaean ideological struggle between East and West; this one successfully explores a grayer era, when neither side in the conflict understood quite what was happening and the old rules of the game evaporated in a matter of weeks. 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! A] well-paced thriller. . . . Fesperman accurately depicts the corrosive effect of life under a surveillance society, debasing both the watchers and the watched. . . . Most Cold War spy novels focus on the Manichaean ideological struggle between East and West; this one successfully explores a grayer era..”

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. The action is propulsive, and Emil’s survival is always in doubt. “He had run agents and operatives from afar . . . Yet Emil himself had never once made a brush pass, chalked a mark onto a tree, cleared a dead drop, or called for a crash meeting.” And that puts him at a great disadvantage when the KGB arrives on the scene in league with the East German secret police. This is spy fiction at its very best. No one I’m aware of has done a better job of portraying intrigue in East Germany. A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.

Winter Work | Author Dan Fesperman Winter Work | Author Dan Fesperman

A] superb spy thriller. . . . The action builds to a deeply satisfying denouement. Cold War-era spy fiction doesn’t get much better than this.”But of course, things do not go according to plan. The Stasi officer doesn't show up to his meeting, but a brutal squad of Russians do, and Claire barely manages to escape. 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.

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

Lots of walking in wintery woods, drinking coffee and beers in cafe's, driving shitty cars, endless boring dialogues. 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. Winter Work is an excellent addition to Fesperman's body of work and a must-read for fans of the spy thriller genre. It is a well-crafted novel that manages to balance historical accuracy with heart-pumping action, resulting in a book that is both educational and entertaining. After World War II, the United States and the USSR vied for influence over Europe, with most countries in the western half of the continent joining NATO, while eastern countries aligned with the USSR. Germany was split into two countries, with the western half becoming the democratic Federal Republic of Germany (FDR or West Germany) and the eastern section the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany).

East and West Berliners climbing on the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on November 9, 1989. Photo: Alamy And by the time things actually started to get mildly interesting (about 15% towards the end of the novel), I lost complete interest in the story. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover the fact that the writing style is abysmal at best, with under-developed characters who are as interesting as watching paint dry, and a plot that unfolds sooooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooooow, you become numb. And, in all honestly, why did the author felt the need to focus so much on a weird love triangle between the main character, his ailing wife and her help??? 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.

Winter Work by Dan Fesperman | Goodreads Winter Work by Dan Fesperman | Goodreads

A] well-paced thriller. . . . Fesperman accurately depicts the corrosive effect of life under a surveillance society, debasing both the watchers and the watched. . . . Most Cold War spy novels focus on the Manichaean ideological struggle between East and West; this one successfully explores a grayer era.” This fast paced thriller showcases the immediate recalibration triggered by the fall of the Berlin Wall. Claire is new to Berlin (just transferred from Paris) and is on her own, yet expected to perform miracles. Despite the odds, she rises to the challenge. Three months into the op, she has proven her moxy—but Wall undermines her again by bringing in a new officer (male, naturellement) from HQ to take over. Claire has a secret weapon, however: an ex-CIA officer named Baucom who has lived in Berlin for decades (forced to retire early because of budget cuts—the Cold War being over—ha). Despite the bureaucracy, field operative Claire and her mentor pull off a miracle: the recovery of thousands of Stasi names, all during that brief, chaotic window of opportunity following the collapse of communism in 1989. This haul—which is historical fact—is still considered the biggest intelligence coup in CIA history. As an avid reader of Dan Fesperman's work, I eagerly anticipated his latest novel, Winter Work, which takes place just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Though it may seem odd to label a spy thriller from this era as a historical novel, Fesperman manages to create a captivating tale that immerses the reader in the early days of newfound freedom in East Germany.

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 is Mr. Fesperman’s 13th novel of spycraft and international intrigue. Like its predecessors, it does not disappoint.” The Berlin Wall has just fallen, but following the murder of a close colleague, disillusioned Stasi veteran Emil Grimm finds that escaping his life in East Germany is as risky as ever.