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A review by lefthandedbibliophile
Our Friends in Berlin by Anthony Quinn
4.0
I am a big fan of espionage thrillers esp those of the relatively bygone eras. There's something endearing? charming ? to read about the times of warfare, in fiction ie., when there was lack of cutting edge technology (as compared to recent times). (As an esrtwhile student of history i've always shied away from the academic history of warfare, I find it too dry and dull).
Based on a true incident during the second world war (that I am not aware of and need to check), Our friends in Berlin is a gripping, fast paced espionage thriller, which gives us a glimpse of the day-to-day lives of common Londoners, how lives would go on for people despite of the ongoing war, being subject to frequent bombings, air raids, strict rationing and ever present under currents and threats of conspiracies and spies. The story did have a fairly predictable plot, I still was not expecting the climax! thankfully this prevented the book from being totally predictable.
But! the vagaries of a reader, it is the cliched end that I would have definitely wanted for my protags, so deducting a star for not getting the ending that I wanted.
Based on a true incident during the second world war (that I am not aware of and need to check), Our friends in Berlin is a gripping, fast paced espionage thriller, which gives us a glimpse of the day-to-day lives of common Londoners, how lives would go on for people despite of the ongoing war, being subject to frequent bombings, air raids, strict rationing and ever present under currents and threats of conspiracies and spies. The story did have a fairly predictable plot, I still was not expecting the climax!
But! the vagaries of a reader, it is the cliched end that I would have definitely wanted for my protags, so deducting a star for not getting the ending that I wanted.