Brandenburg

Brandenburg

by HenryPorter (Author)

Synopsis

The Stasi was among the most sophisticated intelligence organisations in the world, but by the end of the 1980s the Orwellian state of East Germany was collapsing around it. The special squads of armed officers, the torture chambers in the Stasi jail, the hundreds of thousands of informers could do nothing to prevent the rebellion that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is in the context of these last few paranoid weeks of the Communist world, when a population that had been oppressed for nearly sixty years found the will to rise up, that this outstanding thriller is set. Its hero is Dr Rudolf Rosenharte, an academic from Dresden and agent for MI6; his controller is Robert Harland, from A SPY'S LIFE and EMPIRE STATE. When Rosenharte's security is compromised he is faced with a stark choice: to defect to the West, leaving his beloved family to the mercies of the Stasi, or return to East Germany to carry out a dangerous assignment under the Stasi's suspicious eye...

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 592
Publisher: Orion
Published: 08 Feb 2006

ISBN 10: 0752864947
ISBN 13: 9780752864945
Book Overview: Henry Porter has turned to one of the 20th century's major turning points - the fall of Communism - for this powerful and compelling thriller. 'Henry Porter has fast become one of the masters of the genre' Sunday Telegraph. '[Porter's] proving himself more than a match for John Le Carre. Thankfully the spy novel lives on' Mirror. 'Porter's first-rate thriller memorably re-creates the paranoid Kafkaesque state in the malignant grip of the Stasi' Sunday Times. 'Brandenburg by Henry Porter is seriously rewarding. Set during the fall of the Berlin Wall, it's a stunning evocation of the Cold War at its nastiest' Tatler. '[Porter] continues to breathe new life into spy fiction' Independent. 'Cogent, angry, stylish and informed ... His take on post-war Germany is sober, truthful, anxious and well remembered' Literary Review. 'Another elegant spy thriller that, I believe, John le Carre himself would be pleased to have attributed to him. As in all the best spy stories, it is not merely a tale of intrigue and deception, betrayal and retribution, but also an examination of the people who live through these experiences' Guardian.

Media Reviews
A slick thriller. [Porter] is clearly at home in the era, evoking the combined tension and hope of the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall with some skill. A stylish and always enjoyable thriller and Rosenharte... is both a believable and satisfyingly ambivalent hero. THE OBSERVER, 12 Feb Brandenburg has all the ambtition and assurance of Porter's earlier books, with an even more assiduously realised time and place. Apart from the customarily rich characterisation, we have as palm-sweating a narrative as one could wish -- along with a richly drawn portrait of an epoch, crammed with authentic detail. GOOD BOOK GUIDE, 1 Mar Porter's latest elegant thriller introduces us to an attractively flawed hero. Porter's skill is in the detail. This is not just a heart-stopping thriller, but a fascinating evocation of the Cold War. DAILY MAIL, 3 Mar Fast becoming the master of all he portrays, Porter rebuilds spy fiction and takes on the mantle once held by Le Carre. Porter's success lies in his ability to weave the fictitious lives of his characters into the real history of the period. GLASGOW HERALD, 18 Mar
Author Bio
Henry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He was editor of the Atticus column on the Sunday Times, moving to set up the Sunday Correspondent magazine in 1988. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of Vanity Fair, and lives in London.