What do You think about The Company Of Strangers (2005)?
Reading this thriller was like reading two separate books inexpertly stitched together. In the first half, a young English student is recruited by her country's secret service and sent to Portugal in 1944 for the purpose of espionage, although her exact assignment is not exactly explained. There, she falls in love at first sight, or rather at first grip, with a German diplomat who turns out to be a double-agent involved in an assassination attempt against Hitler. This part of the book is masterlful, despite many holes in the plot. But one forgives them because the pace is so fast and furious and the tension so taut. For the most part it's very well-written, although occasionally over-written with a couple too many soaring metaphors for my liking. But this author has a real poetic gift -- he often made me quite jealous. Wilson lives in Portugal and really makes the setting come to life -- the hot dusty hills surrounding Lisbon and the dingy streets of the city itself. The second half of the book is less successful. Tragically divided, the lovers go their separate ways for decades. I won't give away the plot -- suffice to say that they meet again in Cold War East Berlin. This part of the story has the feel of warmed-over John Le Carre. You get sentences like this: "He drove a slow circuit of the blocks of flats before coming out again on the Karl Marx Allee and heading east on the Frankfurter Allee.He turned right in Freidrichsfelde, past the white expanse of the Tierpark, under the S-bahn bridge and then left into the Kopenicker Allee." And it goes on from there. Yes, the author has done his research trip and mastered the street names. But for the reader, it's boring. Names alone do not produce atmosphere. I also have to say I really didn't like the way this book ended. A pity because so much of it was so superior to the general run of thrillers. Despite my criticism, it's still very much worth reading. For more about me and my book The Nazi Hunter: A Novel go to www.alanelsner.com.
—Alan
This book is the life of Karl Voss and Andrea Aspinall from the time of WW11In 1943, Captain Karl Voss a young officer in the Abwehr (the German military intelligence organization) is recruited by disillusioned Army officers to become a double agent- posing as an enemy of the Nazi state, but remain loyal to Germany. His job is to go to Lisbon as the German Legations military attaché and security officer; once there, trade Intelligence with the British and the Russians.Twenty year old Andrea Aspinall an educated mathematician with a facility for languages is recruited and trained by the British Secret Service and send to Lisbon. Her cover job is a secretary for a Shell Oil executive (a British agent) translating German documents into English. While there, she lives with a wealthy Irish business man who happens to be doing all in his power to help the Nazis. Her mission is to obtain as much pertinent information as possible.In 1944, Lisbon is a city of spies and Portugal was extremely important to all sides. Germany was heavily into the industrial diamonds trade in order to finance the Third Reich secret weapons.During this terrible time of convoluted careers and volatile distrustful dealings, Andrea and Karl meet and fall in love.This novel is rich in imagination, written with a seamless blend of historical events and fiction. The narrative is chilling and engrossing. It is a meaty novel of love and deceit with a plot that twists and turns leading to a realistic and believable conclusion. First the story covers wartime Lisbon, moving to London and East Berlin during the height of the Cold War and ending during the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The author has skilfully created mesmerizing characters in his cast of villains in different agencies and has painted his protagonists with subtlety and intelligence. Mr Wilson is obviously an ace in his genre. This gripping espionage thriller kept me guessing and highly entertained. Bravo.
—Toni Osborne
I did not know what I was getting into when I started this book. It was given to me and I was told "it's a good book". Yes, it is! It is not my genre. I am not into spies, double agents, espionage, etc...;however, if that is your forte "The Company of Strangers" is a must. Starting in the 1940s and ending in the 90s the writer keeps it interesting and pacts a lot of adventure into this book. I must admit it was confusing at time, the writer used too many street names, foreign cities that were difficult to remember. There were many characters and it was difficult to remember who's who and what happened to them. But beyond that I enjoyed the book. The love story was hard to swallow but yet enjoyable. When I started the book I didn't think I would end it by saying it was a page turner, but yet it was. When I think back on the book it is amazing how everyone had a story and all the stories came together to form one great book.
—Fran
