An Interlude in Berlin

Set in divided Berlin which is 100 miles deep into East Germany. Christa, an actress formerly with the Volkstheater troup, has been recruited by the Stasi as a double agent. She's a willing informer because her brother is being held in East Germany.

She's now with the Neues Theater in the British sector, keeping her eyes wide open. Dillon Randolph, an American with a checkered past and whose father is a US Senator, has recently been assigned to the US Mission diplomatic corps.

Christa conspires to meet Dillon, with the intent of using him to gain information. Dillon, however, is suspicious, and soon agents are recruiting agents who are recruiting agents, and the double-double spying begins.

This is a great look at Cold War politics just before the Berlin Wall is put up.

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Books Go Social. pub date 03/03/18

Career diplomat Dillion Randolph returns home to his censorious father after a nasty scandal with a married woman in Australia. He is given a second chance in post-war Berlin with the U.S. Mission in Berlin but his indiscretion makes him the perfect target for the Soviets. When a beautiful actress suddenly enters his life, is it true love or just a KGB “honey trap?” Double agents have been worrisome for the allies recently but it takes a pragmatic British spy to ferret out the truth behind the alluring Fraulien Schiller.

Flanders has captured the atmosphere of Cold War Berlin perfectly. His description of the city, hemmed in by the Russians, struggling to regain its footing after the war is both poignant and hopeful. Aficionados of John le Carré, Alan Furst and the late Philip Kerr need to add this to their collection.

Beginning in 1959 in Berlin, at a time of high tension and double-crossing, this story mixes just enough realism to the plot to maintain credibility, while weaving a most believable plot of spies, conspiracy and double-agents to keep the reader enthralled and needing to know more.

For Dillon Randolph, Berlin is a chance to escape wagging tongues at home and start afresh as a diplomat for the US Mission. Romance was to be avoided at all costs.
Enter Christa, an actress from East Berlin, with a desperate desire to see her brother freed from the clutches of the Stasi.
An East German plot is born: Christa is to seduce the American and 'deliver' him to the authorities on the East German side of the city, in return for her brother's freedom.
When British 'spy catcher', Hawes, learns of the plan, he intercepts in a bid to unmask the leak in British security following the recent threacheries involving Philby & Maclean. Determined to root out another potential defector, Hawes concocts a new conspiracy and draws upon the support of his contacts of old to make it happen.
Of course, as in any good spy story, things don't always go to plan, which is what keeps the reader invested in the story.
A thoroughly good read, with several interesting subplots running alongside the main story.

This is a really fascinating read. I really enjoy reading historical fiction. I found this book really interesting. It has obviously been very well researched. This is a good spy thriller as well. I would definitely recommend it and I will be looking out for more books by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

A spy novel, chock full of history and intrique, An Interlude In Berlin, is well researched but did lack that vibe that makes a book flow and keep the readers interest. While a really good book, I found I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was reading.
Giving it a 3.5 star, and so since NetGalley has whole scores only, moving it up on here to a 4 star. Book published date 03/03/18, so if your a fan of historical spy thrillers this might be right up your alley!

This is a great cold war thriller. I really enjoyed it. It was unpredictable and highly engaging. I read it very quickly and really did not want to put it down. It's a novel that will appear to anybody interested in a good thriller based in the cold war era. It flowed and was very well written. Dillon and Christa were both highly credible, their characters worked well with one another. There was nothing about this book that I didn't like. I look forward in the future to reading much more from Jefferson Flanders.