Winter Work

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When her first rendezvous goes dangerously awry, she realizes the mission is far more delicate than she was led to believe. Winter Work is an excellent addition to Fesperman's body of work and a must-read for fans of the spy thriller genre. Look, a spy novel doesn't have to be action packed (See David Downing and John Le Carre), but it does have to have interesting, developed, fleshed out characters, a coherent, gripping plot with a good pace and a plot that keeps the reader interested. She'll be the designated contact for a high-ranking foreign intelligence officer of the Stasi, although details are suspiciously sketchy. The main characters are 30-something CIA officer Claire Saylor and 50-something Stasi Colonel Emil Grimm, both of whom are out of their depth but succeed despite the odds.

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

Emil lives in a dacha in the woods north of Berlin with his bedridden wife, Bettina, who has ALS, and her caretaker, Karola, who, with the tacit approval of Bettina, has become a second wife to Emil.A very human man with an invalid for a wife, he has one thing to sell to the Americans and that is information. The author is a former foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, who worked for the paper and lived in Berlin during this time. Most explore the behind-the-scenes war between the West and the Eastern Bloc before November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down. A few months earlier he would have known just what to do, but now, as East Germany disintegrates, being a Stasi colonel is more of a liability than an asset. Thanks to real texture and substance, based on an actual, famed CIA operation, this tale is both remarkable and unconventional.

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

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). That’s the setting for Dan Fesperman’s spell-binding novel of intrigue in East Germany, Winter Work.The connection between an American agent, Claire Saylor, and Grimm is complex and unexpected, leading to a denouement that is both clever and shocking. An exhilarating spy thriller set in East Germany after the fall of Berlin Wall, about a Stasi officer investigating the murder of a colleague who is helped by Claire Saylor, the CIA agent readers will know from Safe House and The Cover Wife.

Winter Work’ by Dan Fesperman - WSJ Mysteries: ‘Winter Work’ by Dan Fesperman - WSJ

Winter Work is filled with all sorts of tradecraft that one would expect from a spy novel, but it is the human element that truly sets it apart. Emil Grimm, a Stasi colonel, has decamped to his dacha in the woods outside of Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall.Interesting layered characters, fast and often brutal action, suspense, good place descriptions and well-drawn context. Dan Fesperman dives into this time head first, delivering a smart thriller that juggles Stasi spies trying to plot their next steps, a population elated to tear it all apart, Russians trying to salvage and Americans looking to benefit from the chaos. But like the plot, Fesperman manages to make each person distinct and recognizable without putting together a chart of names to keep everyone straight. This is a spy novel, and it is based on a real CIA operation in Berlin just after the wall came down.