Customer Reviews

The Company of Strangers

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Author Robert Wilson has written 5 novels; unfortunately for readers this is only the second that has been offered The U.S. His debut, A Small Death Is Lisbon, was a very good book and was recognized with literary honors. The Company Of Strangers, elevates his work to an even higher level, which if he continues to maintain will place him amongst the great writers of espionage/thriller/mystery. For those unfamiliar with his work I believe the best comparison would be Mr. John LeCarres earlier works, and some of the best that Mr. Robert Ludlum ever wrote. These are not techno-thrillers where plot and theme are replaced by endless descriptions of military hardware. Mr. Wilson writes detailed character studies that are as complex as the situations he places them in; when these aspects are combined with the talent to tell a great story that spans decades, this is an author who gives a reader all that can be expected from a great novel.

The time line will take you from London of WWII, to the dawning of Glasnost in The Soviet Union, with stops in Berlin East and West, Lisbon and other locales. The book is about spies, very human, not the 007 Hollywood varieties. The motivation of why they work for a cause or country, what may make them turn, and sometimes turn once again is beautifully written and marvelously complex. The writer explores what takes place when an agent during a war finds that the country he once served, or perhaps betrayed, once the war concludes is now in the enemys camp. Who is his new master, who does he deceive this time if deception is the choice? Does an agent serving a foreign power that becomes the victor continue to serve, or are the ideals he thought were being served prove to have been a fraud and new choices are made?

The agents that take center stage in this book are all presented in various levels of detail, however none are vague. In the midst of the wild swings in world politics a variety of people have their beliefs confirmed, betrayed, and have their personal motives subjected to doubt. Do they spy as an act of revenge, a perceived wrong that was inflicted, is the spying based on theology, or is it monetary, or is it the game itself that is the attraction?

In addition to all that I have mentioned, there is much more, and there are few authors who could carry out the complexity of plot without it become cloudy, and he includes revelations that in most hands would be cliché at best, and more than likely laughable.

The Company Of Strangers, does not wind down as the end arrives. The author literally brings his story to the conclusion on the final page. Mr. Wilson also has not succumbed to churning out work and presenting it in a brief and incomplete manner. He takes all the time he needs, and if that requires the better part of 500 pages, that is what he uses. You have the sense that you are reading exactly what the writer intended. His goal was to produce a great book, not a shallow utilitarian read, written with an eye toward a screenplay, or any other secondary use.

This man is a brilliant writer; I recommend his work without condition.

In 1944, Kurt Voss is sent to Lisbon, Portugal as a member of the Abwehr, the German Secret Service. He's there to as military attaché to the German Legation, but he is also embittered by the deaths of his brother and father. Andrea Aspinall has led a sheltered life in London, but she is a skilled mathematician who speaks Portuguese and has been sent to Lisbon as a spy.

Lisbon during the end of the Second World War is a hotbed of spies. German or Allied, it doesn't matter, everyone's watching everyone else and information is passed back and forth. The race is on to produce the first atomic bomb and it's in Lisbon that deals are being made to provide the funding for research. For Andrea, she witnesses acts of violence firsthand for the first time, and takes with her, secrets which are to stay with her for the rest of her life.

From the tension of wartime Lisbon, we cut to the late 1960's and early 1970's and the focus is back on Andrea and Karl. We're provided with a thrilling yet draining ending to their story.

This is a spy novel that is full of intrigue, double-dealings and mystery. We are introduced to, and then given intimate knowledge of, the two main characters. The detailed characterisation is a real feature of this story; we are left in no doubt what motivates each character. But more than just a spy story, it's a love story that tells of impossibly difficult decisions that the clandestine life imposes. It's an epic story of intrigue that keeps delivering.

Wilson's unusual ability to create fascinating and fully drawn characters within the confines of a plot-driven espionage novel make this novel particularly enjoyable. Andrea/Anne is a character who grows from a protected and naive twenty-year-old to a pragmatic spy and, later in life, to a committed political activist. Karl Voss and his family are "good Germans," disillusioned by Hitler's callous disregard for his soldiers and by his monomaniacal plans, and they believe they can serve their country best by betraying its Nazi leadership. As Karl makes contact with British intelligence and with Anne and other agents based in Lisbon, the reader watches their characters unfold as they respond to the intricacies of spy/counterspy maneuvering.

More than half the novel consists of this Anne/Karl story during the waning days of World War II, a tightly drawn, tension-filled, and often genuinely moving interplay of characters and the forces which motivate them. Part II further develops the story of Anne in 1968 in London, with the short Part III taking place in 1989. These latter two sections, while intriguing and consistent with the author's themes, seemed to me to lack the immediacy and excitement of the earlier Lisbon section. The broad scope and intensity of World War II are sacrificed in favor of subtler, more abstract maneuvering during the Cold War in Part II. The motivations of the characters are fuzzier, the consequences of their behavior seem less cataclysmic, and what action there is feels a bit arthritic. The concluding Part III narrows the scope even more to a handful of characters in a country cottage setting, and while it is dramatic and probably realistic, I found it disappointing--as if the author himself were performing some double agent trickery on me, the reader.

Like the best of the espionage novels, this one has plenty of action and excitement to keep the reader occupied, especially in Part I, but the book also seems to straddle a line. Because the author is also intent on developing character over an extended period of time, an unusual objective in a thriller, he also needs to include the less exciting Parts II and III which show the characters in their maturity and bring the story and themes full circle, an unusual structure and a fascinating attempt by the author to "have it all." Mary Whipple

The cover of "The Company of Strangers" includes a review describing this book as "'Casablanca' seen through the eyes of John Le Carre". I couldn't have said it better myself - Le Carre because there is next to no edge-of-your-seat suspense or Hollywood-ready action sequences; 'Casablanca' because this novel is first and foremost a romance, not an espionage or World War II story. I can appreciate how the prior reviewers who were disappointed felt misled (the cover of the paperback itself strongly points to a straightforward World War II spy tale), but Wilson's writing ultimately makes this a worthwhile read once those misconceptions are set aside.

The underlying story is that of a lifelong love affair between English and German spies that begins during World War II. Of course as time goes on, the necessities of war and the divided loyalties lead to various tragic results. This means that on some level, the book is truly guilty of being the old familiar boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl/boy-gets-girl-back story. However, Wilson creates so much interest in the history, the locales and the lives of these people whose currency is secrets and disinformation that it nonetheless becomes compelling.

The book is structured like a memoir of the lead character, British SIS agent Andrea Aspinall. And it does cover her entire lifetime, well past World War II. Because of this scope, it loses pace at times and could very well have been 100 pages shorter.

One of the most satisfying themes of the book is how secrecy and deception beceome guiding principles of the characters' professional and personal lives, often with tragic repercussions. There are secrets within families, between lovers, and especially between competing intelligence agencies. Wilson certainly takes his time unraveling this tangled web, but the ending is more satisfying because of it. There are times along the way where the sheer number of double-crosses heaped one on top of another makes it difficult to sort out the characters' motivations. I seriously recommend keeping some notes on character names and allegiances and using it as a bookmark as you go along - it will help significantly.

Wilson's writing is superb if also a little on the dense/verbose end of the spectrum. His turns of phrase on the passion and heartbreak associated with the story are probably the biggest reason that the book sustains itself so well as a romance.

So if you're looking for high-action James Bond-type stuff, move on. If you're looking for another historical examination of the Axis versus the Allies, move on. But if you're open to investigating the human aspects of the intelligence game and the nature of personal relationships during times of war, then this book is highly recommendable.

Wilson's book is undeniably well-written. What is deniable is how interesting and involving it is. The set-up is good and the first 150 pages moved along well as we are introduced to the cast of characters and their motivations. The following 100 pages read like quicksand however, and the pace begins to move slower and slower. By the time I got to page 270 I surrendered and refused to fight through the boredom that had captured me.

If you like spy thrillers like Le Carre wrote grab this book.

If you enjoy a Follett or Silva-paced thriller skip this.

Not a thrill a minute page turner, but a thoughtfully crafted look at the inner lives of spies and double agents. The book spans an era from late World War II through the collapse of the Berlin Wall. There are two compelling characters, Andrea, the savvy yet naive British twenty year old, and Kurt, the disillusioned German intelligence officer. Both get caught in events they do not fully understand. They share a brief, but intense love-affair in Portugal and then everything goes to hell. The surrounding cast are multi-dimensional including very odd aristocrats in Lisbon, very cruel Nazis, KGBers and Stasis and very staid British intelligence officers.

I for one never really knew what game these supporting characters were playing, but it is a fun puzzle to see Andrea twist and turn beginning in 1944, overwhelmed by people and events beyond her control with the pieces of the puzzle only coming together in the early 1990s. It is hard to review the book without giving away the plot, but suffice it to say that Wilson puts his hero and heroine through the wringer and the reader should not expect a jolly happy ending where the prince and princess float off into the sunset. Wilson doesn't let any of his characters off lightly. Secrets beget further deeper secrets which beget tragedy. It seems that everyone has sinned and Wilson makes sure they all get their just reward--except for the biggest villain of all, who is allowed to pass quietly away in relative comfort and anonymity. If you can figure out who that villain is before the end--you are way beyond me.

At last there is an espionage writer to rival LeCarre, Greene and Maugham. Smith, like the trinity of fine writers he rivals, does not rely solely on plot to win his readers. He creates remarkable, unforgettable characters who draw the reader into their lives.

Anne/Andrea and Karl Voss are truly original characters who don't always behave as expected and who think for themselves. This increases the suspense in the story because the reader will not unfailingly predict their every move.

The plot is complex and tightly structured; the narrative covering three eras in espionage: WW2, the late Cold War during the beginning of detente and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anne and Karl come together during these three eras, forging a lifelong impossible love affair as they carry out their spycraft. There is genius in the plotting.

Above all, there is genius in the prose. Wilson uses new and arresting metaphors that will give the reader pause to appreciate their finely-tuned perfection. Unlike, for example E. Annie Proulx who is known for original metaphors, Wilson's are not only original, they are apt. In one example, he describes a character covering his face with his hands and wiping down his face, crumpling his tirednes like paper and tossing it to the floor. If you read that, you not only see it visually, you will recall doing the same motion. He makes you see things through a new lens. The book is filled with this kind of original writing -- making it one to reread just for the pleasure of his writing craft.

Anne Aspinall is the daughter of an SIS (think MI 6) secretary who during WW2 is recruited to go to Lisbon to spy on the Germans. She's working for a Shell Oil manager, but her real job is to translate German technical manuals looking for info about their nuclear program. A situation occurs and she is forced into operations involving spies (German, English, Russian, American and independent operators) double agents, Portuguese fascist police (the PVDE under Dr.Salazar). She falls in love, things blow up and she and her lover both try to get out of Lisbon in one piece. She doesn't and ends up married to a Portuguese military man for 24 years. After her husband and son are killed in the Colonial Wars, she goes back home to England.

In England she comes to terms with her mother and ends up working for "the Company" again and finds herself involved with many of the same people she worked with in Lisbon many years before. Once again she is being used by someone but she's never sure who is using who and whose agenda is at the top of the list, or even who's making the decisions. All this comes to a head when she's sent back into East Berlin to look for an agent known only as "the Snow Leopard". He turns out to be her ex-lover who is now an agent (a double agent) of the East German Stasi. With her help he is able to deflect suspicion from himself and onto a dangerous rival.

The third part of the story is a little too pat and the ending isn't anything you don't see coming down the road, but it's a 'good show' all the way and well worth your time.

The WWII heroine of this story is a young mathematician who is recruited to spy on the Germans. This is, however, not a story about number nerds. Andrea Aspinall signs on as an agent to spy against the Germans in Lisbon with employment at Shell Oil Company (product placement?) as her cover. The story moves on swiftly with various dead bodies soon scattered around the beautiful Portuguese landscape. Much smoking and drinking is undertaken to pass the time, and Andrea finds romance with a member of the, er, opposition. It's a dangerous liaison, though, and the suspense keeps building.

Only twenty days have passed since Andrea landed in Lisbon, and the book is half finished. Surprise. At page 280 the Lisbon adventure ends, and we are back in London years later. Mystified, the reader wonders what is going to happen next. The story meanders along until finally we see that Andrea will spy once again. But this time there is a strange twist to the story. More bodies; more intrigue; more smoking.

It's a well written book that is several literary steps above the usual cardboard character novels turned out by various other genre writers appearing on the best seller lists.

A couple of years ago, Robert Wilson burst onto the espionage scene with A Small Death in Lisbon, which was a wonderful detective novel with elements of a spy novel. That book (and this one) is set in Portugal, where the author currently lives.

In the current volume, two different characters meet in Portugal, and become star-crossed lovers. One is a disillusioned German army officer, not sympathetic to the Nazis in the first place, who has been pushed over the edge by the death of his brother, which in turn precipitates the suicide of their father. He joins the anti-Nazi resistance, formally, and is involved in the coup attempt which culminated in the failed assasination of Hitler in July of 1944. Meanwhile, he's in Portugal, and falls in love with a young British woman who's ostensibly a secretary but in reality is also a spy, working for British Intelligence. Things go awry, and they are separated by the war. They meet again a quarter century later, and things take an ugly turn, and then meet yet again after another decade, in 1989.

The theme of the book is the two characters and their love of one another. This is well-told and laid out, but I had trouble keeping track of all of the minor characters in the first half of the book (a number of whom shoot one another in a climactic scene that ends the first half of the book). I also was somewhat surprised and puzzled at the ending, where a character who has a very large part to play in the end of the book is introduced with no background or anything, and there are things about him and the ending which aren't explained. It's not clear what exactly occurred at the end of the book, or at least why it occurred as it did, though all of this is pretty strongly hinted at.

This book pretty much demands comparison with the works of Alan Furst. It's in some ways better than what I've read of Furst, in other ways not as good. Furst's strong point, to my mind, is the atmosphere and characters that populate his books. In this book the atmosphere isn't quite as good, though it is worthy of reading. The plot here is however superior to Furst's, given that Furst typically doesn't have much of a plot at all, just a series of semi-connected events.

I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it.