Maestro [Mass Market Paperback]

John Gardner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995

Tracking down an orchestra conductor whom he believes had been a spy for the Germans during World War II, master spy ""Big Herbie"" Krueger finds himself in an unexpected partnership with the conductor when a team of assassins strikes. Reprint. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this first book to appear under the Penzler imprint, Gardner pulls crusty old agent-runner Big Herbie Kruger out of semiretirement to represent Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in the debriefing of Louis Passau, an internationally renowned conductor. Passau's life is being threatened, probably by people who don't want him to spill important secrets; a botched assassination attempt occurs after the maestro's 90th Birthday Concert at Lincoln Center. Aided by his musical savvy and the sexy young SIS agent Pucky Curtiss, Kruger interviews Passau, learning much about the musician's unpleasant character and equally nasty past. An Austrian Jew, Passau was forced into espionage by Nazis who threatened to kill his family. Although he survived the war, Passau subsequently learned a devastating secret about the great love of his life, the promising young diva he had already elevated to fame. In an attempt to write a "big" novel, Gardner ( The Nostradamus Traitor ) has packed this one full--perhaps overfull. But for all its secrets and surprises, there is something strangely offhand about this thriller. The tone is oddly inappropriate; rather than being sinister and dark, it seems unsuitably manic, and Kruger appears both too jolly and too smug. Fans may know what to make of this; first-timers should be forewarned.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Peerless conductor Louis Passau, accused on the eve of his 90th birthday of having been a Nazi spy, is to be debriefed by a covey of British and American agents--until two breathless attempts on his life leave him in the maverick hands of Big Herbie Kruger (the paperback The Quiet Dogs, etc.), pulled out from retirement to serve as his father confessor. Once he gets going, Passau seems to be confessing to the entire 20th century. As Louis Packenstky back in Bavaria, he's dragged off to America by his shoemaker father; then, suddenly discovering his musical vocation as Louis Packensteiner in New York, he defrauds his father and takes off for Prohibition Chicago, resurfacing with his friend and protector Charlie Giarre as Louis Packy--before selling out both Charlie and his smitten sister Sophie by arranging a liquor hijacking and going underground again. As Louis Passau, he wastes no time in marrying Hollywood money (a dope-addicted star) and clawing his way to a top conducting post (first poisoning the current maestro, whose absence gives him his debut). And this is all before he even gets pressured into any of his long-term spying jobs--for the Nazis, for the CIA, for the KGB (the last two involving a satisfying, though incredible, conspiracy lasting for years). As Passau's story winds down, it begins to interlock uncomfortably with Herbie's betrayal by his old flame Ursula Zunder, who sold out their joint operation to the KGB; and Gardner makes much of the increasingly twisted relations between the confessor and his interlocutor, eventually ensnaring Herbie's new love Pucky Curtiss, who's helping him keep Passau one step ahead of all those spies and mobsters who'd like him dead--though not, finally, to the climactic effect he presumably intends. Disappointing as a generational spy epic to set alongside Gardner's nonpareil Secret Generations trilogy (though a promised sequel may develop some patterns hastily dropped here), this works best as a sweepingly enjoyable soap opera of ambitious scheming, sexual conquest, and the inevitable payback. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446601683
• ISBN-13: 978-0446601689
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,314,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BOOK WITH MANY VIRTUES, December 19, 2003

By 

Peter Kline (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maestro (Hardcover)

This is ostensibly a novel about espionage, and it delivers in that department very well. It has, however, a number of qualities that make it interesting to readers who may not normally read spy thrillers. The main character is the greatest living conductor--on a par with Toscanini. The story of how he achieved prominence raises a number of questions that are interesting from a literary point of view. Since we know that many great geniuses (Wagner is an example) led deplorable personal lives, the idea that this character would abandon and even kill some of the people who loved him and would live much of his life on the basis of lies and deceptions is quite credible. The method for telling the story is to have the Maestro deliver his autobiography as a full confession to a secret agent who must evaluate how he should be treated given that he betrayed his country as a spy for Hitler in World War II and also gave secrets to the Russians during the cold war. In the latter case, though, he believed he was actually serving his country. As the story progresses we get it from the point of view of the author, of the Maestro who is telling it, and of the agent who is listening to it. This causes us to see the same material from several different points of view, which makes it more challenging to determine our own judgment of the characters and events described. Thus we have a work of far greater complexity and literary interst than the normal spy novel. On top of all this, the author shows a vast knowledge of music and keeps dipping into specific performances on recording, many of which are compared with the Maestro's own fictitious recordings. This delicate balance between history and fiction is constantly fascinating, making us speculate about what life would be like if a few of its ingredients were different. The novel held my intereset consistently throughout as it seemed to bridge many differnt genres at the same time. Though I never lost interest, I was not driven to read it quickly, as is so often true with thrillers, which then leave a sense of emptiness behind them. This one will keep me thinking for years.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Gardner book, definitely not the last, December 14, 1998

By 

Houndog (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maestro (Mass Market Paperback)

I simply loved this novel. It is more than just the usual spy thriller formula. It is the story of one man's extraordinary life throughout all the changes of the entire twentieth century. The characters are all flawed, but all very likeable in their own way. This is the first John Gardner book I have ever read, but it is definitely not the last!!