Emil Grimm, out for a morning walk, exulted in all of it. Being a German of a certain age, he loved getting into the woods, and as a professional keeper of secrets he was impressed by any display of full disclosure. A] well-paced thriller...Fesperman accurately depicts the corrosive effect of life under a surveillance society...Most Cold War spy novels focus on the Manichaean ideological struggle between East and West; this one successfully explores a grayer era, when neither side in the conflict understood quite what was happening and the old rules of the game evaporated in a matter of weeks. 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. Dan Fesperman is one of my favorite thriller writers, and Winter Work is a brilliant addition to his magnificent oeuvre. Intelligently written and plotted, based on fact as gripping as any fiction and only improved by Fesperman’s deft writing, Winter Work left me spellbound and hungry for another pass at his older books to relive these intense adventures.” Winter Work is a gripping, tightly plotted old-school spy novel...Claire [Saylor] makes a welcome return from Fesperman's last book, The Cover Wife...Berlin—'spying's most storied theme park'—is vividly rendered, as is a time of convulsive change and the hopes, anxieties, and machinations of those caught up in the chaos.

Winter Work,’ by Dan Fesperman - The New York Times Review: ‘Winter Work,’ by Dan Fesperman - The New York Times

On a walk through the hilly countryside, he comes upon a team of the Stasi’s secret police examining a corpse by the side of the nearby lake. The body is that of Emil’s neighbor and friend, Lothar Fischer. Suddenly, a lieutenant in the Volkspolizei—”cops, not secret police”—arrives on the scene and, to Emil’s astonishment, persuades the Stasi men to leave. Clearly, the balance of power in East Germany has shifted. And that offers Emil hope as he sets out to learn who murdered his friend. As a spy novel, it has it all. Interesting layered characters, fast and often brutal action, suspense, good place descriptions and well-drawn context.A] well-paced thriller. . . . Fesperman accurately depicts the corrosive effect of life under a surveillance society, debasing both the watchers and the watched. . . . Most Cold War spy novels focus on the Manichaean ideological struggle between East and West; this one successfully explores a grayer era.”

Winter Work | Author Dan Fesperman Winter Work | Author Dan Fesperman

I don't want to give anything else away, except to say that bodies start to pile up, and both Claire and Emil must figure out how to find their way amidst paranoid and distrustful competitors.Amazing book that features known historical events surrounding the time period covering the "fall of the wall" in Berlin. Filled with action centered around multi-dimensional characters from all sides, this book cannot be put down. Excellent read!

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

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by Later Note: This is what happens to old people - the memory is not reliable. Of course I have read and enjoyed several books from this author! Just forgot like I forget many things. Oh well. Winter Work is an excellent addition to Fesperman's body of work and a must-read for fans of the spy thriller genre. It is a well-crafted novel that manages to balance historical accuracy with heart-pumping action, resulting in a book that is both educational and entertaining. A] superb spy thriller...The action builds to a deeply satisfying denouement. Cold War-era spy fiction doesn't get much better than this. As an avid reader of Dan Fesperman's work, I eagerly anticipated his latest novel, Winter Work, which takes place just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Though it may seem odd to label a spy thriller from this era as a historical novel, Fesperman manages to create a captivating tale that immerses the reader in the early days of newfound freedom in East Germany.

This masterful historical thriller blends espionage, domestic drama, and murder. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the final coda to the Cold War and ushered in massive geopolitical and social change. . . . This evocative murder mystery vividly captures what happened on the Eastern side of the wall on a political level—including how the cache of secrets ultimately found its way to the CIA—and a personal one, from the perspective of an unusual protagonist, a sympathetic East German spy with a complicated and messy home life.”