Dan Vyleta

This novel straddles the genres of mystery and Cold War thriller. It begins and ends with the interaction between a failed intellectual, occupation authorities, and a colony of street ragamuffins as the ramifications of a murder take old. The middle section is a warder/captive account as a British officer interrogates the intellectual protagonist. I found the descriptions of life in occupied Berlin during the Winter of Death of 1946/7 at least as interesting as the plot, which was okay but somewhat draggy, and the jailcell interrogations were pretty average and added little except bulk.… (meer)