Solo Run

I have prided myself on my growing collection of espionage novels, one that I've been working on for years. In all that time, I had never heard of Hans Herlin, probably because his main body of work was apparently espionage fiction and naval history written in German, not a second language for me. However, several of his books have been translated into English (and this one was done extremely well, I thought). I discovered this book not by cruising the Internet, but by browsing an outdoor, non-attended book-swap site which was a stack of shelves sandwiched in a covered alcove between a grocery store and a pharmacy in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. What a treasure I had found! This is an exceptional spy story, and I am flabbergasted that this author is not more widely referenced and apparently read. The story centers around a German intelligence agency called the Organization during the cold war, led by the calculating and crafty C, whose counterpart on the other side of the Iron Curtain is Zentner, his former intelligence partner in Germany under Hitler. But the story is more about Carow, a case officer who works for C and controls an agent named Martin who has been brought out of retirement because of his association with Zamira, a woman who is Zentner's "right hand lady." Herlin's characterizations and descriptive narrative of Prague and the Czechoslovakian countryside, as well as the life of the "agent" (operative) behind the Curtain, are exceptional, so much so that it reads like a true story--the best accolade of all. The ending of the book (before the epilogue) is a masterpiece of suspense and dénouement. I liked the book so much that before I was even half way through it, I had already ordered three of his other English-translation novels. I wish somebody would translate more of his works!