The Eldorado Network

Derek Robinson is more well-known as the author of books about pilots and aeroplanes in the world wars, but on the side he's produced several espionage novels that demonstrate his usual taste in black humor and bloody-minded bureaucracy. Our hero is Luis Cabrillo, a young Spaniard who survives the Spanish Civil War doing odd jobs for foreign journalists, and decides to offer his services to British Intelligence in 1941. MI5 doesn't want him so he goes across the street to the Abwehr, the German version. They snap him right up and train him in all the modern espionage arts, and before too long he's on his way to London. But he only makes it as far as Lisbon, where he carries out his duties to the letter -- except the reports he mails back are entirely fictitious. As the afterword tells us, Luis is based on a real spy who became a double-agent during the war, and all of the outrageous exploits and adventures of THE ELDORADO NETWORK are based on fact. Even more extraordinary is the revelation that all of the German spies in England at the time were working for the British. This is not your average deadpan espionage novel. The world as Derek Robinson sees it is run by charismatic amateurs, and that goes for the Germans, the British, and Luis Cabrillo himself. Everyone, regardless of rank or position, muddles through as best they can. Mr Robinson's usual ferocious wit can't hurt, and the dialogue of the book is a real treat. The book is out of print, and undeservedly so. I was lucky enough to dig a copy out of the depths of my college library; my library also has both sequels (ARTILLERY OF LIES and RED RAG BLUES). Find them if you can.