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Praise for Hammer to Fall: Named a Best Book of the Year by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine A witty, melancholy, first-class work. --Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal Hammer to Fall continues the saga of Joe Wilderness, a roguish and immensely appealing combination of MI6 agent and sometime smuggler . . . This terrifically written and well-paced balancing act between the absurd and the deadly serious has some especially droll subplots. --Adam Woog, Seattle Times An entertaining read, with an intelligent backdrop of cold-war geopolitics. --Financial Times In this third Joe Wilderness spy thriller, John Lawton's MI6 protagonist is on the move from Germany to Finland. Not your typical James Bond-style spy, Wilderness' postings get more interesting by the minute. He ends up in Czechoslovakia just before the Soviets send in tanks to quash the 1968 Prague Spring uprising. Lawton is a master of the genre, and his writing is not only historically accurate, but also rich, ribald, cynical, informed, inventive, and hilarious. --Christian Science Monitor A rich cacciucco of a novel, almost a menu degustation of politics, class, history (the Prague Spring of 1968), and impressive spy 'tradecraft, ' with a gripping climax on a famous bridge of spies in Berlin, and it is all written with a knowing wit by an author in total command of his historical research. Fans of vintage British thrillers (surely there are some out there) will spot the homages made to Gavin Lyall, John Le Carre, and Len Deighton. --Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine John Lawton's British detective fiction has reached the height of being predictably stirring, powerfully written, and cleverly knit together in terms of both plot and the painful personal wounds of World War II . . . The final scenes lead dramatically to a high-tension Cold War quandary that promises more to come in this entertaining series. --New York Journal of Books John Lawton infuses Hammer to Fall with ironic, dispassionate humor . . . Wilderness is a lightning rod for trouble and danger--and his sardonic, deadpan approach to life's vicissitudes adds to the pleasure of reading Hammer to Fall. --Criminal Element From Berlin, surviving on airlift support, to Finland, England, and ultimately, Prague in the spring of 1968, MI6 spy Joe Holderness, aka Wilderness, gets into and out of a number of compelling spots of trouble in this installment of his story . . . By turns witty, erudite, and exciting and supporting a host of interesting characters, imaginary and historical . . . Not one sour note. A terrific thriller: fun, satisfying, and humane. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Lawton scores another hit with his third Joe Wilderness novel . . . Terrific writing, a complex plot with a twist ending, and a roguish lead will have readers eagerly awaiting his next adventure. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Lawton does a brilliant job of incorporating backstory here, deepening our understanding of and feelings for rule-breaking Joe, who cares more for people than governments, while delivering a jaw-dropping finale that will leave readers palpitating for more. --Booklist (starred review) A delight. Lawton's ongoing recreation of Cold War chicanery is one of the great pleasures of modern spy fiction. --Mick Herron Praise for John Lawton: Meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the mold of World War II and Cold War fiction by novelists like Alan Furst, Philip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanon. --Wall Street Journal Wickedly seductive entertainment . . . John Lawton is creating some of our finest, and some of our most enjoyably ambiguous historical fiction. --Washington Post Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists. --Seattle Times [Lawton] is a master of creating a feeling of time and place, of amalgamating true-life events into his imaginative plot, of bringing every character, real or fictitious, major or minor, vividly to life. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Intricate plotting, colorful characters, and a brilliant prose style put Lawton in the front rank of historical thriller writers. --Publishers Weekly Constantly entertaining . . . The spying is well mixed with humor. --Times (UK) Lawton's books contain such a wealth of period detail, character depiction, and background information that they are lifted out of any category. Every word is enriched by the author's sophistication and irreverent intelligence, by his meticulous research and his wit. --Literary Review

"Praise for Hammer to Fall: Named a Best Book of the Year by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ""A witty, melancholy, first-class work.""--Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal ""Hammer to Fall continues the saga of Joe Wilderness, a roguish and immensely appealing combination of MI6 agent and sometime smuggler . . . This terrifically written and well-paced balancing act between the absurd and the deadly serious has some especially droll subplots.""--Adam Woog, Seattle Times ""An entertaining read, with an intelligent backdrop of cold-war geopolitics.""--Financial Times ""In this third Joe Wilderness spy thriller, John Lawton's MI6 protagonist is on the move from Germany to Finland. Not your typical James Bond-style spy, Wilderness' postings get more interesting by the minute. He ends up in Czechoslovakia just before the Soviets send in tanks to quash the 1968 Prague Spring uprising. Lawton is a master of the genre, and his writing is not only historically accurate, but also rich, ribald, cynical, informed, inventive, and hilarious.""--Christian Science Monitor ""A rich cacciucco of a novel, almost a menu degustation of politics, class, history (the Prague Spring of 1968), and impressive spy 'tradecraft, ' with a gripping climax on a famous bridge of spies in Berlin, and it is all written with a knowing wit by an author in total command of his historical research. Fans of vintage British thrillers (surely there are some out there) will spot the homages made to Gavin Lyall, John Le Carr�, and Len Deighton.""--Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ""John Lawton's British detective fiction has reached the height of being predictably stirring, powerfully written, and cleverly knit together in terms of both plot and the painful personal wounds of World War II . . . The final scenes lead dramatically to a high-tension Cold War quandary that promises more to come in this entertaining series.""--New York Journal of Books ""John Lawton infuses Hammer to Fall with ironic, dispassionate humor . . . Wilderness is a lightning rod for trouble and danger--and his sardonic, deadpan approach to life's vicissitudes adds to the pleasure of reading Hammer to Fall.""--Criminal Element ""From Berlin, surviving on airlift support, to Finland, England, and ultimately, Prague in the spring of 1968, MI6 spy Joe Holderness, aka Wilderness, gets into and out of a number of compelling spots of trouble in this installment of his story . . . By turns witty, erudite, and exciting and supporting a host of interesting characters, imaginary and historical . . . Not one sour note. A terrific thriller: fun, satisfying, and humane.""--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""Lawton scores another hit with his third Joe Wilderness novel . . . Terrific writing, a complex plot with a twist ending, and a roguish lead will have readers eagerly awaiting his next adventure.""--Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""Lawton does a brilliant job of incorporating backstory here, deepening our understanding of and feelings for rule-breaking Joe, who cares more for people than governments, while delivering a jaw-dropping finale that will leave readers palpitating for more.""--Booklist (starred review) ""A delight. Lawton's ongoing recreation of Cold War chicanery is one of the great pleasures of modern spy fiction.""--Mick Herron Praise for John Lawton: ""Meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the mold of World War II and Cold War fiction by novelists like Alan Furst, Philip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanon.""--Wall Street Journal ""Wickedly seductive entertainment . . . John Lawton is creating some of our finest, and some of our most enjoyably ambiguous historical fiction.""--Washington Post ""Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists.""--Seattle Times ""[Lawton] is a master of creating a feeling of time and place, of amalgamating true-life events into his imaginative plot, of bringing every character, real or fictitious, major or minor, vividly to life.""--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ""Intricate plotting, colorful characters, and a brilliant prose style put Lawton in the front rank of historical thriller writers.""--Publishers Weekly ""Constantly entertaining . . . The spying is well mixed with humor.""--Times (UK) ""Lawton's books contain such a wealth of period detail, character depiction, and background information that they are lifted out of any category. Every word is enriched by the author's sophistication and irreverent intelligence, by his meticulous research and his wit.""--Literary Review"

"Praise for Hammer to Fall: Named a Best Book of the Year by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ""A witty, melancholy, first-class work.""--Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal ""Hammer to Fall continues the saga of Joe Wilderness, a roguish and immensely appealing combination of MI6 agent and sometime smuggler . . . This terrifically written and well-paced balancing act between the absurd and the deadly serious has some especially droll subplots.""--Adam Woog, Seattle Times ""An entertaining read, with an intelligent backdrop of cold-war geopolitics.""--Financial Times ""In this third Joe Wilderness spy thriller, John Lawton's MI6 protagonist is on the move from Germany to Finland. Not your typical James Bond-style spy, Wilderness' postings get more interesting by the minute. He ends up in Czechoslovakia just before the Soviets send in tanks to quash the 1968 Prague Spring uprising. Lawton is a master of the genre, and his writing is not only historically accurate, but also rich, ribald, cynical, informed, inventive, and hilarious.""--Christian Science Monitor ""A rich cacciucco of a novel, almost a menu degustation of politics, class, history (the Prague Spring of 1968), and impressive spy 'tradecraft, ' with a gripping climax on a famous bridge of spies in Berlin, and it is all written with a knowing wit by an author in total command of his historical research. Fans of vintage British thrillers (surely there are some out there) will spot the homages made to Gavin Lyall, John Le Carré, and Len Deighton.""--Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ""John Lawton's British detective fiction has reached the height of being predictably stirring, powerfully written, and cleverly knit together in terms of both plot and the painful personal wounds of World War II . . . The final scenes lead dramatically to a high-tension Cold War quandary that promises more to come in this entertaining series.""--New York Journal of Books ""John Lawton infuses Hammer to Fall with ironic, dispassionate humor . . . Wilderness is a lightning rod for trouble and danger--and his sardonic, deadpan approach to life's vicissitudes adds to the pleasure of reading Hammer to Fall.""--Criminal Element ""From Berlin, surviving on airlift support, to Finland, England, and ultimately, Prague in the spring of 1968, MI6 spy Joe Holderness, aka Wilderness, gets into and out of a number of compelling spots of trouble in this installment of his story . . . By turns witty, erudite, and exciting and supporting a host of interesting characters, imaginary and historical . . . Not one sour note. A terrific thriller: fun, satisfying, and humane.""--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""Lawton scores another hit with his third Joe Wilderness novel . . . Terrific writing, a complex plot with a twist ending, and a roguish lead will have readers eagerly awaiting his next adventure.""--Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""Lawton does a brilliant job of incorporating backstory here, deepening our understanding of and feelings for rule-breaking Joe, who cares more for people than governments, while delivering a jaw-dropping finale that will leave readers palpitating for more.""--Booklist (starred review) ""A delight. Lawton's ongoing recreation of Cold War chicanery is one of the great pleasures of modern spy fiction.""--Mick Herron Praise for John Lawton: ""Meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the mold of World War II and Cold War fiction by novelists like Alan Furst, Philip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanon.""--Wall Street Journal ""Wickedly seductive entertainment . . . John Lawton is creating some of our finest, and some of our most enjoyably ambiguous historical fiction.""--Washington Post ""Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists.""--Seattle Times ""[Lawton] is a master of creating a feeling of time and place, of amalgamating true-life events into his imaginative plot, of bringing every character, real or fictitious, major or minor, vividly to life.""--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ""Intricate plotting, colorful characters, and a brilliant prose style put Lawton in the front rank of historical thriller writers.""--Publishers Weekly ""Constantly entertaining . . . The spying is well mixed with humor.""--Times (UK) ""Lawton's books contain such a wealth of period detail, character depiction, and background information that they are lifted out of any category. Every word is enriched by the author's sophistication and irreverent intelligence, by his meticulous research and his wit.""--Literary Review"

Praise for Friends and Traitors Top 12 Mystery Novels of 2017, Strand Magazine Friends and Traitors is Lawton's latest entry in the series, and one of the best. Part murder mystery, part spy tale, the book has a streak of wonderfully dark humor throughout . . . Lawton's writing here is as sharp as ever . . . It is a wickedly seductive entertainment and more proof, if anyone needed it, that John Lawton is creating some of our finest, and some of our most enjoyably ambiguous historical fiction. --Benedict Cosgrove, Washington Post Friends and Traitors is the latest in [Lawton's] splendid Inspector Frederick Troy series, an artful blend of two ever-popular subjects: espionage and British police work . . . It's an extraordinary story--both in history and Lawton's bold re-imagining. It's been told many times before, in both fiction and non-fiction, but Lawton has a fresh approach, shaping Friends and Traitors as more of a character study than a standard-issue thriller. --Adam Woog, The Seattle Times Mr. Lawton, as in his previous Inspector Troy novels, is a master of creating a feeling of time and place, of amalgamating true-life events into his imaginative plot, of bringing every character, real or fictitious, major or minor, vividly to life. His writing is enormously colorful, his descriptions, whether of people, places or events inevitably convincing . . . Reading this narrative is like watching a newsreel and being sucked into the action. The surprises keep coming, not merely up to the last chapter but even to the novel's very last line. --Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Friends and Traitors represents much more than a police procedural or spy thriller . . . The author does a superb job of portraying the mood, class culture and tensions that existed in England and Europe during that era. --Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine (starred) The lives of Scotland Yard detective Frederick Troy and real-life historical figure Guy Burgess, the English traitor who spied for the Russians, intersect in Lawton's superb eighth Inspector Troy novel . . . [a] smart, fascinating historical thriller. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Our fascination with the Cambridge Five--British spies recruited to serve the Soviet Union while still at university--continues unabated into the twenty-first century; recently attention has shifted [to] Guy Burgess, perhaps the most compelling character of the lot . . . Lawton traces Burgess' flamboyant life as a dissolute and indiscreet diplomat whose wit and charm somehow managed to shine through the alcoholic haze that constantly enveloped him . . . Burgess emerges as a thoroughly engaging antihero. --Booklist (starred review) Burgess makes a delicious antagonist in this eighth installment in the franchise . . . Lawton, who writes with rueful acumen, puts a human face on the moral and political complexities of the Cold War. --Kirkus Reviews Praise for The Unfortunate Englishman [Then We Take Berlin and The Unfortunate Englishman] are meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the mold of World War II and Cold War fiction by novelists like Alan Furst, Philip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanon. --Wall Street Journal [A] superlative Cold War espionage story . . . Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists. --Adam Woog, Seattle Times A stylish spy thriller . . . as essential as the Troy books . . . Both series benefit from the excellence of Lawton's writing . . . All these adventures arrive gift-wrapped in writing variously rich, inventive, surprising, informed, bawdy, cynical, heartbreaking and hilarious. However much you know about postwar Berlin, Lawton will take you deeper into its people, conflicts and courage . . . Spy fiction at its best. --Washington Post [A] stylish, richly textured espionage novel . . . With The Unfortunate Englishman, Lawton shows himself to be the master of colorful, unpredictable characters . . . His crowning achievement is Joe Wilderness [who is] loaded with personal charm and animal magnetism . . . Lawton brilliantly weaves real historical events into the narrative . . . His novel is a gripping, intense, inventive, audacious, wryly humorous, and thoroughly original thriller. --Open Letters Monthly Outstanding . . . Real historical events--the building of the Berlin wall, J.F.K.'s visit there--lend verisimilitude to Joe's attempt at one last big scam. Intricate plotting, colorful characters, and a brilliant prose style put Lawton in the front rank of historical thriller writers. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Lawton gets the Cold War chill just right, leading to yet another tense exchange across a Berlin bridge, but unlike, say, the film Bridge of Spies, the principals here are not freighted with moral rectitude but, rather, exude a hard-won cynicism in conflict with dangerously human emotions. The result is a gripping, richly ambiguous spy drama featuring a band of not-quite-rogue agents that will find genre fans reaching for their old Ross Thomas paperbacks to find something comparable. --Booklist (starred review) Wilderness is the perfect Cold War protagonist. With his second adventure (Then We Take Berlin, 2013), Lawton bids fair to build a compelling rival to his seven-volume Troy series. --Kirkus Reviews Even reviewers have favourites and John Lawton is one of mine. Nobody is better at using historical facts as the framework of a really good story. --Literary Review (UK) The tone of unsentimental realpolitik means The Unfortunate Englishman earns the right to that le Carre-esque title . . . A complex and beautifully detailed tale, a full-blooded cold-war spy thriller given an added dimension courtesy of Wilderness's quirky humour and his pragmatic take on morality and honour. --Irish Times Berlin and Moscow again, joined by London in The Unfortunate Englishman, a cleverly misleading title, one of the many twists in John Lawton's constantly entertaining Cold War saga . . . The spying detail is well mixed with humour. --Times (UK)

Author Information

John Lawton has written eight previous Inspector Troy thrillers, two novels starring Joe Wilderness, one standalone novel, and a volume of history. His novels have been named Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times Book Review. He lives in England and Italy.

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