Last Message to Berlin

Bryan Hayter worked as a marketing and communications co-ordinator for a consulting engineering firm; he lived in Elora, Ontario.

A successful thriller, like a good movie, leaves the reader with a lingering sense of satisfaction. It does this by carrying the reader out of ordinary surroundings into exotic locales, fraught with danger; it pits good guys against bad and weaves through a predictably unpredictable maze of tricks and surprise events; and, when all is said and done, it leaves the good guys on top.

A host of writers have made this particular genre a reading staple for millions around the world. One need only say the names Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett, for example, to conjure up images of a great read which does all of the aforementioned things and more.

It is a pleasure to report that Canadian author Philippe van Rjndt has entered the hallowed grounds of “bestseller potential” with this latest entry into the world of espionage and intrigue.

Last Message to Berlin is a World War II tale that confines most of its action to areas away from the battlefields. It’s a clever pastiche of historical fact and imaginative adaptation in which the good guy is an American agent (the U.S. is not yet actually at war) aiding the troubled British when events are at their darkest.

The American, Jonathan Cabot, a confidant of Roosevelt’s, has been assigned to London with the task of finding the security leak in U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy’s London embassy. This particular leak threatens some highly secret discussions between Churchill and the American leader.

Britain, fearing a German invasion, has decided to ship its gold reserves to America, thus allowing the continued purchase of needed armaments. To preserve the security of the ship making the voyage, massive precautions are required. But, as might be expected, the enemy has used its spy network in the U.S. embassy and elsewhere to gain knowledge of the mission.

Jonathan Cabot accordingly sets out and succeeds to ferret out the traitors, or at least most of them. But his unflappable, clever, and decidedly relentless character is matched in the form of a German agent, Eric Guderian, a financier turned very special agent, determined to nab the gold or, at worst, to foil the plan known as “Prometheus.”

Admittedly, a good plot alone does not make a thriller sparkle. Fortunately, the author has thrown in plenty of twists and turns, a love interest, a continuing array of unexpected traitors, and a pace that has “movie script” written all over it. The book isn’t perfect, of course. Some of the characters lack depth, and van Rjndt’s plot has an occasional development that’s a shade too convenient.

But, it must not be forgotten that such books are a form of adult fantasy. When the fantasy is as well crafted as Last Message to Berlin, few will notice such trifling lapses.