"Fascinating"
During World War II, British intelligence hires Andrea
Aspinall, a mathematical wizard who thinks numbers are
perfect. Andrea is to use her numerical skills to learn
German atomic weaponry secrets. In Lisbon, Andrea vanishes
under a new identity. She also meets German attaché Karl
Voss, who believes the Nazis are losing the war and
destroying Germany in their efforts to keep fighting. Karl
and Andrea share a delightful night of lovemaking while
violence flares everywhere. However, by morning's light Andrea has a secret to hide and
an addict's thirst for more clandestine operations even if
espionage is such an imperfect realm to this numerical
expert. As the war ends and the Cold War heats up in
places like divided Berlin, Andrea remains a prime player,
whose past will soon catch up to her. Andrea is the numero uno of this exciting espionage
thriller. From the beginning readers understand her as she
joyfully explains the world in terms of the perfection of
mathematical systems even if she fails to include the
number six as a divisor into itself. The story line spans
several decades, but though interesting and insightful also
acts like a suspense thinner. Still readers will enjoy
this action packed tale mindful of The Third Man because
the novel contains people, including those individuals
still out in the cold, that seem real. Readers will enjoy
THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS and seek other works from Robert
Wilson (see A SMALL DEATH IN LISBON). Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted November 14, 2002
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