A Small Town in Germany

In the late 1960s in Bonn, the small capital of West Germany, the disappearance of a low-level officer in the British embassy coincides with the sudden loss of secret files. When Alan Turner arrives from London to investigate, his sloppy scrutiny is met with hostility from Rawley Bradfield, the head of embassy security. Michael Jayston's rich, serious voice provides suitable gravitas and a crisp pace for this Cold War novel, written with classic style by the consummate spy master John le CarrÄ. Jayston employs a subtle accent for powerful German bureaucrats, and classy refinement to depict a former Nazi leader. But his straight reading of the leading male British characters creates confusion, especially in the conclusion's intense dialogue, when it's unclear which man is speaking. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine