Having read all of the David Downing's John Russell series before, I was looking forward to this book. It did not disappoint, and the ending was clever, realistic, well thought through. In this book, more than most, you really get the sense of Russell’s deep disappointment with the way in which the worlds is going post WW2. How he handles this is, in the end, a wonderful example of making the most of serendipity. One small comment, and this is why I reviewed the book as 4 not 5 stars. There is a lot of complex politics in the first three chapters of this, as an enthusiastic reader of the series I was happy to let Wikipedia fill in my knowledge gaps. I think a chapter of about 500 words or so at the start to give some context on this would help readers.

So, farewell then, John Russell and Effi Koenen. You had a lot of adventures With nasty Nazis And rascally Russians And arrogant Americans And bumbling Brits, But things generally worked out ok A few pages later.