The Partisan: The explosive debut thriller for fans of Robert Harris and Charles Cumming

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Men who are also on the radar of Vassily, perhaps the Soviet Union's greatest spymaster. A man of cunning and influence, Vassily was Yulia's minder during her visit to the West, but even he could not foresee the consequences of her meeting Michael. True, there were some good female characters who played pivotal roles without taking over everything as sometimes happens when people misinterpret what a 'strong' female character is, but a lot of the rest wasn't fantastic. I don't know how the author was able to pull it off, but I'm glad he wrote this book and kindled the imagination with a fictional Lithuanian post-war freedom fight on an international arena. Of course I'm buzzing about Lithuania, but there's everything else you'd expect from a cold war story: Moscow, London, Austria, Spain; KGB, MGB, MI6, Mossad, etc. There are numerous threads and characters that slowly begin to connect with each other, but they may prove to be a challenge for readers to keep up with, so attention to detail is essential to understanding the various twists and events that unfold. Young Michael Fitzgerald secures a place at King's College, Cambridge, a talented chess player, he falls in love with a true chessmaster, the Russian Yulia Forsheva, at a London tournament. Her powerful mother, Anna's position become markedly more precarious when it is assumed that Yulia's father, Sergei, has defected. The difficult Romeo and Juliet relationship is facilitated by Vassily, an adept spymaster caught up in the divisions, intrigue, and machinations taking place within the Politburo, and the deadly European ambitions of Maxim Karpov. The connecting parts of the narrative conclude with a nail biting finale set in Valencia, can the horrors of a European catastrophe be averted?

I thought the way the multiple threads and timelines were handled and drawn together was impressively handled by a first time author. Although it does require a little patience and concentration to follow all the threads until they come together, it is well worth the effort. The main characters are fascinating and well depicted, particularly Vassily, Greta and the hideous Karpov. I would have liked to have got to know Michael and Julia a little better as well as their parents to have a better feel for everyone’s motives and driving forces, but there is so much in the novel already that it would have been difficult to fit in much more character development. Overall, it is an exciting historical thriller which will delight fans of Russian history and Cold War spycraft, particularly while Russia is once again flexing it’s expansionist muscles with its war in Ukraine. In the Soviet Union, if you get tired of reality, a new one will come along and replace it. Every new leader ushers in a glorious new past.’ Zelf ben ik absoluut géén fan van oorlogsverhalen, maar De Partizaan heeft me van mijn sokken geblazen. Wat een indrukwekkende plot. Uiteraard heb ik de kern van het verhaal opgezocht met bibberende benen. Stel je voor dat dit écht een plan was…

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Een andere verwijzing naar het schaken is de naam van een van de slechteriken. Karpov was ooit een beroemde schaker, maar er gingen ook geruchten over zijn betrekkingen met de Russische geheime dienst. Of dat waar is, is onbekend. This fatal (blame everything on the Russians!) flaw really started to twist my melons, as I think the author is egregiously trying to make a point about Putin and the Russia of today! Dr. Zhivago meets James Bond in [this] ambitious debut. . . . Fans of intricate Cold War–era spy thrillers will be enthralled.”— Publishers Weekly , Starred Review This book was a completely unexpected find at the bookstore window shelf in Durham. The last copy in that store. Right up to at least about a dozen chapters in, this was heading for a respectable four star review, but at some point thereafter it really started to deteriorate.

Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don’t know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played.

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The public knows only the official faces of governments and the military, but the real power lies with other slippery government officials like Vassily, a Soviet official who manages to travel freely, but nobody knows exactly why. Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.