A Gathering of Spies: Summary and book reviews of A Gathering of Spies by John Altman, plus links to an excerpt from A Gathering of Spies and a biography of John Altman.

Every once in a while, a new thriller writer emerges with such an instant command of his craft that readers everywhere take notice. Such a one is John Altman, with A Gathering of Spies. In l943, America thought it had rounded up all the German spies on its soil. It was wrong. Now, Germany's greatest weapon - a woman with special talents, both for tradecraft and for death - is headed home with critical information about the still-developing atomic bomb, and the Allies' chief hope for stopping her is a British agent with agendas of his own. Originally recruited into MI5 to pose as a double agent, he's been telling the Germans that he'd do anything to free his wife, a prisoner of a Polish concentration camp. This happens to be true. The question is: How much would he really do to set her free? Where are his loyalties exactly? As the two spies play cat-and-mouse games across three countries, the ambiguities deepen, each figure showing new sides, each action providing new twists, until at last both agents are swept into a series of climaxes as unpredictable as they are inevitable. This is suspense writing at its best-and the beginning of a brilliant new career.

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews A debut suspenser chock-full of the requisite genre elements—plus a lot more gore than even those specs call for. Stephen Coont A sizzling zinger of a classic spy story. With his lean, taut style,Altman doesn't waste a word Jack Higgins If there are thriller writers better than this, I'd like to know who they are. John Altman is a major new talent on the scene. Ronald Kessler, author of Moscow Station and The FBI John Altman has spun a spellbinding tale that is at once terrifying, amusing, and enchanting. His cinematic prose is so vivid you can smell the cigarette smoke.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by James Newsom
A GATHERING OF SPIES
One of the best spy novels set in World War II that I have read. I am considered one of the top historians on World War II and I am amazed that this novel by John Altman finally had the setting of the Manhattan Project as its setting. In 1943...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Mike
This book promised to be a fairly good read but I started noticing some niggling errors in the author's quest for authenticity when I was halfway through the book. This became quite distracting, as I spent the second half looking for and noting...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Sandeep
The Author narrated the intricacies and fineese involed in the spy world and is worth spending time reading it.

Rated of 5 by Julian D. Bound
A thouhraly exciting read with twists and turns to make your knuckles white and head spin.
Characters you can picture at a glance and with the most writtian word to flesh them out, thrilling.

Rated of 5 by Mitch Teichman
This book is amazing i could not put it down !!!

Rated of 5 by Paul Muller
The greatest booki have ever read,and i've read a lot of other books, noneeven coming close to this one.

...2 More Reader Reviews

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