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ENDGAME IN BERLIN by William Harrington

ENDGAME IN BERLIN

By

Pub Date: Dec. 28th, 1991
Publisher: Donald Fine

Political realignments bring new ends to the spying business but the means stay the same--in a fine story of industrial espionage by the author of Virus, For the Defense, etc. The computer gap neatly replaces the missile gap in Harrington's clever post-cold-war thriller. Realizing that the struggling republics of the former union cannot even begin to reach economic parity with their former military rivals without comparable computers, the head of the KGB sends his best spies out to steal the latest industrial secrets from an international consortium in the old hotbed of military espionage, united Berlin. KGB Col. N.P. Kedrov sets a handsome former East German and a randy Russian girl to trap a couple of sex-starved computer technicians and pick their brains for the latest in chip secrets. The poor technicians don't stand a chance. Fortunately for the computer firm, the CIA is still on the job. Veteran agent and rabid Berlinophile Russ Tobin is tipped to the action and begins to hunt down the KGB team. It's a reunion of sorts for Tobin and Col. Kedrov: they've butted heads before, and they share the respect and admiration of Kedrov's chain-smoking Jewish girlfriend. As things beat up, the agents are joined by Tobin's beautiful ex-wife, a ruthless top French spy, and a few old-fashioned Soviet goons. Very nicely done. The industrial gimmick easily subs for the old military problems; Berlin looks terrific; and middle age runs circles around youth.