The Janus Man by Colin Forbes

This is about the fourth book by this author and is set around treachery at the heart of the secret service. It is a fairly long novel but it is not a tedious read as the author’s descriptions of the surroundings and portrayals of the people and their character and emotions are gripping. The deputy director Tweed has in the last 6 months made changes and brought in younger men to head the spy sections across Europe. It now appears that one the appointed chiefs is a traitor. The rumours have reached of this from many different sources to Tweed. The doubt becomes a certainty when one of the sector chiefs is murdered on the continent. Only one who was at the table of the last critical meeting knew where that particular man was going and for what purpose.

Now Tweed has to step out of Britain and onto the continent to find out what is happening as well as to catch this traitor. He senses this murder is actually a plot to lure him out and so agrees to take Newman, the vetted newspaper man, to watch his back. There is intrigue right from the start and you get engrossed in trying to see if from the information as to who if could be? Of course this is the time of Cold War and so there is likelihood that this is something orchestrated from behind the Iron Curtain. Luring Tweed out to be murdered indicates a major operation that is coming to fruition and only threat could be Tweed.

Tweed meets all the men in a meeting, individually and also in their own homes to get a better understanding of the character of each person. When Tweed and Newman reach the Travemunde they meet a lady called Diana and hear of a mysterious Dr Berlin. He is supposed to be a rich recluse who is into a lot of charity work. Newman sets out to find as much as he can about this Dr Berlin. This leads him into East Berlin and a perilous time but gains vital information.

There are so many twists to the story that it keeps your adrenalin levels up. How do the various young girls being murdered (at places where all the suspects could have been) fit into the whole plot? As the story unfolds you keep shifting the suspect as each sector chief behaves in a suspicious manner. The traitor is given the code name Janus Man as he looks both ways – to the west and east. Is there a relationship between the Janus Man and Dr Berlin? What plot is so vital to the Communists that Tweed had to be eliminated?

Oh yea definitely a book to read for the lovers of spy thrillers. I could not put the book down till the last word.