A Game of Lies
Descripción editorial
Journalist—and part-time British spy—Hannah Vogel is back in Berlin to cover the 1936 Olympics. At least, posing as travel reporter Adelheid Zinsli, lover of SS officer Lars Lang, that's her cover story. Rather, she's collecting Nazi secrets from Lang and smuggling them back to Switzerland. During the opening games, Hannah slips away to meet her mentor, Peter Weill, who has tasked her with carrying a package out of the country. He collapses at her feet, presumably poisoned, and Hannah must scramble to create a cover story, particularly as she is surrounded by former colleagues who could identify her. The cover-up drives a deeper wedge between Hannah and Lars—whose alcoholism has increased, and whose loyalty she has begun to question. To ensure her safety, and clear Lars' doubt, she sets out to discover the identity of Weill's killer, only to be driven into the arms of Boris, a former lover. In order to get Weill's package out of the country, she must decide whom to love—and whom to trust—before her true identity is revealed.
"Set during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, this chillingly realistic novel (the third in a series) stars the alluring and brave Hannah Vogel. Posing as a reporter named Adelheid Zinsli and as the lover of her co-conspirator, SS officer Lars Lang, Hannah is working as a spy for the British doing what she can to expose the Nazis' heinous plans. When her mentor Peter Weill, another anti-Nazi, dies in her arms at the Olympic Stadium, Hannah must solve his murder and find the package he wanted her to smuggle into Switzerland. There's so much to love about this novel: the setting, the characters, the sexual tension between Hannah and Lars, the political and personal betrayals and the Nazis' dastardly attempts to cover up their true intentions regarding Europe's Jews." — USA Today
"A Game of Lies is magnetic and seductive." — examiner.com
"The third entry in Cantrell's award-winning historical series (A Trace of Smoke; A Night of Long Knives) is a fast-paced, action-packed tale set in Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Games…Cantrell's meticulous research and her vivid characters and strong plot—based on real people and actual events —will have special appeal to fans of historical fiction related to World War II Germany." — Library Journal
"This third Hannah Vogel mystery is fine as a stand-alone, but more enjoyable if you have read the previous books. Cantrell combines interesting characters with period details to create the feel of 1936 Berlin. The shifting allegiances speak of the stress of living in the pressure cooker of a Germany where the Nazis are steadily gaining power." — RT Book Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1936, Cantrell's well-paced third mystery featuring German crime reporter Hannah Vogel (after 2010's disappointing A Night of Long Knives) returns to the high level of her debut, 2009's A Trace of Smoke. Sought by the Gestapo for kidnapping the son of a high-ranking Nazi official, Vogel has assumed the alias of Adelheid Zinsli, a Swiss reporter, to cover the Olympic Games while spying for the British. Vogel arranges to meet with her old mentor, Peter Weill, at the Berlin Olympic Stadium, but right after Weill tells her that he needs to get some information out of the country, he keels over. While the death appears to be the result of a heart attack, Vogel believes that poison was responsible. Her search for the truth, aided by an SS officer of uncertain trustworthiness, leads her to a deadly secret. While not in Philip Kerr's league, Cantrell does a fine job evoking the period.
