Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, January 15, 2018, 12:15 p.m.

Fritz Kolbe is just a man. He has no yearning to kill and never does so in Andreas Kollender’s The Honest Spy, expertly translated into English by Steve Anderson.

Perhaps because the novel begins in South Africa, where he is assigned a diplomatic post by the German government, Kolbe never adapts to the hate epitomized in the Nazi regime back home. After being called back to Berlin, Kolbe is appalled at the fanatical devotion to Adolf Hitler in those with whom he works. He leaves his beloved daughter, Katrin, in South Africa to protect her, and she spends the story in what the songwriter John Hartford called “the backroads and the rivers of [his] memory, ever smiling, ever gentle on [his] mind.”

Kolbe clings to elusive humanity, and it alone transforms him into a spy in a world where everyone is suspicious. He sacrifices everything except his decency.

He is a flawed hero who falls madly in love with a soldier’s wife. He inadvertently provides information to the Americans that results in the death of his best friend and the suicide of his best friend’s wife. He loses his love and never enjoys a reunion with his daughter. He doesn’t ultimately get enough credit for what he does.

The story switches back and forth between the events of the war and a telling of his story to two journalists.

As the pages wind down, one has a sinking feeling, knowing that the protagonist will survive, but that he will lose the love of his mistress, Marlene, but not knowing how. The ending falls like cruel dominoes. I was up late last night, unable to set it aside without experiencing the fulfillment of the inevitable melancholy.

Kolbe survives by competence and guile. He makes mistakes but somehow manages to survive. His soul? Not so much. He refuses to accept compensation for his righteousness. Profit would undermine the nobility of his motives.

Based on a true story, Kollender fictionalizes what he must and spins a tale every bit as plausible as the real story likely was. The author manages to find a modest humanity in characters who would seem to have none. He depicts a nation driven to madness with as much understanding as is “humanly” possible.

Please consider making a pledge to support my writing here.

Most of my own books are available here.

For more information about The Honest Spy, sample it here.