Product Description

A former London police officer turned special intelligence agent for the M.O.5., Luke Pagan enters his newest case chasing down a German spy, who is discovered traveling through and around Britain on the eve of the Second World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1196124 in Books
• Published on: 1997-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 233 pages

Amazon.com Review
Michael Gilbert, voted a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and his native Britain, has written fine books about crime and espionage set in all periods of the 20th century. Into Battle is a wonderfully rich and exciting story which begins just before World War I, as London policeman Luke Pagan joins a brand new intelligence agency and goes into battle against a much better organized and funded legion of German spies. More vintage Gilbert in paperback include The Crack in the Teacup, Ring of Terror, and Roller-Coaster.

From Publishers Weekly
With almost 30 books tales to his credit (most recently, Ring of Terror), Gilbert reaches back to WWI in this entertaining story of fledgling counter-espionage agents and their equally fledgling spy agency. Luke Pagan, first seen as a London policeman in Roller Coaster, joins up with the nascent intelligence outfit M.O.5 just prior to the outbreak of war. There are no high-tech spy toys in this outfit?eavesdropping, tireless observation, slogging through intercepted letters, painstaking code-breaking and infiltration are the tools of the day. In three sequential episodes, more like short stories braided together than a seamless novel, Pagan and his cohorts counter the efforts of German spy Erich Krieger. In Portsmouth before the war, Luke and his assistant, Joe Narrabone, help discover how German intelligence is keeping track of the British Navy's comings and goings. In London, after war has begun, they take part in the dismantling of the deeply entrenched German spy ring operating throughout the country, finally flushing out even the wily Krieger. Finally, Pagan and Narrabone take their hunt to France where desperate battles are straining the British forces to the breaking point and the clever Krieger is poised to destabilize the British rear. Gilbert artfully melds history and espionage into an interesting and intriguing tale.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This World War I thriller follows English intelligence operative Luke Pagan (Roller Coaster, Carrol & Graf, 1995) from England to France as he attempts to outwit German spy Erick Krieger. Violence and suspense from a dependable veteran.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Still a powerful English author
Michael Gilbert, while a master of the short story, is still putting out excellent novels. I sometimes feel he is the most traditional of English authors and may lose some non- anglophile readers. As he has aged his work may have lost a step but this book is still first class reading and opens up a view of the first World War many Americans do not know.

Maybe a Master, but regretfully didn't get it
This is a typical old British zigzagging slow-motion thriller(?) that needed you to read along with an English housekeeper's patience. I prefer Forsyth, Follett and Archer's modern English more than this Grand Diamond Dagger Master's, and would like to skip it anytime possible; just a personal thought.