The late George Markstein wrote some
of the most authentic and compelling espionage thrillers of the 1970s and
80s. And, in TARA KANE, created an enduring historical saga set in the days
of the Klondike Gold Rush. George's novels have been translated in to Danish,
Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Spanish, Swedish and Turkish amongst others.
George Markstein worked as a crime reporter and a military correspondent with
the US Army during the Cold War. From then on he was hooked on the study of
espionage. He worked in television, creating The Prisoner, before writing
for Callan and Armchair Theatre.
THE COOLER (Souvenir Press, 1974, paperback edition, Pan, 1975).
Set in the days leading up to D-Day, in the undercover world of SOE, at a
time when the mounting pressure could make even a good agent a threat to the
whole invasion. Loach was first-class away from women. Clare had the killer
instinct. Both knew too many curious secrets not to be assigned to the Cooler.
Among its flawed agents, one was a double-agent skilled in betrayal and brutality.
THE MAN FROM YESTERDAY (Souvenir Press, 1976; Pan, 1977)
A brilliant tale of a disillusioned spy who finds he has lost a day in his
life when he returns from a mission in East Germany. As conspiracies are teased
out and the hero begins to piece together his memory, he realises that what
he uncovers could have profound affects on an US presidential hopeful, a young,
charismatic senator tipped for the top. Markstein is the master of suspense.
"A blend of the commonplace
and the horrific, cyanide in a Waterford crystal glass" FINANCIAL
TIMES
CHANCE AWAKENING (Souvenir Press, 1977; Pan, 1978)
'Tantalising….Full of who's-doing-what-to-whom
bluffs' THE GUARDIAN
'Keeps the reader constantly guessing, constantly alert' FINANCIAL
TIMES
'Clever and diabolical' THE LISTENER
TARA KANE (Jonathan Cape (UK)-1978, Stein & Day (US)-1979)
When Tara Kane's husband disappears from his San Francisco home, she resolves
to track him down, with her quest taking her to the inhospitable icy wilderness
of the Klondike during the Gold Rush. The Klondike is no place for a lone
woman, and it takes all of Tara's inner strengths to prove herself in this
forbidding and masculine world.
THE GOERING TESTAMENT (The Bodley Head, 1978; Pan, 1979)
Harry Heron, a washed-up journalist, does a favour for an old friend, a dealer
in militaria. When his employer is murdered, Harry becomes a chief suspect,
and is believed to know more than he is willing to let on. Is he the keeper
of something so valuable and so powerful that shadowy organisations are willing
to kill for it? Set against the world of government agencies and neo-Nazis
groups, Markstein's trademark realism, fast-paced action with a paranoid edge
is never bettered than here.
'Tantalising…horribly chilling…'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Neo-Nazi revival, espionage, Third Reich souvenir pedlars, deranged war
heroes, cynical spymasters….expertly handled entertainment full of reminders
that the line between the familiar and the menacing is uncomfortably thin.'
THE GUARDIAN
TRAITOR FOR A CAUSE (The Bodley Head, 1979; New English Library 1980)
'A blow-by-blow account of a defection.
Markstein writes graphically and grippingly; but it's not a book for idealists'
THE OBSERVER
'Full of knowing touches' THE GUARDIAN
'Intriguing angle on the spy game' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
ULTIMATE ISSUE (New English Library, 1981)
On an American airbase deep in the English countryside, an USAF captain is
on trial accused of adultery. His lawyer seeks to prove his innocence but
is thwarted at every turn. The authorities are determined to find him guilty,
regardless of the truth. For the truth is that the captain knows what is planned
for the night of 13th August 1961…..
FERRET (Hodder & Stoughton, 1983)
'A good story well told. One feels that one is swimming in seas of deception' THE TIMES
SOUL HUNTERS (Hodder, 1986; NEL, 1987)
