cover image Seasons of Change

Seasons of Change

Julian Jay Savarin, . . Severn, $27.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-7278-6296-9

If Savarin weren't a writer of entertaining, old-fashioned international thrillers, he could probably be a maker of fine watches. His series about a pair of Berlin policemen—at first glance an unlikely match—ticks away as smoothly and professionally as ever, with nary a missed beat or a letdown. In the seventh episode (after 2005's Summer of the Eagle ), the supercool Hauptkommissar Jens Müller, a wealthy, titled young man who drives a customized Porsche and wears his hair in a ponytail, and his deputy, the chubby, chain-smoking and defiantly working-class Sergeant Pappenheim (Pappi to his friends), remain hard at work keeping the New Germany safe for democracy. A threat from the secret fascist group known as Semper (perhaps a nod to Ian Fleming's Smersh?) shifts the action from Europe to Australia, allowing Müller and his ace female colleague, American CIA agent Carey Bloomfield, to see action in some interesting new territory. Back in Berlin, Pappi and electronics expert Hedi Meyer do most of the heavy brainwork. The result is another valid claim to the throne of Fleming, Deighton and Elleston Trevor. (Jan.)