[.uk] The Cold War Swap (ISBN 0312315813)

The Cold War Swap... Ross Thomas at his finest!:
When I saw this book at the local library years ago, the title made me reach out; and I've been glad that I did ever since. Saloon owner 'Mac' McCorkle runs a popular bar in Bonn, Germany. And becomes the cloak and good friend of a very suave, multi lingual, and lethal dagger named Mike Padillo. Late of the OSS, Padillo is the man they send out on the little 'jobs' that never make the papers. His assignment in the 'Swap', is to bring back two defectors from the NSA (No Such Agency, at the time) through Checkpoint Charlie. Unfortunately, anything that could go wrong does, and McCorkle is soon on his way to help Padillo through assorted mayhem, kidnapping, murder, and the odd double and triple cross. The plot is exquisite, the dialogue, believeable, and the travelouge, tension, and sense of surroundings, superb. You may want to look for a character named Cook Baker, who's a dead ringer for Dr. Hunter Thompson. And probably the finest description of a favorite watering hole, bar, or saloon, in print: Comprising only three sentences! Ross Thomas had a splendid talent for words. With Hammett's brief, juicy, four course descriptions and Chandler's eye for noir and mysterious mood and humor. 'The Cold War Swap' was his first offing into literatue, and very likely his best. If you see a title from Ross Thomas, pick it up. I guarentee you won't be sorry. But don't blame me if you begin to seek high and low for his 24 later novels. Four of them under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck.

A cold-war novel set before most of us knew there was one.:
McCorkle, Bonn Saloon-keeper, meets the mysterious Padilla, and becomes a reluctant spy. Chase back and forth across the Berlin Wall. Good guys win. One of the first Ross Thomas novels. Sets the standard. Fast paced. Witty dialog.

First and Maybe the Best:
The Cold War Swap is the first in a long series of excellent mystery/thrillers by Ross Thomas. Thomas's first novel was written during his career as a newsman and public relations expert in many parts of the world. As with all first novels there are a few holes - the one that sticks out most in my mind is the biographical anomaly of main character Michael Padillo - alleged to have been born in 1926 - who after a variegated upbringing by his multi-lingual mother, enters the US Army and "in late 1942 was happily running the bar of an officers' club..." As a veteran myself I found it extremely unlikely that a 16 year old kid would be "running" anything in the US Army. Padillo gets picked for undercover work after someone "browsing through his records" learns that he can speak and write six languages. I'm kind of surprised they didn't discover that he was underage for enlistment at the same time.. In any case the novel is extemely well-written, with sharply defined characters in a classic 50's-60's Cold War "us against them" espionage story. Most of the characters are neither wholly good nor completely evil, and you have some fun trying to figure out which way some of them might bounce. A very satisfying read, well worth checking out from your library if available - a good introduction to the shadowy and shady worlds of money, politics, espionage and government about which Ross Thomas wrote so well during his writing career.

A legendary author's debut novel.:
The Cold War Swap is the very first of an impressive number of novels written by the legendary Ross Thomas. In it, the recurring characters Mac McCorkle and Mike Padillo are introduced. McCorkle runs an American style bar and grill in Bonn, West Germany. Padillo, his friend and partner is a covert agent for an ultra-clandestine U.S. intelligence agency. Over the years, Padillo has frequently been called upon to carry out some very dangerous missions on behalf of the agency he works for. On most occasions, McCorkle remains in Bonn covering for his friend while asking no questions. But this time McCorkle gets involved in Padillo's undercover world and does so in a big way. The Cold War Swap is a tongue-in-cheek send-up of the espionage genre. With plotting that is somewhat less than airtight, Thomas gives us a rather complex tale of cold war intrigue where double crossing is a hazard encountered with frightening frequency. Told as a first person narrative from McCorkle's perspective, The Cold War Swap just brims with the urbane brand of humor Ross Thomas novels are famous for. An entertaining read, witty and fast paced.