First Published 1982
The eighth Craig Thomas thriller is something of a James Bond-style adventure in terms of the ground it covers. You remember all those Roger Moore movies where Bond would visit about twelve different countries in the space of thirty minutes? In Jade Tiger we follow Patrick Hyde’s adventures around the world as he and Aubrey try to track down the truth behind some ugly rumors.
Berlin and Germany are to be reunified. The bulldozers stand ready to rip down the wall. Then the news breaks… One of the German politicians most responsible for the new treaty may in fact have been a Soviet agent since the Spanish Civil war. We travel from Germany to Hong Kong and on to Australia in search of the truth. Eventually we end up back in France.
This time China has a big involvement. They’re not too fond of the prospect of the Cold War ending in Europe. If the Russian troops are pulled out of East Germany it could mean more forces arrayed along the Sino-Russian Border. And anyway, just who’s side are the Americans and Russians actually on?
This is the second Patrick Hyde thriller. Also it’s the last novel to feature the CIA’s Buckholz (although Thomas does resurrect him for Firefox Down).
Second in what I loosely call the ‘Petrunin Trilogy’.