I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to get an advance review copy from the author, his publisher, Grove Atlantic, and the fine folks at Net Galley in return for an honest review. This book is scheduled to be released on 13 May 2025.

This is my first opportunity to delve into John Lawton's "Inspector Troy" universe and my reasoning for asking the fine folks at Net Galley for the ARC was the quote "From “one of the best authors of espionage fiction,” (Wall Street Journal), a book of swapped identities, and money to be made amid the rubble of World War II" when I looked up this book title in Google that based upon my recent reading history sounded that I would enjoy this title.

Smoke and Embers is the ninth installment of the beloved Inspector Troy series, and opens in 1950, when a file lands on Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Troy’s desk, indicating that his boss has been conducting an affair with the known mistress of West London’s infamous runner of rackets, Otto Ohnherz. Ohnherz has mostly preoccupied himself with taking dubious care of the Jewish refugees arriving in Europe—finding them jobs and skimming their wages—but the line item that gives Troy pause is the mysterious origins of Ohnherz’s second-in-command, Jay Fabian, who claims to have survived the concentration camps. Smoke and Embers is a highly surprising and intricately woven novel about the opportunity for reinvention after World War II, where identities swap, and smoke covers all tracks.

When I read this book I had gone into it expecting to be more espionage-based, which in hindsight it was not. Lawton's main character (Inspector Troy) comes across a file that insinuates that his boss at Scotland Yards is involved with one of London's primary racketeer's (Otto Ohnerz) lieutenants (Bryce Betancourt) and this is the only part that the main character is mentioned in (tangentially related)., I expected it to be more espionage-based, which, in hindsight, it was not. Lawton's main character (Inspector Troy) comes across a file that insinuates that his boss at Scotland Yards is involved with one of London's primary racketeer's (Otto Ohnerz) lieutenants (Bryce Betancourt).

I would say that at least 95% of the book is spent developing the backstory of the racketeer, Otto Ohnerz, and his chief lieutenant (Jay (Sam) Fabian) and to a lesser extent, Bryce Betancourt.

Troy is immediately intrigued by the mysterious origins of Ohnherz’s second-in-command, Jay Fabian, who is a major contributor to all three British political parties and claims to have survived the concentration camps. Yet there is no proof supporting Fabian’s claims and the Intelligence agencies suspect that he is a Russian spy. The only real hint at an espionage angle (that Fabian might be a sleeper agent trying to influence one of the three British political parties) is that at one point he was allegedly rescued from the horrors of Auschwitz by a Russian NKVD officer and appears to be getting indoctrinated into the communist way of thinking as he plays an instrumental role in interrogating lesser German prisoners who either were present or in close proximity to the final days of the Führerbunker.

The Führerbunker was part of a larger underground complex that included the Vorbunker, which was located beneath the Reich Chancellery complex, where Adolph Hitler along with several members of his senior staff, including Martin Bormann. Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels joined them in April (while Magda Goebbels and their six children took residence in the upper Vorbunker). Two or three dozen support, medical, and administrative staff were also sheltered there. These included Hitler's secretaries (including Traudl Junge), a nurse named Erna Flegel, and Sergeant Rochus Misch, who was both bodyguard and telephone switchboard operator. The premise is that Samuel (later Jay) Fabian was one of these administrative staff (we later learn that he was a corporal) who was there in the final days of Hitler and could identify with certainty one of the bodies that was immolated in the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery.

Later in the book, we find out that Sam Fabian did not appear to be at Auschwitz as he had earlier claimed to have been but had been recovered by an intelligence officer in the US Army as he had made his way back to his familial home in Potsdam (which raises some question as to whether he had been at Auschwitz to begin with as the distance between Oświęcim and Potsdam is 602 km).

At another point in the book, after establishing the bonafides of the character "Sam Fabian" - that being that he was defined as (allegedly) a prisoner of one of the concentration camps that formed the basis of the horrors of Auschwitz (Auschwitz was a larger entity which consisted of three concentration/work camps - Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz)) - we learn "Samuel Fabian" was actually a former physics professor that "Sam Fabian" (the German army corporal) encountered in Potsdam who had been deemed "eligible" for Auschwitz following the death of his wife, who had been Christian (was that even a valid reasoning considering that "Samuel Fabian" was Jewish, and wasn't that the main determiner historically in the first place for being sent to the concentration camps in the first place?). It is when these two characters are introduced to each other at the familial home in Potsdam that the two conspire to switch identities (going so far as to replicate Samuel Fabian's concentration camp tattoo - The tattoo was the prisoner's camp entry number, sometimes with a special symbol added: with some Jews having a triangle, and Romani had the letter "Z" (from German Zigeuner for "Gypsy").) allowing "Sam Fabian" to make his way to England as a Flüchtling (otherwise known as a Displaced Person (DP)).

After "Sam Fabian" made his way to England, he adopted the name "Jay" and became the second-in-command to racketeer Otto Ohnerz - furthering his "legend" by developing further revenue streams for Ohnerz involving real estate and the "resettlement" of those immigrants from the Caribbean (specifically Jamaica and Trinidad) that began in 1948 (In 1948, the British Nationality Act gave people from colonies the right to live and work in Britain. The government needed workers to help fill post-war labour shortages and rebuild the economy. Caribbean countries were also struggling economically, and job vacancies in the UK offered an opportunity.).

Following the death of Otto Ohnerz in the 1950s, Jay (Sam) Fabian made another appearance in Argentina in 1960 where he played a role in the arrest of Adolph Eichmann, who is listed as one of the major organisers of the Holocaust (he had participated in the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, at which the implementation of the genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned.) when a team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents captured Eichmann and brought him to Israel to stand trial on 15 criminal charges, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the Jewish people. It is at this point that the paths of "Sam Fabian" and "Samuel Fabian" cross once more.

It is a good opening, but the book quickly moves on to other concerns and focuses on characters other than Troy. The impact of the War on Europe and Britain is a central concern, and the scenes set during the tail end of the Second World War are very well done and interesting. The depiction of the Final Solution and the flood of refugees at the end of the war is powerful and the book certainly contains a high level of emotional impact. It should be noted that Troy is not a major player in the story, which is basically an intriguing mix of duplicity and reinvention in the aftermath of World War II and the horror of Hitler’s Final Solution.

What did confuse me, and made me think I should reread it, was that I had trouble keeping track of all of the switching identities. There was at least one too many "Sams" for me to keep them all straight in the end.

That said, I found it an engrossing and compelling read, though hardly comfortable given its subject matter. The picture of post-war Germany was vivid and informative, and I appreciated the way that, in the end, the lines between the good guys and the bad guys blurred, which seemed especially relevant to our present moment. I also enjoyed the variety of languages that were included. On my self-determined "five-star" scale, I would give this book a solid four stars as I found it to be an engrossing and compelling read (even though the main character Chief Inspector Troy only played a minor role in the story).

As with all my literary ramblings, these are just my five cents worth.

Packaged as the ninth book in Lawton’s excellent series about Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, Smoke And Embers skirts around the edge of the spy genre and only briefly features its titular central character.

In typical Lawton disregard for the progress of the series through the years, SMOKE AND EMBERS is set initially back in 1950, not long after the events in A LILY IN THE FIELD and well before the occurrences of the most recent Troy novel, FRIENDS AND TRAITORS. The book finds Lawton returning to the years following the end of World War II in Britain and opens with a seemingly inconsequential murder. However, things become more complicated when Chief Inspector Troy learns that his sergeant has been conducting an affair with the known mistress of an infamous London racketeer, Otto Ohnherz. Troy is immediately intrigued by the mysterious origins of Ohnherz’s second-in-command, Jay Fabian, who is a major contributor to all three British political parties and claims to have survived the concentration camps. Yet there is no proof supporting Fabian’s claims and the Intelligence agencies suspect that he is a Russian spy.

It is a good opening, but the book quickly moves onto other concerns and focuses on characters other than Troy. The impact of the War in Europe and Britain is a central concern, and the scenes set during the tail end of the Second World War are very well done and interesting. The depiction of the Final Solution and the flood of refugees at the end of the war is powerful and the book certainly contains a high level of emotional impact. Minor characters from the Troy and Joe Holderness (Wilderness) series float through the book and add interest for regular readers of the novels.

I won’t ruin the book by detailing the plot, other than to say that Troy is not a major player in the story, which is basically an intriguing mix of duplicity and reinvention in the aftermath of World War II and the horror of Hitler’s Final Solution. The ending, however, has that typical Lawton surprise factor.

The pacing throughout the book is leisurely, but never boring, as Lawton smoothly adds on layers of intrigue and deception, and fleshes out an interesting collection of characters. With a twisting plotline, crackling dialogue, convincing historical detail and characteristic humor, SMOKE AND EMBERS is a masterful addition to Lawton’s impressive canon of books. It also has a fascinating Afterword that expounds on the book’s themes and adds some more details. A must read for fans of the series, as well as aficionados of spy fiction and good writing.

3.75 stars

Although this is billed as an Inspector Troy novel, his part in the story is relatively minor. The meat of the book is three characters and their interactions at the end of World War II: a Jewish Brit, an Auschwitz survivor, and a former German soldier.

The story has an elaborate and complex plot featuring not just one but several identity switches, and ranging from Germany to England to South America to the Middle East over the course of a decade.

The storyline is well done but can be confusing given the time and place changes and the identity issues. But it's worth reading and maybe even re-reading parts to absorb the nuances and layers of the plot. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Carefully plotted and well researched, SMOKE AND EMBERS will be a surefire hit for fans of espionage fiction. I'll admit I'm not expert in this genre and I haven't read John Lawton before. But I found this novel to be gripping and suspenseful, with a memorable cast of characters. The author manages to effortlessly span time periods and different countries, taking the reader on a wild ride. This fun read will grab you and keep you guessing.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

I've not read this series before, but that wasn't a big problem (after wondering what actually led to the murder mentioned early on). What did confuse me, and makes me think I should reread it, was that I had trouble keeping track of all of the switching identities. There was at least one too many Sams for me to keep them all straight in the end.

That said, I found it an engrossing and compelling read, though hardly comfortable given its subject matter. The picture of post-war Germany was vivid and informative, and I appreciated the way that, in the end, the lines between the good guys and the bad guys blurred, which seemed especially relevant to our present moment. I also enjoyed the languages included. My Russian is not at all adequate, but it was fun to recognize words here and there. There are scenes that will stay with me, includng one that I wish wouldn't, but overall it was an impressive if at times confusing picture of a time we tend to gloss over when we think of the victorious end of World War II.

A new book by John Lawton is a rare and welcome treat given the quality of his writing, characters, plotting and research.

What makes this one even more alluring is that after a spell in the Wilderness, Inspector Troy plays a far greater role in the proceedings.

This is a vast shaggy dog story of a book which ranges from post war Berlin, a brief interlude in Auschwitz,, London in 1950 and even Israel a decade later.

So many of Lawton’s vast array of memorable characters also make welcome returns even in brief cameo roles.

The story is wide ranging and full of deceptions which demand the reader’s full attention as who is exactly who is a question that keeps occurring.

As always with Lawton the best answer is just to surrender to the delights of his prose and enjoy.

John Lawton does a fantastic job in writing this entry in the Inspector Troy series, it had that overall feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the concept. The characters had that overall feel that I wanted and enjoyed how they worked in this universe. John Lawton was able to weave a great tale and was everything that I wanted from a espionage story.

Though extremely interesting (particularly Berlin at the very end of WWII), I found the novel a bit confusing which I very seldom feel while reading. After reading a long part of the novel about what was happening in London (also interesting), the next long part of the book took place in Berlin. While getting lost in the Berlin story, I found it difficult to get back to London and follow the connections between both stories. A bit of a shame as the theme sounded very promising indeed.
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.