Product Description

In Siberia, a sudden thaw uncovers two fifty-year-old murder victims as well as a host of disturbing questions. Since each is dressed in the uniform of a WWII Allied officer, Russian authorities decide to invite agents from England and the United States to join in a collaborative effort to discover the truth behind the murders. Charlie Muffin, the British operative, is having enough problems without traveling to the hell-on-earth that is Siberia, but once there he begins to suspect that this might be just his sort of case.His phones are tapped, his own government seems to be against him, and his fellow agents are as uncooperative as the corpses they're investigating.When Charlie finally identifies the bodies, he finds he's unearthed a secret that all three governments will kill to put back in the ground--even if he has to go there with it.Dead Men Living is the much-anticipated next thriller in Brian Freemantle's acclaimed Charlie Muffin series, and as his fans and critics will agree, it's his best yet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1493449 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.38" h x 5.48" w x 9.30" l, 1.68 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 608 pages

From Amazon.com
Dead Men Living marks the return of Charlie Muffin (you've got to love an ex-spy with a name like that) to the minefield of diplomatic negotiations between England and Russia. It's a territory that, even with the end of the cold war, remains tortuously difficult to transverse. The need to step carefully is equally apparent in Charlie's personal life: newly reunited with Natalia, the ex-KGB agent (and mother of their 5-year-old daughter) who years ago managed Charlie's false defection, he's finding it more difficult than ever to draw need-to-know lines between work and family.

It's a decision that gets no easier when the thawing Siberian tundra reveals a World War II grave with an American soldier, a British soldier, and a Russian woman, stripped of all identifying marks. Charlie, Natalia (now in the Interior Ministry), and American agent Miriam Bell step warily into a dance of discovery, only to find that powerful, faceless persons are calling the steps. What were the Allied soldiers doing near Gulag 98, one of Stalin's most infamous prison camps? What decades-old secret could be so important that England, America, and Russia seem to be working overtime to keep it under wraps? Charlie's investigative journey into the past will take him into a world of looted Nazi art, terrified Russian exiles, and diplomatic wrangling.

Brian Freemantle (Little Grey Mice, Comrade Charlie) does a neat job of sketching the interdepartmental turmoil that informs a new era of international cooperation. With the roles of good guy and bad guy--so familiar, so comforting--in constant flux, it's everyone for him- or herself. He's not as adept as le Carré (but who is?) at unraveling the mysteriously tangled threads of espionage--too often, the reader is simply told that Charlie has "figured something out," and the villains in the matter are duller than they have any right to be. But Freemantle's observations are generally adept and well phrased: "Charlie had never liked being a part of diplomatic house-tidying; the dirt always had the habit of bulging the carpet under which it was swept." As Muffins go, Freemantle has served up a pretty tasty text. --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly
Starring returning hero Charlie Muffin and tackling an international WWII coverup when three perfectly preserved corpses emerge from a thaw in the Siberian tundra, Freemantle's gem of a spy thriller combines old-style espionage with millennial zing. The bodies appear to be those of a British and a U.S. officer and a civilian Russian woman. Master spy Charlie, who's been stationed in Moscow since his old agency in the U.K. morphed into "a quasi British FBI" after the Cold War ended, is called up to investigate. Domestic drama heats up since Charlie lives, in secret, with his long-time lover Natalia NikandrovaAa former KGB agent now in a high but vulnerable post in the Russian "quasi FBI"Aand their daughter, Sasha. The American FBI brings in its own investigator, Miriam Bell, who joins Natalia and Charlie in Freemantle's (No Time for Heroes) brilliantly contorted plot; all three agents have been set up by bosses with much to hide, and much to gain from their sleuths' failures. The corpses are linked to Nazi art thefts, and Charlie unearths the coverup when he finds fake graves for the victims and purged records from the Brit's file. He masterminds the survival strategies for the trio of agents, using the media and old spy tricks to toy with the puppet masters. Miriam outdoes Bond in sexual feats and mental sparring, bringing gender equity to the genre, while Charlie stays one step ahead of his superiors, bosses and enemies. Siberia's harsh climate and Moscow's volatile politics are in clear focus as slippery, upper-class Brits and powerful Americans toss monkey wrenches into Charlie's plans. This engrossing thriller perfectly sets up further Moscow adventures with Charlie and Natalia. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Maverick British agent Charlie Muffin, hero of Freemantle's popular series, is living in Moscow under difficult circumstances when he is asked to solve a case that appears impossible. The frozen corpses of two men dressed in World War II uniformsDone American, one BritishDand a woman who turns out to be Russian have been uncovered by a freak thaw in the far reaches of Siberia. Who were the Western agents, and what were they doing deep in forbidden territory? In an atmosphere of paranoia and deception reminiscent of the Cold War and with his own life at risk, Muffin must ferret out a conspiracy that all three countriesDthe United States, Britain, and RussiaDstill want to conceal 54 years after the end of the war. Fans of the "Charlie Muffin" series and readers who don't mind the tendency of Freemantle (Bomb Grade) to withhold information already deduced by Muffin will enjoy the piecing together of this intricate and intriguing puzzle. Recommended for all public librariesDRonnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.