The Eldorado Network Paperback – Import, January 1, 1979

Derek Robinson is more well-known as the author of books about pilots and aeroplanes in the world wars, but on the side he's produced several espionage novels that demonstrate his usual taste in black humor and bloody-minded bureaucracy.Our hero is Luis Cabrillo, a young Spaniard who survives the Spanish Civil War doing odd jobs for foreign journalists, and decides to offer his services to British Intelligence in 1941. MI5 doesn't want him so he goes across the street to the Abwehr, the German version. They snap him right up and train him in all the modern espionage arts, and before too long he's on his way to London.But he only makes it as far as Lisbon, where he carries out his duties to the letter -- except the reports he mails back are entirely fictitious.As the afterword tells us, Luis is based on a real spy who became a double-agent during the war, and all of the outrageous exploits and adventures of THE ELDORADO NETWORK are based on fact. Even more extraordinary is the revelation that all of the German spies in England at the time were working for the British.This is not your average deadpan espionage novel. The world as Derek Robinson sees it is run by charismatic amateurs, and that goes for the Germans, the British, and Luis Cabrillo himself. Everyone, regardless of rank or position, muddles through as best they can. Mr Robinson's usual ferocious wit can't hurt, and the dialogue of the book is a real treat.The book is out of print, and undeservedly so. I was lucky enough to dig a copy out of the depths of my college library; my library also has both sequels (ARTILLERY OF LIES and RED RAG BLUES). Find them if you can.

Perhaps because I'm a sucker for back humor, I absolutely loved this book. Great descriptive writing, complex characters and funny as hell. I found it only because I was curious about the British double-agent code named "Garbo", and I'm so glad I did. I read several books a week, usually, so that's a lot of books read over the decades: this one soared high, high up my all-time favorites list within just a few chapters, and the author sustained the suspense and the humor all the way to the end.The trouble with Kindle editions is that you can't share great reads with friends, so I'm off to prowl the used book collections to see if I can't find some hardbound copies to give away.

good product accurately rated

A pleasant holiday read that keeps you guessing. I look forward to reading the others in the series.

Humourous, easy reading based on a true story.

Reasonable.

I loved Derek Robinson's flying books both for their attention to period detail and marvellous descriptions of flying in vintage aircraft, something I have been privileged to experience on rare occasions.This series is nothing like those and, if you're looking for a whiff of world weary cynicism, they might not be for you. I really enjoyed Red Rag Blues because it reminded me of the later Manning Coles books, which are increasingly hard to find in paperback and impossible on Kindle. I look forward to reading the rest as a good romp. There are two ways to deal with dire times: grim determination or flippancy. Perhaps the chance of either succeeding are approximately equal.

I very much admire Robinson's war stories but this is very different. This tells a story based on fact that ,in it's unvarnished form, is barely credible. The many layers of 'varnish' that Robinson applies obscure that narrative. His 'comic' touch is heavy handed. The dialogue reads like a TV sitcom script from the 80's. I found the 'hero' irritating and the tone of the book unpleasantly 'jaunty'. Compare it with Greene's excellent 'Our Man In Havana' and even two stars seem generous.

This fictional story is based on true historical fact, which is in itself stranger than fiction. A very entertaining read.

Having greatly enjoyed the author's wartime (WW1 and WW2) flying stories, I was very pleased to find more of his books available for Kindle. This is the first in a succession of stories centring on a fictional version of the famous WW2 double agent 'Garbo' which I described in my own book 'Battle of Wits' published in the late 1970s, so I know how closely it stays to the true background to his exploits. Four stars because though it makes a good story and is as well written as all Derek Robinson's stories are, it didn't quite (for me anyway) pack the sheer emotional punch of the wartime flying stories. Very much worth reading though !

a good yarn from Derek Robinson, on my Kindle so easy to read