The Matchmaker by Paul Vidich is a spy thriller set around the falling of the Berlin Wall.
In short, American Anne Simpson discovers that her marriage to a charming East German is not all it seems to be when her husband disappears and the CIA and Western German Intelligence arrive at her door. “This started as a missing persons investigation. It became a murder investigation. Now it’s a man hunt!”
I love a Cold War spy thriller and although this was an interesting read it was just a bit too predictable…maybe it’s just that I’ve read a lot of excellent spy novels lately which were more riveting than The Matchmaker!
Big thanks to Paul Vidich, No Exit Press and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

Paul Vidich is rapidly becoming my go-to author for impeccably researched, well written Cold War spy novels which slowly draw out the tension and keep you reading throughout the book.

When I mention the name of Joseph Manon as one of my other favourites then this is hopefully high praise indeed.

This is well up to the standard of his previous books and intrigued and engrossed me from the start as I knew that I was in the hand of a master of his trade.

Highly recommended.

Until Death

It is 1989 in Berlin and Anne Simpson, an American translator, finds that her East German husband has disappeared. CIA and West German security personnel inform her that she has been a dupe, her marriage one of convenience arranged by an East German spymaster called the Matchmaker, to place a spy in West Berlin. Worse, Anne is distrusted by the western security police and soon discovers that her ‘husband’ has another wife and son in the east of the city. Anne is bullied into an attempt to trap the Matchmaker.

But this is 1989 and the Wall is about to fall, along with the East German government, while the Stasis days are numbered. The Matchmaker might be worth more alive to the CIA than dead. Anne, however, betrayed and abused, finds common cause with her new family in the east and seeks revenge on those who have exploited her and those would yet do so.

An ingenious plot, which in common with other novels by this author may not be entirely plausible in its final working out but nevertheless does bear many of the murky marks of authenticity, it holds the reader’s interest throughout.

Paul Vidich has steadily built up his reputation over recent years as a leading writer of intelligent espionage fiction. From his impressive debut, The Honorable Man (2016), to last year’s highly acclaimed The Mercenary (2021), he has grown in ability and has clearly shown that he is capable of mixing it with the current big names of the genre.

With his latest book, The Matchmaker (Pegasus, 1 February 2022), Vidich goes back to 1989 and the chaotic days surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall, and introduces us to an intriguing female character who leads the narration for most of the book.

As protests across East Germany threaten the Iron Curtain, Anne Simpson, an American who works as a translator at the Joint Operations Refugee Committee, thinks she is in a normal marriage with a charming German piano tuner. But then her husband disappears, and the CIA and Western German intelligence arrive at her door. Suddenly it seems that nothing about her marriage is normal.

Anne had apparently been targeted by the Matchmaker, a high level East German counterintelligence officer who runs a network of Stasi agents. These agents are his “Romeos”, who marry vulnerable women in West Berlin to provide them with cover as they report back to the Matchmaker. Anne’s husband was one of them and now he has disappeared, presumably dead. The CIA are desperate to find the Matchmaker because of his close ties to the KGB. They also believe he can establish the truth about a high-ranking Soviet defector. They need Anne because she’s the only person who has seen his face – from a photograph that her husband mistakenly left out in his office – and she is the CIA’s best chance to identify him before the Matchmaker escapes to Moscow. Time is running out as the Berlin Wall falls and chaos engulfs East Germany.

The Matchmaker is an intelligent, atmospheric, richly written and quietly gripping spy novel. Vidich steadily builds up his plot and adds layers of complexity and deception as the story progresses. The main characters, especially Anne, are well crafted and believable, and it is easy to become caught up in their plights. The Matchmaker is largely a character driven story, rather than an action thriller, but there are still moments of great suspense and tension, including a marvellous set-piece during the initial breaching of the Wall by panicking East Berliners, and the dark conclusion.

It is also the small details which make The Matchmaker so enjoyable. The carefully nuanced minor characters, the subtle references to earlier novels by Vidich, the intriguing reason behind the CIA’s real interest in the Matchmaker and believable descriptions of Berlin on the edge of change. Vidich also deals sensitively with real moral issues around spying and there is a depth to his themes. In all, it is a very impressive achievement.

A thoroughly enjoyable and dramatic spy thriller. Capturing all the nuances of a divided Berlin but propelling the action to the period just as the wall began to come down.
Atmospheric and intense. In keeping and a nod to all the glorious espionage novels of the past. Tense border crossings, missing bodies and the sense of being watched or followed.

In addition, wonderfully creative in providing a fresh look at the honey trap. Two great female characters lead the way amid grey men in suits and police uniforms.

Based on the exploits of a spymaster who was able to use romantic liaisons to better infiltrate his spies. This is an original and far reaching story about agents and betrayal but also shows that official expediency to pragmatically skip over past sins for a greater good. Re-unification and state secrets.

Some moments of classic spy noir and an underestimation of the control held over those you cajole, blackmail and control. Where an amateur approach to getting things done counter to the thinking of how a spy would operate in such circumstances.

Interesting in the light of award for damages awarded to women mislead by undercover police officers here in the U.K. recently. Does the end justify the means?

A new author to me but whose writing carried the story along with a growing tension and an expanding understanding of the central character. Anne Simpson changes during the book and becomes someone we care about and value as a human being. Her sense of betrayal and response to government justification for inaction and the misinformation given to her is the reader’s journey. She is intelligent, generous and resourceful.

Set in Berlin in 1989 The Matchmaker is yet another engrossing spy novel by Paul Vidich with some excellent characters and writing that conveys the dark and mysterious nature of espionage.

Recommended for lovers of spy novels.

A very dark yet compelling espionage thriller that hit all the right buttons for me! A tense storyline set during the Berlin Wall fall.