The Spy Who Sat and Waited

Jimmy Flannery

by Robert Wright Campbell

Pocket Books Feb 1979 First Printing. No creases, spine tight, book tight. Covers show mild age discoloration, tiny edge wear top cover edge. Private collection.

Genres: Fiction

373 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

A screenwriter who turned to writing novels. Many of his earlier books were published as by R. Wright Campbell but later works were credited to Robert W. Campbell or simply Robert Campbell. He also published one book as F.G. Clinton. For more, see his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[AdiTurbo · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Not badly written, but too slow for me and doesn't hold my interest enough to continue.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars: 3.5

I'm pretty conflicted about my final thoughts on this book. My feelings were pretty extreme in that I either thought the writing/plot was really good or really bad, and it was pretty much never anything in between. I think the criticism most people would have for this book is that it is boring, but that didn't really bother me. I liked that the character didn't have James Bond-like powers like spies often do in these kinds of stories. I liked that the vast majority of the book is spent on the protagonist grappling with his internal struggle of being a spy for 20 years in a land that he is more and more identifying with. Probably 50-60% of the book focuses on this, and this is where the book really shines. He spends 20 years building his cover, being accepted by the locals, becoming a local himself, almost marrying a woman, marrying a different woman, and having a child. All of this while he struggles with deciding who he is loyal to in a mostly subtle manner. The poor part of the plot is basically the final 1/3 of the book. Wilhelm decides to side with Germany and sends out the information about the vulnerabilities of the shipyard he was living near. He feels guilt, but not enough to warn the authorities. So he goes and watches in dread every night to see if the ship is attacked. One ship does end up being attacked, and he rushes out to help save people. He finds the two people he knew right as they die. I'm a big fan up until this point. Then he decides to flee and goes and waits for the u-boat to pick him up. He is taken to Germany where Hitler personally congratulates him. He is soon pushed to the side though and he has a small job in Berlin. He gets asked to join a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, but he declines. He meets a woman and starts having sex with her which eventually leads to them getting married so they can receive some benefits. She just wants to be pregnant, unbeknownst to him, so she starts sleeping with every guy she can. She gets pregnant, and Wilhelm agrees to raise the baby like his own. She dies in childbirth. He gets conscripted to defend Berlin and dies. I think the final 1/3 of the book is unsatisfying as a reader and also doesn't fit the character of Wilhelm. He was shown standing up for others courageously again and again. He displayed great loyalty to those he cared about (besides spying for the enemy, but that was a pre-existing loyalty). I can completely accept him barely siding with his home country against his adopted country, but I don't see him abandoning his family to return home to Germany. I think his character would've tried to get away with it and stay on in England with his wife and child. That would've been fitting as well because, after spending the entire book watching him privately struggle with his emotions about being a spy, we could watch him privately struggle with the guilt of betraying his friends and getting many people in his community killed. Instead, he runs away to Germany, leads a depressed and insignificant life, and then dies.

If you're looking for a book that treats spies like Mission Impossible, then you'll be extremely disappointed in this slow-moving story. I thought it was somewhat unique storytelling and worth the read.

[Griff · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple yet entertaining read. A German spy waits 20 years between the wars for orders while establishing a pleasant life in the Orkney Islands.