Review of Echobeat by Joe Joyce (Liberties Press, 2014)

Winter 1940. Like America, Ireland has so far managed to remain neutral in the war. It is coming under more pressure however from both Britain and Germany to declare sides. Britain is wanting use of Irish deep water ports for convoys, is building up troops in the North, and is threatening to minimize trade. The Germans want to increase the size of the legation, are agitating for pro-German stance, and are offering arms to fight the British if they try to sieve the ports. Despite the pro-German stance of the IRA, the Irish government is desperate to remain neutral and avoid Ireland becoming a battleground. To keep the Germans at bay they need to increase the strength of their diplomatic hand and decipher German intent from recent bombings. They turn to G2, Irish military intelligence, for answers, who in turn seek out Hermann Goertz, the chief German spy in Ireland, who has been on the run for almost a year. Captain Paul Duggan is charged with finding Goertz, as well as run an operation eavesdropping on German aviators who frequent a Dublin café. Under pressure from his political masters, Duggan turns to his uncle, a republican Fianna Fail TD, a friend in special branch, and a young German Jew refugee for help. The case takes a strange turn when it becomes clear that a British artist and conscientious objector is also using the café to try and pass important secrets onto the Germans. As well as falling in love with his new agent, Duggan finds himself in a high-stakes game that is explosive enough to change the course of the war.

Echobeat is the second book in the Echoland series featuring Captain Paul Duggan of G2, the Irish military intelligence, during the Second World War. This outing is set over Christmas 1940 and into early 1941. German has conquered much of North West Europe, has lost the Battle of Britain, but is winning the Battle of the Atlantic. The United States, like Ireland, is neutral. Britain wants access to Ireland’s deep water ports and for the US to enter the war; Germany wants to prevent both. Ireland is being subject to diplomatic pressure and sabre rattling by both, including a few bombs being dropped by German planes. G2’s job is decipher both countries intentions and the games they are playing to bring pressure to bear on the Irish government, and to discover and track their spies. Duggan is given the task of locating Germany’s spymaster, who is on the run, as well pick up gossip from downed airmen. His job takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles across a plot to halt America entering the war. Joyce does a nice job of spinning this scenario into a compelling spy thriller that has plenty of intrigue, tension, and at times levity. Duggan and his special branch pal, Peter Gifford, form a nice double-act and the romance with a German Jew turned café spy is well spun. There’s a strong sense of place and time; the historical contextualisation is excellent with respect to the Irish position during the war, the pressure placed on the government, and its internal politics, without swamping the story. I wasn’t wholly convinced by one part of the denouement and the wrap-up seemed quite perfunctory, but overall an interesting and entertaining read.

Review of Echoland by Joe Joyce (Liberties Press, 2013)

June 1940 and whilst Britain licks its wounds after the debacle leading to Dunkirk and France teeters on the edge of defeat, Paul Duggan has been transferred to G2, the Irish military intelligence division, given his knowledge of the German language and the string pulling of his uncle, a politician.  Ireland is pursuing a policy of neutrality, though some favour siding with the Allies and others with the Germans in the hope of gaining a united Ireland.  Duggan has been assigned the task of monitoring a German national who is sending cryptic and receiving saucy letters to the continent but otherwise seems inactive.  He’s also been asked by his uncle to find his cousin who has gone missing and has possibly been kidnapped.  Duggan slowly makes progress on both cases, aided by Special Branch detective, Peter Gifford, whilst trying to keep the hunt for his cousin a secret from his bosses.  Nothing, however, is quite what it seems in the murky world of spies and politics.

Set in 1940, Echoland is set during a fascinating period of contemporary Irish history as it the country tries to negotiate its neutral role and its relationship to Britain and Germany.  Joyce weaves an interesting plot involving G2 (military intelligence) and Special Branch as they keep tabs on the German legation, suspected German spies, and the IRA, who view the war as an opportunity to leverage a united Ireland.  The plot is the strength of the novel, nicely intersecting two storylines – the hunt for a German spy and trying to trace the whereabouts of a politician’s missing daughter.  Joyce’s storytelling is all tell and no show, detailing the action and dialogue of the main characters.  Whilst this worked to a degree, the lack of reflection and historicisation rendered some of the story flat and lacking in atmosphere and tension and the characters one dimensional.  For example, the reader is presented with lists of streets that the characters traverse, but very little description of them or the activities taking place, or the general mood of the populace or how the war was affecting them.  Nor is there a wider sense of the lead up to Ireland’s political position at the time.  There is practically no back story with respect to any character, with the lead character being curiously asexual, apolitical and naive, and at the end of the book I felt I knew as much about him as I did at the start.  The result was a book carried by its plot, but one that lacked the atmosphere, depth and subtle tension evident in similar kinds of Second World War espionage tales such as those by Alan Furst, David Downing, Aly Monroe or Joseph Kanon (a selection here).  Nevertheless, an enjoyable and interesting tale and I'd read the next instalment if it Echoland is the first in a series.