If two writers met in Berlin, would the narrative be literary, or would its setting be used as a backdrop for a psychological thriller? Power makes it a bit of both.

Robert is a writer living in Berlin and struggling to ‘finish’ his novel. At a reading in a bookshop, he encounters a drunk writer called Patrick – who he ultimately saves from being beaten.

When Patrick wants to buy Robert dinner in thanks, Robert is initially reluctant, but finds himself entranced by his back story. Patrick was commissioned to write a biography on a Russian oligarch, Sergei Vanyashin, who claimed to have proof of Putin’s corruption and wanted to expose it. When Vanyashin is discovered hanged, suspicion grows over whether it was a suicide as declared, or in fact a state-sanctioned assassination.

Patrick claims he’s now targeted, and on the run from Russian agents. Robert is dubious, but is excited by the story, which he ‘borrows’ for his own novel. Here Power flexes his literary muscles.

The story of Patrick’s meetings with Vanyashin is Robert’s own. Robert doesn’t believe it, so Power has created a fiction within the fiction. The result is a conflict for the reader: is Patrick’s story credible, or is he merely paranoid? The test would be if Robert also becomes targeted.

The action swings between Berlin and Sweden. Power teases a little too much, but the writing itself is excellent.

Reviewed by Bob Moore