Book Review: ‘Hammer To Fall: A Joe Wilderness Novel’ By John Lawton

Author John Lawton is back with his third book in the Joe Wilderness series. It’s 1948 and Joe should be in the Royal Air Force and working for M16. But he is also smuggling vodka, cigarettes and coffee to East Berlin. He meets a young Russian KGB named Kosta (a relationship that lasts for years), who asks for 100 jars of peanut butter.

Joe continues to smuggle over the years and sometimes gets into trouble. Soon Joe’s father-in-law decides he needs to get out of the UK and send him to Finland, where Joe continues to smuggle. Then Kosta shows up in Finland as well and then the troubles begin. Old friends and enemies show up in the book and Joe seems to be in over his head. How will he be able to get out his tough situations.

This is my first time reading one of these books and although it was a good read, it was a hard read. The way the book is written I may have missed some key points. But overall a good addition to the series from what I have read online about the first two books.

You can pick up Hammer To Fall in stores on Tuesday, March 10th from Grove/Atlantic.