The Salzburg Connection has been considered Helen McInnes' best spy thriller, above her other consistently entertaining works. For me, her best is Above Suspicion, yet I can see how an accomplished thriller like this is an all around winner. Salzburg was published in 1968 and made into a film in 1972. Intricate and dense, it never loses momentum as the web grows deeper and wider.
Austrian photographer Richard Bryant acts on an old rumour that, with the Allies on their heels, the Nazis sunk a sealed chest in the deep waters of the dark Finstersee lake. He retrieves it, watched over by Nazi sentries still in place twenty-two years later, waiting to rise again.
American Bill Mathison, arrives in Zurich on a strange quest - he is a lawyer for a New York publisher who received a letter from Bryant about a $300. advance to publish his photographs. They had no knowledge of this, and the name on the company cheque is no one they know. Meeting with Bryant's widow, Bill quickly becomes involved with the quest for the chest, and mixes in with agents from Britain, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and America. Alliances are formed and the lines between loyalties are blurred as everyone plays the game of double identities and whom can you trust. Little do any of them know where the chest is located now - or even what it contains.
Moving between Salzburg, Zurich and the Austrian Alps, the plot is far too involved to cover here, and I was impressed that MacInnes not only holds it all together for 537 pages, but introduces such a large cast of professional liars (with ever changing aliases) that it's a pleasure to get caught up in it. MacInnes excels at introducing the naive innocent who is suddenly caught up in international politics and the underground spy networks that take danger and double crosses as simply part of the job. Bill learns on his feet and his perceptions become invaluable to the shifting networks around him.
Impressive and enjoyable. If you are looking for a spy thriller, it doesn't get better than any Helen McInnes for a solid read, and Salzburg in particular for complete satisfaction. For the film I am casting Henry Cavill and Marion Cotillard - set against the backdrop of the Austrian Alps and the Styrian Salzkammergut.
1968 / Tradeback / 537 pages
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