The second of these novels has been made into a TV film, starring Anthony Hopkins, and the first reads rather as though, it, too, is destined for filming. A Patriot in Berlin is virtually a straightforward, "international" thriller, set mainly in, Germany just before and just after, the Wall came down. It hinges around a planned exhibition of 20th century Russian art, involves various killings and beddings and internecine police intrigues, and handles the Byzantine complexities of, post Communist society with real Inmanship. The second, and more ambitious, novel deals with an English lawyer politician who finds himself in a crisis year in many senses - an idea which is not new by any means, but is treated inventively and convincingly if not in great psychological depth.