THE CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Henry Porter wins with Brandenburg

The dagger and £2000 prize money are awarded for the best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond. Sponsored by by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. The cheque and Dagger were presented by Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd to Henry Porter for Brandenburg from Orion.

'Set against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989, the book takes the reader into the wilderness of mirrors that was Cold War international espionage. A complex, intelligent thriller by a skilful writer at the top of his game.'

September, 1989. The Communist tyranny in East Germany is on the brink. At the heart of the state is the Stasi, one of the most formidable intelligence services the world has ever seen. But even its regiments of armed guards, the special jails and interrogation centres and the hundreds of thousands of informers can do nothing to prevent the rebellion that ends in the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is in these last few paranoid weeks that Brandenburg is set.

Dr Rudi Rosenharte, formerly a member of the Stasi's elite foreign service, now an art scholar living in Dresden, is sent to Trieste to rendezvous with his old lover, Annalise Schering. Only he knows she's dead. He saw her himself, lying in her own bloodied bathwater. So who is this woman, this ghost? The Stasi is convinced Annalise is returning to the fold with vital intelligence. To make sure Rosenharte plays the game, they have imprisoned his family. But the Stasi is not the only intelligence agency with its hooks into Rosenharte. Soon he is encircled by no fewer than four, including the MI6 team led by Robert Harland, and he faces a stark choice between leaving his beloved brother to the mercy of the Stasi or returning to East Germany to carry out an assignment in this ferocious police state.

More than just a brilliant espionage thriller, in which the games of manipulation have never been more authentic, this is a gripping multi-layered novel that captures the most important geopolitical event of the last fifty years. In telling the story of twin brothers held captive by German history, it teems with incident and characters - many from real life. As the heroic struggle unfolds on the streets of Leipzig and moves to the miraculous climax at the Wall, Rosenharte learns the painful secrets of love and of his own past.

Henry Porter has written for most national broadsheet newspapers. He was editor of the Atticus column on the Sunday Times, moving to set up the Sunday Correspondent magazine in 1988. He contributes commentary and reportage to the Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph. He is the British editor of Vanity Fair and divides his time between New York and London.

Six other books were shortlisted for this prize. They were:

G. M. Ford - A Blind Eye - Pan Macmillan

'On the run from the law, Corso and Dougherty, a reporter and photographer, stumble across the grisly remains of a family, sparking off an investigation into a 30-year-old killing spree. Strongly paced with page-turning suspense to be read at one sitting.'

Simon Kernick - A Good Day To Die - Transworld/Bantam

'Ex-cop turned hired killer Dennis Milne returns to London to avenge the death of his former colleague. A gritty, contemporary read with an explosive opening that sets the tone for the whole book.'

Adrian Matthews - The Apothecary's House - Pan Macmillan

'A dispute over the ownership of a unique painting looted by the Nazis sets off a chain of events in contemporary Amsterdam. Art historian Ruth Braams risks all as she investigates the true ownership and the mystery of the painting itself. A strong sense of pace draws the reader into this atmospheric thriller.'

Kate Mosse - Labyrinth - Orion

'A compelling historical thriller set in medieval and contemporary Carcassonne, in which past and present collide with lethal consequences. Amateur archaeologist Alice Tanner uncovers a 700-year-old Grail mystery which is inextricably linked to her own ancestry. Absolutely unputdownable.'

Joel Ross - Double Cross Blind - Hodder & Stoughton

'Tom Wall's personal quest to find the brother who betrayed him leads to a race against time to change the course of the Second World War. A compelling and absorbing first novel by a writer with abundant promise.'

Daniel Silva - A Death in Vienna - Penguin

'The bombing of the war crimes office in Vienna triggers an investigation by former Israeli secret service agent Gabriel Allon. The author distills the horrors of the Holocaust and the complexities of world events into an intensely moving personal testament.'

Judging Panel

Corinne Turner (Non-Judging Chair) - Managing Director, Ian Fleming Publications
Seraphina Granelli - Manager of Libertas, with a background in bookselling management including Waterstones
Richard Reynolds - a bookseller who organises regular events for readers of crime fiction, including the annual Bodies in the Bookshop in Cambridge
Mike Stotter, - journalist, reviewer and editor of SHOTS magazine
Zoë Watkins - publications manager for works, Ian Fleming publications
David Wilson - works for the film company Eon Productions Ltd in London

Site map

Front page

2005 daggers

Other years

Elsewhere