# Hammer to Fall

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![Hammer to Fall](https://quivercdn.com/covers/grove-press-uk/john-lawton/hammer-to-fall_978-16-1185-472-5.jpg?v=2026-05-23%2007%3A41%3A23)

- Book: [Hammer to Fall](https://www.bookquiver.com/john-lawton/hammer-to-fall) ([Hammer to Fall.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/john-lawton/hammer-to-fall.md))
- Authors: [John Lawton](https://www.bookquiver.com/john-lawton)
- Publisher: grove_press_uk
- ISBN: 978-16-1185-472-5
- Published: 2021-04-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

It’s London, the swinging sixties, and by rights MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, in the wake of an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness has been posted to remote northern Finland in a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored by his work, with nothing to spy on, Wilderness finds another way to make money: smuggling vodka across the border into the USSR. He strikes a deal with old KGB pal Kostya, who explains to him there is a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union – but there is something fishy about Kostya’s sudden appearance in Finland and intelligence from London points to a connection to cobalt mining in the region, a critical component in the casing of the atomic bomb. Wilderness’s posting is getting more interesting by the minute, but more dangerous too. Moving from the no-man’s-land of Cold War Finland to the wild days of the Prague Spring, and populated by old friends (including Inspector Troy) and old enemies alike, Hammer to Fall is a gripping tale of deception and skulduggery, of art and politics, a page-turning story of the always riveting life of the British spy.