Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Beer and Gasoline
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1951?
WEBSITE: https://johnknoerle.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE: IL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in OH; married; wife’s name Judie.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and comedian. DeLuxe Radio Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA, member, 1970s; stand-up comedian in Los Angeles. Has also worked as a voiceover actor and an Associated Press Radio reporter.
AWARDS:Mayhaven Award for Fiction, for The Violin Player.
WRITINGS
Author of the screenplay Quiet Fire; author of the stage play The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club.
SIDELIGHTS
John Knoerle is an American writer and comedian. Born in Ohio, he moved to California and joined Santa Barbara’s DeLuxe Radio Theatre in the 1970s. Knoerle then pursued a career as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles, where he opened for Robin Williams and Jay Leno. He has additionally worked as a voiceover actor and an Associated Press radio reporter. After relocating to Chicago in 1996, he penned his first novel, Crystal Meth Cowboys, which was optioned by Fox TV.
In an interview in the Working Writers blog, Knoerle discussed his writing routine and views on writing as a job. As for his writing rituals, he shared: “I prefer the barstool by the window at Chicago’s venerable Club Lucky. My drink of choice is a Stoli martini with a twist.” He also noted his definitive view of writer’s block in the interview. “I do not believe in writer’s block. It’s a job. Plumber’s plumb, nurses nurse, and writer’s write.”
Knoerle talked about his political views and the difficulty of incorporating these into fiction with Nadia Natali in an interview in the Beyond the Books blog. Knoerle stated: “I consider myself a moderate conservative with libertarian leanings. But creating credible characters requires open-mindedness to every perspective, political or otherwise. Without that you’re writing a comic book. Or a propaganda pamphlet,” adding that “making sense of the other guy’s P.O.V. can be difficult.”
A Pure Double Cross and A Despicable Profession
Knoerle published A Pure Double Cross in 2008, the start of his “American Spy” series. OSS agent Hal Schroeder is attempting to infiltrate the Cleveland mob in the years immediately following the end of World War II. He targets its leader, Mr. Big, while attempting to play multiple roles to stay alive. Writing in Foreword Reviews, Dick Cady noticed that “this is fun stuff, sometimes funny, and sometimes unintentionally funny.” Cady found Knoerle’s style to be “snappy.”
In 2010 Knoerle published A Despicable Profession. With the OSS disbanded and the CIA yet to be established, Schroeder finds himself happily out of the spy business. He accepts a job as a trade representative in Berlin only to find out that his former OSS boss, Bill Donovan, is the one who set up the position so Schroeder could investigate the Soviet build-up of tanks along the Elbe River in East Germany. Schroeder is forced to work in an uncomfortable and dangerous environment but one that is important for national interests in the region.
Writing in the Story Behind the Book blog, Knoerle discussed his approach to writing A Despicable Profession. He opined that the level of cynicism in the majority of spy novels “breeds lethargy.” Knoerle explained that “the protagonist does what needs to be done, coolly, professionally. But without passion. Not Hal Schroeder. He thinks he’s a cynical hard guy but his youthful enthusiasm always gets the better of him.” A contributor to the Book Connection blog shared: “I have to admit I fell in love with Hal. He’s probably the only person more sarcastic than me.” The same reviewer mentioned: “I loved A Despicable Profession so much that I am eager to read the first book in this trilogy, A Pure Double Cross…. A Despicable Profession is a book you shouldn’t miss.”
The Proxy Assassin and Beer and Gasoline
Knoerle published the novel The Proxy Assassin in 2013. Now working as a librarian in Cleveland, Schroeder is recruited by secret agent Frank Wisner to lead what is essentially a suicide mission in Romania in 1948. Interspersed with scenes of Schroeder’s mission in Eastern Europe are flashbacks to conversations in Washington, DC. A number of real-life intelligence officials also appear in the novel, including Guy Burgess, “Wild Bill” Donovan, John Foster Dulles, Kim Philby, and J. Edgar Hoover.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews noted that “Robert Altman-esque cameos of historical baddies … add historical depth to the international political hijinks. However, Schroeder is the star here.” The same reviewer called The Proxy Assassin “a terrific Cold War thriller.” In a review in Foreword Reviews, Mark McLaughlin cautioned that “the last 110 pages of the book are good, but anyone who has not read volumes one and two should stop before going there.” McLaughlin remarked that “Knoerle’s book is a fun, light read that should appeal to fans of spy novels set in the late 1940s.”
Knoerle published the novel Beer and Gasoline in 2017. U.S. Army Lt. Richard Nolan is an undercover CIA operative. In 1968 he scours the Mojave Desert looking for missing trash hauler Jeremiah McLemore, who had previously worked at the secretive Camp Harrison. Nolan pairs up with local police officer Thomas Bell and eventually find McLemore. His cause of death, however, is contested, and a string of misinformation by the Soviets and CIA make Nolan question how much information to share until he has sorted out who is ultimately responsible. Nolan suspects that Chief of Counterintelligence James Jesus Angleton is not as forthcoming with crucial information as he should be to assist Nolan solve this case and redirects his search for clues to the interior of Camp Harrison to explore a counter-narrative to what he has been told. The abduction of Nolan’s wife and daughter indicate that he is on the right path, albeit a dangerous one for himself and those he loves. Figuring out who is responsible, though, poses an even bigger problem. The Soviets may have attempted to use them as a bartering tool to extract information about the secretive Camp Harrison. Equally possible, though, is the scenario where the CIA abducted them as a means to ensure Nolan did not share any classified information with anyone. Knoerle employs Nolans transcriptions of audio recordings, telex transmissions, private correspondence, and personal notes to expand the story and move the suspense forward.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews observed that “some of the reveals are surprising, and the author sprinkles them throughout in lieu of saving them all until the end,” adding that “smartly understated humor is suitably spy-related.” The same reviewer called the novel “a standout espionage tale that not only delivers a riveting plot, but a stellar presentation as well.” In a review in the Windy City Reviews Website, Wayne Turmel commented that the novel’s “presentation is unique,” explaining that “when it works … it’s fast paced, engaging, and moves the story along at breakneck speed.” Turmel reasoned: “As a fan of spy fiction, history, and the Mojave Desert and its residents, I enjoyed the ride.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Bookwatch, April 1, 2005, review of The Violin Player.
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2013, review of The Proxy Assassin; September 1, 2017, review of Beer and Gasoline.
Small Press Bookwatch, January 1, 2009, review of A Pure Double Cross.
ONLINE
Beyond the Books, https://beyondthebooks.wordpress.com/ (November 18, 2012), author interview.
Book Connection, http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/ (October 29, 2010), review of A Despicable Profession.
Foreword Reviews, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (July 15, 2009), Dick Cady, review of A Pure Double Cross; (January 18, 2013), Mark McLaughlin, review of The Proxy Assassin.
John Knoerle Website, https://johnknoerle.com (May 3, 2018).
Story Behind the Book, https://thestorybehindthebook.wordpress.com/ (September 23, 2010), review of A Despicable Profession.
Windy City Reviews, http://windycityreviews.org/ (August 14, 2017), Wayne Turmel, review of Beer and Gasoline.
Working Writers, http://workingwritersandbloggers.com/ (October 8, 2010), author interview.
John Knoerle: Biography
John Knoerle
John Knoerle began his creative endeavors in the early 70s as a member of the DeLuxe Radio Theatre, a comedy troupe in Santa Barbara. He then moved to LA and did stand-up comedy, opening for the likes of Jay Leno and Robin Williams. John also worked as a voiceover actor and an AP Radio reporter.
Knoerle wrote the screenplay Quiet Fire, which starred Karen Black, and the stage play The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club, an LA Time’s Critic’s Choice. He also worked as staff writer for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
Knoerle moved to Chicago in 1996 with his wife Judie. His first novel, “Crystal Meth Cowboys,” was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, “The Violin Player,” won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction.
John Knoerle’s novel, “A Pure Double Cross,” was the first volume of his American Spy Trilogy, featuring former OSS agent Hal Schroeder. The second volume, “A Despicable Profession,” was published in 2010. John completed the American Spy Trilogy with “The Proxy Assassin,” dubbed one of 2013’s best indie novels by Kirkus Reviews.
Knoerle’s latest novel – and he insists his last – is “Beer and Gasoline,” which he calls the fourth volume of his American Spy Trilogy.
Interview: John Knoerle
TOPICS:A Despicable ProfessionAuthor InterviewJohn KnoerleSpy Triology
POSTED BY: GUEST POSTER OCTOBER 8, 2010
John Knoerle was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949 and moved to California with his family in the early ‘60s. He wrote the screenplay for “Quiet Fire,” which starred Karen Black and Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, and the stage play “The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club,” an LA Time’s Critics Choice. John also worked as a writer for Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Knoerle’s first novel, Crystal Meth Cowboys was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, The Violin Player, won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction. Knoerle is currently at work on The American Spy Trilogy. Book One, A Pure Double Cross, came out in 2008. Book Two, A Despicable Profession, was published in August of 2010.
John Knoerle currently lives in Chicago with his wife, Judie. Enjoy this interview.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing about forty years. I started out penning sketches for a college comedy troupe, moved on to stand-up routines then screenplays and, finally, about twenty years ago, novels.
It has taken those twenty years to get four books in print so I’m not what you’d call prolific. The good news is that I’m proud of all four.
Tell us about your latest book. What do you hope readers take away from it?
My latest is A Despicable Profession, it’s Book Two of The American Spy Trilogy. I hope that readers find it a fun read, first and foremost. But, as it is set in 1946 Berlin, I hope readers get a good sense of that fascinating time at the beginning of the Cold War.
Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?
What’s next is Book Three. I’m more than halfway home but wrapping up a trilogy is one hell of a challenge!
What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?
The Old Boys by Burton Hersh. It’s an exhaustive summation of the interesting characters and intrigues that comprised the WWII OSS and the subsequent transition to CIA.
Favorite authors?
Hardboiled guru Raymond Chandler. He made the mystery genre respectable with brilliant writing and a great sense of ‘place.’
Or, in his words, “We took murder away from the weekend house party and Vicar’s rose garden and gave it back to the people who were really good at it.”
Book you’re currently reading?
I am currently reading Harlot’s Ghost: A Novel by Norman Mailer, and will be for some time. It’s a sweeping 1100 page novel about the first two decades of CIA.
Any type of writing ritual you have?
I prefer the barstool by the window at Chicago’s venerable Club Lucky. My drink of choice is a Stoli martini with a twist.
Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how did you get past it? If not, why not?
I do not believe in writer’s block. It’s a job. Plumber’s plumb, nurses nurse and writer’s write.
In your opinion, what’s the measure of a successful writer?
To write what you want to write and do it well. And hang the consequence.
Advice for other writers?
See above!
Where can we learn more about you?
Read my books!
Anything else you’d like to add?
Bless all you readers and writers. Sometimes I feel like we’re the only sane people left.
Interview with John Knoerle: ‘It was a hell of a lot more fun to be a guy in the 40s’
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John KnoerleJohn Knoerle began his creative endeavors in the early 70s as a member of the DeLuxe Radio Theatre, a comedy troupe in Santa Barbara. He then moved to LA and did stand-up comedy, opening for the likes of Jay Leno and Robin Williams.
Knoerle wrote the screenplay Quiet Fire, which starred Karen Black, and the stage play The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club, an LA Time’s Critic’s Choice. He also worked as a staff writer for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
Knoerle moved to Chicago in 1996 with his wife Judie. His first novel, “Crystal Meth Cowboys,” was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, “The Violin Player,” won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction.
John Knoerle’s novel, A Pure Double Cross, was the first volume of a late 40s spy trilogy featuring former OSS agent Hal Schroeder. The second volume, A Despicable Profession, was published in 2010. Knoerle’s latest book, The Proxy Assassin, Book Three of the American Spy Trilogy, has just been released.
Visit his website at www.johnknoerle.com..
In that wonderful movie Moonstruck Olympia Dukakis has an ‘aha’ moment. She has been trying to understand why men like her husband commit adultery. She figures it’s about more than just sex. Then it comes to her: “Men cheat because they fear death!”
That’s why men write too, if you want my opinion. It’s a small shot at immortality.
In his memorial tribute to Yeats, W.H. Auden wrote,
Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and innocent,
And indifferent in a week
To a beautiful physique,
Worships language and forgives
Everyone by whom it lives;
Pardons cowardice, conceit,
Lays its honours at their feet.
The Proxy AssassinYour American Spy Trilogy is set in the late 40s. Do you have a particular fascination with that era?
I do. Two powerful cross currents were fighting each other in the U.S. during the immediate post-war period. A yearning to return to home and hearth and attempt to forget how the supposedly civilized part of the world had almost succeeded in committing suicide. A yearning that stood in direct conflict with the role that America now found thrust upon it – Defender of the Free World.
On a lighter note, let’s face it, it was a hell of a lot more fun to be a guy in the late 40s. You could have a steak for breakfast, two martinis at lunch, and about the only place you couldn’t smoke was church.
There’s an undercurrent of German pride in your Trilogy. What’s that about?
It’s German-American pride. My father’s family migrated from the Old Country in the 19th Century so they were fully assimilated Yanks by the 20th Century, yet still proud of their German heritage. Until World Wars I and II came along and made German ancestry vaguely shameful. Of course no German-Americans were interned, as happened to Japanese-Americans, but many German restaurants and beer halls shut down and even streets with German names were re-christened.
I still feel badly for my grandparents and great-grandparents. They couldn’t fully celebrate who they were through no fault of their own. So I thought I’d give the Kraut-American community a little overdue love.
“The Proxy Assassin” takes place in the context of the hotly-contested Truman-Dewey Presidential race of 1948. What are the potential dangers of mixing politics and fiction?
I consider myself a moderate conservative with libertarian leanings. But creating credible characters requires open-mindedness to every perspective, political or otherwise. Without that you’re writing a comic book. Or a propaganda pamphlet.
Making sense of the other guy’s P.O.V. can be difficult of course. Which is why, I suppose, that Americans are so hunkered down in their separate bunkers.
While it’s always tempting to launch into a bombastic screed that trashes your ideological opponents, ‘keeping an open mind’ is more or less the job description of a competent writer.
You have now spent most of your adult life writing fiction – stage plays, screenplays, novels – with only sporadic commercial success. Any regrets?
Yes. I deeply regret that my fellow citizens were too preoccupied with social media, smart phones, the Kardashians, Snooki and Honey Boo Boo to take time to recognize, and lavish extravagant sums of money upon, my authentic American genius.
Just kidding.
(Not really.)
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Print Marked Items
Knoerle, John: BEER AND GASOLINE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Knoerle, John BEER AND GASOLINE Blue Steel Press (Indie Fiction) $16.00 8, 1 ISBN: 978-0-9820903-
1-2
A CIA officer's 1968 investigation into a death linked to a secretive compound smells of a KGB
assassination--or perhaps his own agency's involvement--in this spy novel. Lt. Richard Nolan of the U.S.
Army (a CIA cover ID) is in the Mojave Desert in search of missing trash hauler Jeremiah McLemore. His
disappearance is suspicious because he was contracted by Camp Harrison, aka Camp X, a mysterious
facility reputedly used for Army training. Working with local cop Officer Thomas Bell, Nolan eventually
finds a body near McLemore's beloved Willys Jeep. It appears to be an accidental death, possibly due to
extreme heat, but footprints could mean a staged murder. This is supported by McLemore's earlier strange
encounter: an unknown man asked to examine the trash he was collecting. A journalist's column, however,
throws everyone into a tailspin when it suggests McLemore was assassinated by foreign agents. Nolan's
boss, Chief of Counterintelligence James Jesus Angleton, seems to think the column is the Soviets' attempt
to generate disinformation. But Nolan soon realizes that, while he's withholding some material from
Angleton, his boss is likely doing the same. Answers may lie inside the walls of Camp X, which Nolan
begins surveilling, as he knows very little about the compound. When his wife and teen daughter
subsequently vanish, he suspects an abduction. Either someone's convinced he's gathered classified Camp X
intelligence, for which the Soviet Union would shell out millions, or the CIA wants to ensure that he keeps
mum about whatever he's learned. The most striking element of Knoerle's (Crystal Meth Cowboys, 2015,
etc.) story is its configuration. The book comprises transcriptions of Nolan's audio recordings, private
correspondence, telex transmissions, and personal notes. Most are in the style of a formal report, but the
descriptions aren't bloodless, especially with details from an observant Nolan. For example, he and former
policeman Bob Reese creep into McLemore's house in the early-morning hours: "We were dressed in dark
colors, wearing disposable gloves. No dogs barked. The only sign of life was a stray coyote that darted off
at our approach." The shifting narrative formats are easy to follow (predominantly linear), and Knoerle even
gives them distinction. Sometimes Nolan is relaying a scene based solely on his recollection, while other
times it's a transcript rife with deficiencies, like a conversation with gaps indicating inaudible segments.
There's an indisputable mystery playing in the background, from Camp X to what exactly happened to
McLemore. Even Nolan himself is an enigma: readers don't immediately learn his name or his specific job,
and one can't help but wonder (in light of an editor's intermittent notations) whether the protagonist is still
alive. Some of the reveals are surprising, and the author sprinkles them throughout in lieu of saving them all
until the end. Smartly understated humor is suitably spy-related; when Angleton's secretary recites a code to
Nolan, the latter alters his response to subvert a potential meeting--and hears a gasp in return. A standout
espionage tale that not only delivers a riveting plot, but a stellar presentation as well.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Knoerle, John: BEER AND GASOLINE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502192192/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7d0dca88.
Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502192192
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Knoerle, John: THE PROXY ASSASSIN
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 1, 2013):
COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Knoerle, John THE PROXY ASSASSIN Blue Steel Press (Indie None) $15.00 9, 1 ISBN: 978-0982090398
Knoerle's ace thriller, the third in the American Spy series, chronicles a noirish tough guy's efforts to protect
the world from the Red Menace, circa 1944. Knoerle hits precisely the right note of humility and bravado
when his protagonist, American Office of Strategic Services agent Hal Schroeder, declares in the novel's
prologue: "You wouldn't believe how much crap you get credit for when you're a hero." What follows is a
spare, stylish thriller peopled with wisecracking characters straight out of a Billy Wilder flick. Schroeder, a
World War II vet marking time as a librarian in his native Cleveland, is tapped by real-life intelligence
heavyweight Frank Wisner for another covert ops "suicide mission" in Eastern Europe. He accepts, of
course--after which everything spirals blissfully out of control. Robert Altman-esque cameos of historical
baddies, including FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and suave Cambridge Five double agents Guy Burgess and
Kim Philby (who made careers of providing British secrets to their Soviet masters) add historical depth to
the international political hijinks. However, Schroeder is the star here. The slightly goofy patriot is bright
but not extravagantly so--much like author Laura Lippman's nerdy Baltimore PI, Tess Monaghan, or Peter
Robinson's Inspector Banks, whose dogged legwork and occasional epiphanies eventually solve the
problems at hand. Agent Schroeder is no Sherlock, and that makes him all the more appealing and the novel
more accessible. Beguiled readers will want to seek out Schroeder's two prior adventures (2008's A Pure
Double Cross and 2010's A Despicable Profession) as a stopgap until Knoerle hopefully blesses fans with a
fourth book (� la numerically expansive author Robert Rankin) in this delightful trilogy. A terrific
Cold War thriller.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Knoerle, John: THE PROXY ASSASSIN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2013. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A313325998/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=89f95542.
Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A313325998
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The Violin Player
The Bookwatch.
(Apr. 2005):
COPYRIGHT 2005 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bw/index.htm
Full Text:
The Violin Player
John Knoerle
Mayhaven Publishing
PO Box 557, Mahomet, IL 61853
www.mayhavenpublishing.com
193227801X $24.95 1-866-586-4493
Walter Sumner is a middle-aged owner of a Chicago trading firm with a problem: he's being stalked. As he
finds his stalker knows more about his family life--and their futures--than he, Walter finds himself
confronting mysterious web pages which seem to know family members' deaths before they happen. A
riveting, engrossing plot evolves with plenty of tension and strong characterization to hold The Violin
Player all together.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Violin Player." The Bookwatch, Apr. 2005. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A131592606/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d3cb38a0.
Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A131592606
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A Pure Double Cross
Small Press Bookwatch.
(Jan. 2009):
COPYRIGHT 2009 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
A Pure Double Cross
John Knoerle
Blue Steel Press
1648 W. Bloomingdale Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
9780974319919, $16.00, bluesteelpress@aol.com
Loyalty isn't permanent. It can wither away. "A Pure Double Cross" follows spy Hal Schroeder and his
failing loyalty to the US Government serving as a spy. After World War II, he's enlisted to take down the
mob, but wants out of the game and chooses betrayal as a way to do it and make a killing while doing it.
Hal soon finds that someone might be making a killing, but it won't be him. "A Pure Double Cross" is a
riveting thriller and original tale, highly recommended.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"A Pure Double Cross." Small Press Bookwatch, Jan. 2009. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A191954966/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=efd1c0ac.
Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A191954966
Book Review: Beer and Gasoline
DateMonday, August 14, 2017 at 1:35PM
Beer and Gasoline. John Knoerle. Chicago: Blue Steel Press, August 1, 2017, Trade Paperback and E-book, 298 pages.
Reviewed by Wayne Turmel.
“The Mojave Desert runs on beer and gasoline,” says one of the characters in Beer and Gasoline. It is that kind of insight into both the location (the desert around Needles, CA) and the times (1968, in all its cold-war paranoia and before the incursion of civilization into the last wild places) that serve as the engine for John Knoerle’s enjoyable spy thriller.
The protagonist, CIA agent Hal Schroeder, has appeared in three other novels in Knoerle’s “American Spy Trilogy.” This book appears to be the final, most cynical, entry in the series. Sent on a mission to uncover a murder near a top-secret installation deep in the desert, Schroeder discovers secrets hidden in the desert that make him question his loyalty to the Agency as well as its paranoid but brilliant leader, James Jesus Angleton. He becomes the key to a story involving double-crossing spies, Korean War deserters, Native American journalists and a young—but already far too cynical—local cop.
Fans of Cold War espionage stories will enjoy Knoerle’s well-thought-out and researched capture of time and place. I found the story easy to jump into, even though I had not read the previous titles in the series, although that might have helped with Schroeder’s backstory. The characters are unique and perfect for the time period. They are familiar without being the same old tropes.
Readers should know going in that Beer and Gasoline is not told in a traditional narrative. Rather, the story is told in flashbacks through documentary evidence: transcripts, newspaper articles, personal letters, and the handwritten notes of an aging, world-weary, and increasingly cynical spy. The presentation is unique, although some might find it distracting. When it works—as in the transcription of a surveillance audio—it’s fast paced, engaging, and moves the story along at breakneck speed. Some of the personal notes and letters required a suspension of disbelief that took me out of the story for a moment, and the author's use of “Dear Reader” seemed a bit out of place. However, these flaws did not diminish my enjoyment of the book.
As a fan of spy fiction, history, and the Mojave Desert and its residents, I enjoyed the ride.
A PURE DOUBLE CROSS
BOOK ONE OF THE AMERICAN SPY TRILOGY
John Knoerle
Blue Steel Press (October 2008)
Softcover $16.00 (264pp)
978-0-9743199-1-9
Tough, you say you want tough? Tough as nails? How about Mike Hammer on steroids tough? In A Pure Double Cross (Blue Steel Press, 978-0-9743199-1-9), even tough guy Hal Schroeder’s landlady is tough. When he tracks bloody footprints through the hallway, she offers to make him a nice breakfast. “Then,” she says, “you’ll get down on your hands and knees and scrub the carpet. Clean.”
This is a minor diversion for double-crossing ex-spy Hal, who’s busy infiltrating the Cleveland mob-the Cleveland right after World War II being darker than Gotham City. His target: the mysterious Mr. Big (yep, that’s his moniker). With author John Knoerle’s snappy, sometimes comic book approach, THIS IS FUN STUFF, sometimes funny, and sometimes unintentionally funny.
Reviewed by Dick Cady
July 15, 2009
The Story Behind ‘A Despicable Profession’ by John Knoerle
admin / September 23, 2010
2 Votes
My new novel is titled A Despicable Profession. It is Book Two of the American Spy Trilogy. Here is how I came to write it:
As a young man I cut my teeth on the masters of hardboiled detective fiction – Raymond Chandler, Dash Hammett, with a shot of James M. Cain on the side. However, while their dialogue crackled and their gaudy people and gritty places leapt off the page, I always felt there was something missing. The stories were too small, trapped inside their own seedy world.
The other literary masters I came to admire – Charles McCarry, John le Carré and Ken Follett – didn’t often feature the snappy patter and lurid characters I so enjoyed in hardboiled fiction. What these novelists did have was a bigger tale to tell, a story that had the potential to affect everyone in the United States, or Western Europe, or the whole damn world.
So why not combine the two? The oily charm of hardboiled fiction married to the big picture sweep of the spy thriller? You might argue that Ian Fleming’s James Bond series had already merged the two genres decades ago. I would agree that Fleming tried. But Ian Fleming the writer, in my opinion, was not worthy of carrying Raymond Chandler’s pencil box.
I’m probably not worthy either but I do try my heart out. Melding the rat-a-tat style of detective fiction with the ponderous substance of the spy novel has proved quite a challenge. The only way forward that I could see was to create a young protagonist, as opposed to the traditional lead character in both spy and detective novels – a middle-aged man well-seasoned by life.
Hal Schroeder, the hero of A Despicable Profession, is only 25 years old. He is not well-seasoned. He is young and cocky enough to think he has all the answers. His immaturity drives the action, as we watch Hal learn the painful lessons that veteran agents like le Carré’s George Smiley already know.
Too many spy novels, in this man’s opinion, are steeped in cynicism, which breeds lethargy. The protagonist does what needs to be done, coolly, professionally. But without passion. Not Hal Schroeder. He thinks he’s a cynical hard guy but his youthful enthusiasm always gets the better of him. Which is usually, but not always, for the best.
Find out more about Hal at www.bluesteelpress.com.
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John Knoerle was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949 and migrated to California with his family in the 1960s. He has worked as a stand-up comic, a voiceover actor and a radio reporter. He wrote the screenplay for “Quiet Fire,” which starred Karen Black and Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, and the stage play “The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club,” an LA Time’s Critics Choice. John also worked as a writer for Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Knoerle’s first novel, Crystal Meth Cowboys, published in 2003, was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, The Violin Player,won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction. Knoerle is currently at work on The American Spy Trilogy. Book One, A Pure Double Cross, came out in 2008. Book Two, A Despicable Profession, was published in August of 2010.
John Knoerle currently lives in Chicago with his wife, Judie.
You can visit his website at www.bluesteelpress.com.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010
Book Review: A Despicable Profession by John Knoerle
Do you like spy novels? Do you enjoy mystery and intrigue? Do you enjoy post-WWII fiction?
If you answered yes to any of these, you must pick up a copy of A Despicable Profession: Book Two of The American Spy Trilogy by John Knoerle.
It's May 1946. America is enjoying its victory over the Germans. The OSS has been disbanded and the CIA is still more than a year away from being formed.
Former OSS agent Hal Schroeder is offered a job as a trade rep in Berlin. When he flies to meet his new boss in New York, he's shocked to come face-to-face with former OSS Chief Bill Donovan. Schroeder has no interest in being a spy.
When rumors swirl about the Red Army massing tanks along the Elbe in East Germany, and Hal ends up meeting a man from his past in Berlin, Hal's interests take a backseat to discovering the truth.
My husband and I have this ongoing battle. I prefer to read fiction set during the American Revolution or the Civil War. The birth of our nation and the War that divided our country--in some places still does--fascinate me. I believe they hold a great influence, even today. My husband, however, believes that anything prior to World War II is unimportant. He prefers to read fiction set during that time period.
This helps to explain why I had no idea while I was reading A Despicable Profession that William Donovan was an actual person. The majority of my fiction entertainment dealing with Nazis and WII came in the form of Wonder Woman. But I enjoy mysteries and intrigue, so I figured I would give A Despicable Profession a chance.
It is an outstanding book!
Knoerle immerses the reader in Hal's world. Hal's a bit of a smart ass. Maybe that comes from being sent on repeated suicide missions in WWII. Speaking of that, did I mention that the guy Hal meets in Berlin is Victor Jacobson, the case officer who sent him on all those missions?
If you're getting the idea that Knoerle does an excellent job of pushing Hal to the limits, you would be right. Hal was more than happy to get out of the spy business. Now he's being drawn back in by his former cronies and forced to work with a guy he can't stand. Those naughty Russians, they are messing everything up. Why does the Central Intelligence Group have to be so darn ineffective?
I have to admit I fell in love with Hal. He's probably the only person more sarcastic than me. But the guy knows his stuff. He's a professional. There are so many twists and turns in this book I thought Hal would come out looking like a wrung out wet towel. And Ambrose, Sean, and Patrick Mooney provide some comic relief, but they are guys you won't forget soon.
Knoerle knows how to keep readers turning the pages. Never once did this book lag. I just kept flipping page after page, hoping to sneak in one more chapter before my eyes shut. Character development is certainly the author's strength, but the plot and the attention to detail are equally superb.
I loved A Despicable Profession so much that I am eager to read the first book in this trilogy, A Pure Double Cross. In addition, I hope Knoerle keeps me in mind when the last book comes out.
A Despicable Profession is a book you shouldn't miss!
In The Proxy Assassin, the third book in the Schroeder saga, the former World War Two Office of Special Services operative and post-war undercover agent returns to active service at the behest of old comrades. “I don’t have anyone else with your behind the lines experience,” an old boss pleads with Schroeder. “They’re all dead.” Although he knows in his gut that his mission to go deep behind the Iron Curtain into Romania in 1948 is doomed before he even leaves the States, Schroeder bucks up and heads off anyway. Readers will be glad he does, for the action while over there is fast-paced, intriguing and best of all, filled with some good twists and turns.
Most of the book’s first 160 pages are very good—especially when Schroeder is on his mission overseas. The flashback chapters set in Washington, D. C., however, are far more predictable and static, although there and later in the book Knoerle’s hero hob-knobs with the likes of “Wild Bill” Donovan, J. Edgar Hoover, John Foster Dulles, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, and other famous spies and spymasters of the era. Knoerle gets the look and feel of the Mayflower Hotel, Georgetown, and other D.C. landmarks, but it is not until he’s unleashed from these rather staid hitching posts that his storytelling really shines.
There is a light touch of Raymond Chandler to this writing, evidenced when he describes a Romanian princess as being “so perfect as to be almost beyond carnal desire,” or quipping as he does later that she is “one of those women you can’t take your eyes off of for fear you’ll miss something.” The former chief of her palace guard, Captain Sorin Dragomir, and the headman of the Magyar militia whom Schroeder encounters get similar treatment from Knoerle’s purple pen, which only adds to the novel’s enjoyment.
Knoerle’s book is a fun, light read that should appeal to fans of spy novels set in the late 1940s, back before the nuclear arms race overshadowed the more traditional cloak and dagger game of spies, coup plotters, revolutionaries, and insurrectionists.
The last 110 pages of the book are good, but anyone who has not read volumes one and two should stop before going there. While there is action aplenty, there is only a bare minimum of set up for this last 40 percent of the novel. Better the reader should refer to volumes one and two before finishing volume three; to do otherwise would be like flipping to the end of a story before reading the beginning and middle. And that would be a disservice to both Mr. Knoerle and to the reader.
Reviewed by Mark McLaughlin
January 18, 2013
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the author will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.