I love the character of Joe Wilderness, and the humor woven in the book was magnificent and effortlessly done. That being said I think the reader would benefit from starting at the first book and working through it chronologically rather than reading the series from this book. It was a little hard to understand who was and wasn't friends with whom. It read very like a John le Carre novel, which I like but I find it slightly too political. Having studied the politics of the Cold War at school I had a rough idea what was going on in Europe but I found the book was slightly too heavy with the detail, which I felt would not have added to the story. However, if you really like the Cold War era of history then this would be a plus point for you. Still the book was very good and I have given it four stars.