Rating: 
Summary: A real page-turner
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys WWII spy thrillers or to anyone looking for a great, fast read this summer. WWII Britain, Germany, and the U.S. come to life brilliantly. Altman skillfully weaves together the adventures of his Nazi villainess/heroine, the personally-driven actions of a British double agent, and tantalizing glimpses of historical places and figures. The result is an extremely well-written page-turner -- I couldn't put it down. It could have been predictable, but it wasn't. In fact, Altman manages to keep up the suspense until the last pages, leaving us waiting anxiously for the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Blood, Guts, Glory!
Review: If you don't like action and gore you won't like this book. I thought it was entertaining and very well written, and recommend it highly to readers who enjoy spy thrillers. I can't figure out what the people who wrote the very negative customer reviews are talking about, unless they've never read the genre before.
Rating: 
Summary: A better musician, I hope
Review: I have given this book one star only because Amazon's rating system does not allow a zero-star rating.A major problem with the book was the author's failure to create characters with some depth - some life - to them, so it was difficult to care much about their trials and tribulations. And then there was the plot. The villain - a female Nazi spy named Katrina Heinrich- had been infiltrated into the United States before World War II started, but has been out of contact with her Nazi employers for some time. As the story opens, she kills a friend in New York and takes the friend's place as a domestic in Princeton, NJ. She then marries her employer, who happens to be a physicist later selected to go to Los Alamos as part of the Manhattan Project. While at Los Alamos, our spy manages to wander around the Technical Area and rifles General Groves' office - where she learns the secret of the Manhattan Project. She decides that she must, somehow, re-establish contact with Germany and give them this vital information. She decides that, since direct travel to Germany from the US is out of the question, she will head for England. There she hopes to find a fellow spy who trained with her. She is sure he will be able to help her. So, she kills again. This time her victim is a Los Alamos employee with access to a government car. Somehow, she drives this stolen military vehicle from Los Alamos to Ohio (no ration card, no travel authorization, no nothing) without any problems. In Ohio she kills a young woman and assumes the woman's identity. Although there is no indication that this latest victim had a passport (and passports were much less widely held in the early-1940s than they are today), Katrina has no trouble booking passage on a ship from New York to England. Arriving in London, a city overrun with military personnel who have occupied all sorts of buildings for the war effort, she quickly locates the house in which her fellow spy is, it turns out, being held as part of the British double agent program. To free her colleague, Katrina assaults the house and has no trouble killing the eight British guards. Here she learns the secret of the British "Double Cross" program - more vital information she must get to the Fatherland. Can the wily British catch her before she spills the beans about two of the greatest secrets of the war? And on and on it goes; each scene less believable than the one before. There are more twists and turns and subplots, but they are not handled any better. There was one page of good dialogue, but I forgot to mark that page, so I can't point out that highlight to you. There are good books out there that are worth the time and money. This book is not worth either. Pass it by.
Rating:
Summary: Poor at best
Review: This is the first review I've felt compelled to write. This book is awful. The only interesting aspects read suspiciously like " An Unlikely Spy". The editorial reviews are bogus. Don't waste your time or money.
Rating:
Summary: SPY GENRE CLASSIC
Review: As a history buff with a particular interest in World War II I found this book to be an entertaining , thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. The Princeton connection was of particular interest to me. I'm wondering what Princeton mathematics professor Richard Carter is modelled after. This is a book that's difficult to put down once you start it! I have recommended this book to all my pilot friends - it's just the kind of book we like to take along for the ride.Pr
Rating:
Summary: Non Stop Action!!
Review: What a great read this book is. It's a classic World War II spy yarn with some interesting and unexpected twists. The action is virtually non-stop, and the dialogue and plotting are intriguing. I hope never to meet Katarina Heinrich on a dark corner. Anyone who likes this genre is sure to love this book. Can't wait for the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Borrrring !!
Review: This book just arrived at our libray & I am the first to read it. How Stephen Coonts, Jack Higgins & Ronald Kessler could give this book a rave review is beyond me. I suspect that there is an 'Old Boy Network' in publishing as well as anywhere else. John Altman is a musician, perhaps he should write about that since he knows next to nothing about spy novels! It may be that I am being too harsh in my criticism; mayhap his next novel will be better. PS I hope he does not try to have Katarina try to sell her atomic secrets to the Russians in his second book; that would be too much.
Rating:
Summary: Borrrrrring !!
Review: This book just arrived in our local library & I am the first person to read it. How such authors as Stephen Coonts, Jack Higgins & Ronald Kessler could give this author a rave review is beyond me. It must be a requirement of the publihing world that there has to be an 'Old Boy Network' in writing as well as everything else. Altman is a musician, perhaps he should write about that since he knows next to nothing about spy novels! I know I am being harsh; maybe his next book will be better but "A Gathering of Spies" as a first effort is pretty poor.
Rating: 
Summary: I've seen this idea handled MUCH better
Review: This appears to be an attempt to take off on Daniel Silva's "An Unlikely Spy", which was a REAL thriller. Many of Altman's repeated phrases ( e.g., "between the fourth and fifth ribs" ) quickly became boring. I suspect that anyone who thinks this is "a exciting first novel" ( &c. ) hasn't read Silva's book.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, but not Good either!
Review: I know that is a harsh title, but this is not one of my favorite books. I feel the plot was very predictable and I had a hard time working my way through it. The last hundred pages started to get interesting, however, it ended much to suddenly. You build and build and build, then end it that suddenly. I would have liked it to continue for another 100 pages, a lot more could and should of been said. I will, however, read his next novel.
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