4.6 stars on Amazon and 4.3 on Goodreads Book 4 of 5 in Herbie Kruger series This is an advanced reader copy Maestro by John Gardner is a gripping and provocative novel that is a perfect fit for readers who appreciate complex characters, intricate plots, and historical intrigue, as it masterfully weaves together themes of deception, loyalty, and the blurred lines between truth and fiction. DESCRIPTION America's greatest living orchestra conductor, Louis Passau, has reached the great age of ninety years. Still sound in mind and body, he prepares to commemorate this milestone at a concert in his honor at New York's Lincoln Center. But scandal threatens to spoil Passau's celebration when he is accused of having spied for Hitler and of aiding clandestine KGB operations in the United States during the Cold War. The CIA, FBI and British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) have come to an arrangement with the Maestro: he may conduct the concert, but he is to be interrogated immediately afterward by SIS agent-runner Herbie Kruger. When the concert ends, an attempt is made on Passau's life and "Big Herbie" - along with the quick-witted and very desirable young SIS agent Pucky Curtiss - takes the Maestro into hiding. There Kruger and Curtiss listen to the extraordinary confession of this fatally flawed man - brilliant on the podium, charming in public, foul-mouthed and streetwise in private - a man whose deceits, successes and often tragic loves are as improbable as they are enthralling. As it becomes more and more difficult to separate the truth about Passau's life from the fiction, it also becomes nearly impossible to determine who the Maestro of the title actually is - the musician, Passau, or his interrogator, Kruger. As past deceits explode into the present, the lives of all three participants are twisted into a maelstrom of tragedy surrounding the Maestro.