There can be a lot of shallow reading when it comes to espionage thrillers, but in Leaving Berlin Joseph Kanon has built up a fast paced and fascinating account of post war life in the gated city. While there are lots of reasons why the book is such a good read, it all hangs on how well it plays its cards close to its chest and on this front it’s a master of false tracks and misdirection to keep you guessing and genuinely surprised right the way to the end.
The book was released on hardback, audio book and digital download in November 2014 and won’t be coming to paperback until the 27th August 2015. It’s 384 pages of gripping thriller action that does a very good job of bringing the issues and reality of the era and location to life, creating interesting characters to intersect in the dangerous streets of the German capital in 1949. This is swirled together with hints of romance, family and friendship to present an intricate portrait of the situation.
The story follows Alex Meier, a young and famous Jewish writer, who returns to his home city of Berlin, working for the American intelligence in a bid to earn his ticket to stay in the States. Sent undercover to the segmented city, which had by this stage been formally split into an East and West state, he’s tasked with helping the CIA in their exploits in the ideologically polarized region to avoid being deported permanently and losing his family.
It doesn’t take long for Alex to get in over his head in the first scuffles of what went on to be the Cold War as he becomes embroiled in a fatal mission, leading to the death of a East German agent. However, it becomes clear that the main reason for his return to Berlin is to use his relationship with a former lover, the only women he’s ever loved, to the advantage of the Americans, leaving him with the first of a number of big dilemmas to face.
It makes for a very solid premise for the characters to develop within, especially Alex, who finds that lines can be crossed with ease when you’re faced with the right level of leverage or danger. It’s a point that is not missed within the construct of the setting during the aftermath of the horrors of Nazi Germany as the country tried to move on from the atrocities that plagued their recent past.
It also acts as an effective review of the political situation that underpins the story, with no side left without some level of acrimony, whether it’s the communist persecutions in the United States, the German people that had a part in the war, the Russian soldiers that descended on Germany like vengeful animals or the myopic beligerence of Stalinist communism.
In just a few sentences, Joseph Kanon manages to perfectly sum up all that was wrong with the operations of the Russian-led Communist Part during the Stalin days. Neat dissections of the purges intertwine with a reviewing breakdown of the strict doctrine of loyalty to the party that is ensured through a process of suspicion, fear and unquestionable punishment. Upwards facing self analysis is quashed mercilessly with pointing fingers at the tendrils of loyal party members and Alex finds himself in the thick of it as things start to unravel.
One element to note is that Joseph Kanon openly moves time around to feature the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) party purge in the plot, to allow this to act in parallel with the Russian blockade and American airlift, which features as a big part of the story. Essentially, the story is set in January 1949, but the purge and their associated show trials didn’t start until 1950, so your sort of left to yourself to reconcile this as either a necessary transgression to fit everything in or a missed opportunity to draw things out to a longer time frame.
Either way you look at it though the book is well written and fast paced to the point that you’ll need to have your wits about you to keep up. Our only minor issue is that the editors have missed a few typos along the way, which we can’t judge too harshly (kids in glass house etc.), but it’s not every day read a sentence that includes the mistaken term, “a pubic family welcome” instead of “a public family welcome”. It can get a little annoying the way sentences trail off with a slash too as if people just stop talking, but it doesn’t take much away from the overall quality of the book.
Joseph Kanon’s Leaving Berlin is dark, moody and dramatic, with the right amount of romantic development and unexpected, shadowy revelations. It’ll keep you just on the edge of guessing what’s going on, or convinced that it’s starting to get predictable, only to spin the rug underneath you and bringing you crashing to the dark and sinister truths of the crumbled city that was Berlin in 1949.
Joseph Kanon Leaving Berlin review: 4/5
