Lehrter Station
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
'Remarkable ... Downing is one of the brightest lights in the shadowy world of historical spy fiction'
Birmingham Post
'Excellent ... Downing's strength is his fleshing out of the tense and often dangerous nature of everyday life in a totalitarian state
The Times
'An extraordinary evocation of Nazi Germany'
C.J. SANSOM on Zoo Station
'Stands with Alan Furst for detail and atmosphere'
DONALD JAMES
'Outstanding'
Publishers Weekly on Lehrter Station
'Think Robert Harris and Fatherland mixed with a dash of Le Carré
Sue Baker, Publishing News
'A wonderfully drawn spy novel . . . A very auspicious debut, with more to come'
The Bookseller on Zoo Station
'Exciting and frightening all at once . . . It's got everything going for it'
Julie Walters
'An outstanding thriller . . . This series is a quite remarkable achievement'
Shots magazine --...
Birmingham Post
'Excellent ... Downing's strength is his fleshing out of the tense and often dangerous nature of everyday life in a totalitarian state
The Times
'An extraordinary evocation of Nazi Germany'
C.J. SANSOM on Zoo Station
'Stands with Alan Furst for detail and atmosphere'
DONALD JAMES
'Outstanding'
Publishers Weekly on Lehrter Station
'Think Robert Harris and Fatherland mixed with a dash of Le Carré
Sue Baker, Publishing News
'A wonderfully drawn spy novel . . . A very auspicious debut, with more to come'
The Bookseller on Zoo Station
'Exciting and frightening all at once . . . It's got everything going for it'
Julie Walters
'An outstanding thriller . . . This series is a quite remarkable achievement'
Shots magazine --...
Product Description
November 1945. John Russell is walking home through the grey streets of postwar London when his old accomplice, Soviet agent Yevgeny Shchepkin, falls into step alongside him. Shchepkin informs Russell that his masters in Moscow have decided it's time to pay them back for securing his safe passage from Russia in the last days of the war.
Russell must return to Berlin to spy on his former colleagues in the German Communist Party, reporting on any deviation from the Stalinist line. Worse, he is ordered to offer his services to the Americans -- in short, to become a double agent on Stalin's payroll.
But Russell knows too well how short the life expectancy of a double agent is. Together, he and Shchepkin, who has finally lost faith in the Soviet utopia, hatch a plan to gain their freedom.
The stakes are high, both for Russell and his girlfriend Effi, who has accompanied him to Berlin. In a world fuelled by paranoia and on the edge of a new, 'cold' war, they will need all their wits -- and some luck -- to survive.
Russell must return to Berlin to spy on his former colleagues in the German Communist Party, reporting on any deviation from the Stalinist line. Worse, he is ordered to offer his services to the Americans -- in short, to become a double agent on Stalin's payroll.
But Russell knows too well how short the life expectancy of a double agent is. Together, he and Shchepkin, who has finally lost faith in the Soviet utopia, hatch a plan to gain their freedom.
The stakes are high, both for Russell and his girlfriend Effi, who has accompanied him to Berlin. In a world fuelled by paranoia and on the edge of a new, 'cold' war, they will need all their wits -- and some luck -- to survive.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
David Downing's new novel, "Lerter Station", is the fifth book in his John Russell series. Begun in pre-war Berlin and continuing through the war, Downing now takes his characters in this book from London to Berlin in the fall of 1945. Russell and his girl-friend, actress Effi Koenen, return to the war-ruined city in a somewhat convoluted plot involving Soviet spies. Most plots dealing with spies in these books - Downing's, Philip Kerr's, Alan Furst's - usually have the spies double, tripling, hell, even quadruple, spying. Frankly, I got confused dealing with the who/what/why of the spying in Downing's book. So I tended to concentrate on the other parts of the story, which were far more interesting.
Life in post-war Berlin was difficult enough for the city's residents. So many buildings were damaged, so many people lost in the bombings and war battles and, of course, in the concentration camps. The city was a meeting place for the war's survivors and most people were trying to find loved ones and friends they had lost track of during the war. The city was divided into four parts - American, British, French, and Russian - and while people could move between the parts fairly easily, already the Russian Zone was taking on an ominous tone as restrictions were beginning to be put in place by the occupying Soviets. Russell has returned to do a little spying, a little reporting, and a lot of fence-mending. Effi has returned to act in a new movie, the first to be filmed in post-war Germany. She was also trying to find the father of a young Jewish girl she had sheltered during the war and was hoping to permanently adopt, as well as the daughter of a Jewish couple she had helped during the war. Downing also includes many other characters from the four earlier books. I think this book might be his last in the series, only because he does tie up a lot of loose ends.
I really wish there had been less of the spying story - by the middle of the book I couldn't tell who was allied with who and, frankly, didn't much care - and more of the "side stories". He writes well about the Jewish pipeline from Europe to Palestine as well as the black-market industry and daily life in a cold, bombed out city, trying to come to terms with its past and make a future under the presence of four occupying powers. I think "Lehrter Station" is the weakest of the five books, but it was still worth reading.
Life in post-war Berlin was difficult enough for the city's residents. So many buildings were damaged, so many people lost in the bombings and war battles and, of course, in the concentration camps. The city was a meeting place for the war's survivors and most people were trying to find loved ones and friends they had lost track of during the war. The city was divided into four parts - American, British, French, and Russian - and while people could move between the parts fairly easily, already the Russian Zone was taking on an ominous tone as restrictions were beginning to be put in place by the occupying Soviets. Russell has returned to do a little spying, a little reporting, and a lot of fence-mending. Effi has returned to act in a new movie, the first to be filmed in post-war Germany. She was also trying to find the father of a young Jewish girl she had sheltered during the war and was hoping to permanently adopt, as well as the daughter of a Jewish couple she had helped during the war. Downing also includes many other characters from the four earlier books. I think this book might be his last in the series, only because he does tie up a lot of loose ends.
I really wish there had been less of the spying story - by the middle of the book I couldn't tell who was allied with who and, frankly, didn't much care - and more of the "side stories". He writes well about the Jewish pipeline from Europe to Palestine as well as the black-market industry and daily life in a cold, bombed out city, trying to come to terms with its past and make a future under the presence of four occupying powers. I think "Lehrter Station" is the weakest of the five books, but it was still worth reading.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having already read the previous 4 books in the already weakening series I was hoping that a post war change of direction would be used to good effect in the vein of Bernie Gunther. Instead the bulk of the book was devoted to catching up on what had happened to side characters from the previous books in the form of "I wonder what happened to so and so" before random events and coincidence presented the solution to a problem that would never have crossed the reader's mind.
There was a weak story-line about the black market in post war Berlin which was more of a matter of course rather than an intriguing plot, needless to say the main protagonists became involved through a series of unlikely random events and coincidences.
Other than that there was very little cohesive plot, few characters of interest, old characters became increasingly annoying in their self-righteous views and then the book finishes leaving myself wondering "what was the point of that?".
Overall at best it is a tying up of loose ends (more so for the author than the readers perhaps?)
One star is all it deserves,avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Definitely the end of the line for the "Station" series.
Do not read if you have not read the prior books in the series as it will make little sense.
p.s. this is the first time I have been motivated to review a book.
There was a weak story-line about the black market in post war Berlin which was more of a matter of course rather than an intriguing plot, needless to say the main protagonists became involved through a series of unlikely random events and coincidences.
Other than that there was very little cohesive plot, few characters of interest, old characters became increasingly annoying in their self-righteous views and then the book finishes leaving myself wondering "what was the point of that?".
Overall at best it is a tying up of loose ends (more so for the author than the readers perhaps?)
One star is all it deserves,avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Definitely the end of the line for the "Station" series.
Do not read if you have not read the prior books in the series as it will make little sense.
p.s. this is the first time I have been motivated to review a book.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I really enjoyed the previous books in this series but found this one very dull and derivative. so glad it was ebook rather than buying but on this showing i`ll get the next one from the library.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
