It’s the early 1990s. The Berlin Wall has come down and the Soviet Union has collapsed. Time for a new start in East-West relationships. American art historian Francesca Mc Dermott is invited to Berlin to organise an exhibition of 20th century Russian art. Meanwhile a Russian couple trading in stolen Russian icons has been murdered and tortured in Berlin. And in Moscow the hunt is on for a rogue KGB agent who has gone missing. These three threads come together in a relatively entertaining tale of espionage with all the concomitant elements of the spy thriller. There’s lots of murky stuff going on in the background, plenty of twists and turns and misdirection, but it’s all rather predictable with some stock characters thrown into the mix. What irritated me, however, was the very male fantasy aspect of the novel. Francesca falls head over hills in love with the man from Moscow come to help with the exhibition and from then on talks and behaves like the most stereotypical romance heroine. “Even if Andrei was a murderer, a torturer and a thief, she was committed to him for better for worse.” “…she had no doubt the savage Muscovite could be tamed and ennobled by her love.” Really? This from an independent American professional? And what about this? “…she took a certain pleasure in drawing into her lungs the same smoke that had been in the deepest recesses of his body.” Piers Paul Read doesn’t seem too informed about what women really feel. She even manages to shrug off an attempted rape in a particularly unsavoury episode. And as for the melodramatic ending….However, overall the book is well-researched and atmospheric and even if the characters are two-dimensional, Read sets a good pace and the troubled relations between west and east post-reunification are conveyed realistically. Not a bad book, by any means, but certainly not a very good one.

Somewhat entertaining, but predictable ending

I’m always a sucker for Berlin set thrillers, however this one didn’t hit the mark.

Whilst the background details are quite solid the plot was weak, the characters lacked any real depth and the end was predictable.

Not recommended.

I've read quite a few thrillers by the like of John LeCarre and Len Deighton but these generally dealt with the Soviet era East Berlin more than the post Berlin Wall tales.
The novel is very interesting that it straddled both of these periods exploring the 2 different major players in the post war Germany.

It is the early ‘90s in Berlin. The wall has only been down for a few years and the divide between East and West remains obvious. Those in the West are more affluent and live the dream. Those in the East still look over their shoulders even though the dreaded Stasi has been disbanded.

A married couple who fence Russian icons has been murdered. The husband was shot through the heart but the wife was brutally tortured but to what end? No progress has been made in identifying or arresting the killer(s).

Francesca McDermott is an American art expert who flies to Berlin to visit her old friend Sophie and her second husband Stefan Diederich, Berlin’s newly appointed minister of culture. Stefan proposes the staging of an exhibition of Russian modern art and asks her to become heavily involved, working with a Russian expert, Andrei Serotkin.

On the face of it, the novel has everything. Reflections of the cold war, the clash of East and West, cultural differences, Russian machinations, ex-Stasi members etc. It is remarkably well researched but unfortunately not very well executed.

The characters are two-dimensional and for a supposedly well-educated, intelligent woman, Francesca is a little dense as she fails to spot how she is being set up as the patsy. The whole plot was just a little too predictable to be enjoyable and also far too transparent. It didn’t take a super-brain to work things out early in the proceedings. The ending is also a huge disappointment for Francesca but since I felt no compassion or empathy for her it didn’t affect me either way.

A disappointing read which initially had so much potential. It was a shame it did not live up to expectations.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Living in Berlin, I was interested in reading this book. It's entertaining but, unfortunately, it was easy to figure out who the "mystery" patriot was. And the ending, while predictable, was disappointing.