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Istanbul Passage

by Joseph Kanon (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 1,117 ratings · 280 reviews

A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul survived the Second World War as a magnet for refugees and spies, trafficking in secrets and lies rather than soldiers. Expatriate American businessman Leon Bauer was drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs in support of the Allied war effort.
Now, as the espionage community begins to pa...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published April 16th 2013 by Washington Square Press (first published May 29th 2012)

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Jul 17, 2012 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

A book I was savoring... it's that good.
There are parallels to Graham Greene and John le Carre here... more of the former compared to the latter, with a bit of Jenkens thrown in. The fantastic never happens, the predictable occurs (and because this is a thriller you may hope it does not)- but the characters are so well rounded, so deeply camouflaged from themselves, as the Californians out there may say "conflicted," that all the story (and I mean all apart from solid history) is character drive...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mystery, Holocaust history, Istanbul fans

Recommended to Lily by: F2F book group

Okay -- I must be on my one of my "softie" streaks -- two 4 star books within a few days.

But any book that compels me enough to read it in two days tends to beg for one more star than that three star midpoint. On that basis alone, Istanbul Passage is getting my nod.

I don't read this genre a lot -- mystery, crime, adventure -- not sure where the categorization pros slot this one. Thus, I'm not sure how well the writing stands up to those standards. I did find the phrases (versus sentences) discon...more

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Mar 04, 2013 John Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you like Alan Furst (and you should!) you will probably like this.

Author Joseph Kanon sets his story in Istanbul directly after WW2. Leon Bauer ostensibly works for an American tobacco company while doing clandestine early Cold War work for the US consulate and caring for his wife, a German Jew who has been traumatized by a disastrous experience working to move refugees through Turkey to Israel. This story revolves around a similar project, with Leon stuck in the middle of one, then two murde...more

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Jan 12, 2013 David Madden rated it 4 of 5 stars

Obviously, Joseph Kanon so loves Istanbul that he could not resist moving his protagonist back and forth all over the city. Everyone who goes there loves that city. For anyone who has not yet gone there, Kanon’s love will set you down walking on Galata Bridge, breathing the air sweeping over the Golden Horn from the Bosphorus strait. Inside, front and back, a very effective two-page map shows where we are. Never mind that the time frame is wartime early 1940’s.

But Istanbul Passage is less a tra...more Obviously, Joseph Kanon so loves Istanbul that he could not resist moving his protagonist back and forth all over the city. Everyone who goes there loves that city. For anyone who has not yet gone there, Kanon’s love will set you down walking on Galata Bridge, breathing the air sweeping over the Golden Horn from the Bosphorus strait. Inside, front and back, a very effective two-page map shows where we are. Never mind that the time frame is wartime early 1940’s.

But Istanbul Passage is less a travel narrative or a love story than it is a moody psychological espionage tale. Leon Bauer is an expatriate American businessman who allows himself to get caught up in the Allied war effort doing odd jobs and courier runs for a business associate who is involved in delivering a war criminal to either the Russians or the Americans. Leon himself ends up with the task of trying to save the life of that loathsome creature.

Leon visits his psychotic wife who languishes in a clinic, simultaneously falling in love with the estranged wife of a businessman who is mysteriously murdered. The body count is rather low, but the tension is consistently very high, as Leon moves the war criminal from place to place, dealing with a vicious Russian official and an official of the Turkish police.

Kanon has forged a somewhat unique style. More effectively than Le Carre, Graham Greene, or even Georges Simenon, Kanon simulates murky perception and thought processes.

The reader’s experience is one of prolonged immersion in the sustained point of view of Leon whose dangerous predicaments render him acutely aware. “Had they heard about the shooting yet? Pages being made up, lines of type. Murder in Bebek. Mysterious shooting on the Bosphorus. No witnesses. Never suspecting the witness was outside their windows right now. Not just a witness, the killer. The sound of the shot was still in his head, an echo. Life gone in a minute, that easy.”

Author of five previous novels, including The Good German, Kanon is also a master of fast paced dialogue.

Few visitors to Istanbul see as much as Kanon shows by a fitful light.(less)

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Nov 13, 2012 Rhiannon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was only ok. I was going on holiday to Istanbul and wanted something to read. I thought this would be perfect - a thriller le Carre style set in the very city I was visiting. Well, I enjoyed the referneces to the Hagia Sophia and the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, the crossing of the Golden Horn and the fishermen on the Galata Bridge. All that rang true.
I could not, however, get on board with Kanon's style of writing. It read like a movie script, or should I say, a wannabe movie script....more

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Oct 08, 2012 Rob Kitchin rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Istanbul Passage Kanon envelopes the reader in the city in the immediate post-war era - a city on the fulcrum between East and West in a country seeking to remain somewhat neutral in the coming cold war. Kanon expertly recreates its cultural landscape and sense of place - the melting pot of sights and sounds; the busy waterways and markets; the contrasts between rich and poor; and the political and diplomatic haunts of consulates, hotels and private parties. The characterisation is keenly obs...more

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Aug 26, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really a fine novel here. And I love titles that have 2 (or in this case at least 3) different meanings. But, pay attention when reading! The thoughts expressed on the page shift from action to dialog to the protagonist's inner thoughts without warning and sometimes in the same paragraph ...

An analogy comes to mind that may help out this review - in all of the superhero (e.g. Spiderman) movies, I'm always most interested in the episodes where they first discover and experiment with their super p...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Mark Gilroy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Istanbul in World War II? Whose side were they on? Allies or Axis? No peeking!

I'll admit, until I picked up Kanon's post WWII novel I didn't know either. As a city straddling two continents with competing histories from the East and West, no surprise they were neutral.

Their geography also made it not surprising that they were a shipping and smuggling center for both sides. I was surprised to learn that for much of WWII they were the safest transfer link in smuggling Jews from Europe to Palestine...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Arthur rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's 1945 in Istanbul. The war's over and the cold war's not yet started. Leon is a stringer for a US intelligence group who delivered packages around Turkey during the war. His boss tells him that the operation's beig rolled up because the war's over, but there's one last job, to pick up a Romanian fascist defector who might be useful to the US. The operation goes badly wrong and Leon's asked to find the killer.

This is a delightfully engrossing noirish murder mystery. Plot twists and turns galo...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Mickey Hoffman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Istanbul is one of my favorite foreign cities which made reading the book more enjoyable. Although I have no idea what the city was like just after WWII when the story takes place, I almost wish I could time travel back. Istanbul is the sort of city where you feel time shift around you.

The story is about conflicting interests between the Soviet Union, the United States and the Turkish nation played out in a world of shifting and tenuous alliances. The main character is an American who is married...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Agnes Benis rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A suspenseful thriller set at the end of World War II in Istanbul. The city is one of the characters and is aptly portrayed as a place of intrigue. The author uses the tourist spots as part of the story in a fascinating way, so mysterious and beautiful and multi-cultured. Leon is a tobacco executive, sometime spy. His job is to deliver a high level spy defecting from the Russians to the Americans. . There is alot of betrayal, no winning characters and some humanity under extreme circumstances. L...more A suspenseful thriller set at the end of World War II in Istanbul. The city is one of the characters and is aptly portrayed as a place of intrigue. The author uses the tourist spots as part of the story in a fascinating way, so mysterious and beautiful and multi-cultured. Leon is a tobacco executive, sometime spy. His job is to deliver a high level spy defecting from the Russians to the Americans. . There is alot of betrayal, no winning characters and some humanity under extreme circumstances. Leon is the most honorable and he kills Tommy who was ready to sacrifice him in the operation to hand over the Romanian and he kills the Romanian spy at his request. (Leon has said that the spy networks, the secret police etc. are "all bastards." Leon's wife is in a catatonic state from her work during the war of transporting Jews escaping the Nazis. One mission failed and she witnessed the refugees, including children, drowning. Leon is attracted to and has an affair with Frank's wife. There are many layers to the story. Kay, Frank's wife, is part of a husband/wife spy team and she was trying to get information that Leon might have on why the handover failed and Tommy killed. Subsequently Frank is also killed and his wife wants his killer. The twist is that the Americans will now learn the identity of a mole if they return the Romanian to the Russians. In the end the Americans, the Russians, everybody wants the Romanian dead. (He was involved in some ghastly operations against Jews in the War.) The Turkish secret policeman wants Leon to work for him; Leon refuses, but is made to realize that the Turk knows who killed Tommy and he could also spread unflattering stories regarding Leon and the Romanian. Leon would not be trusted by any side. In essence the Turk blackmails Leon and makes the promise that he will work for Turkey, but never against the Americans. However, there are alot of unkept promises in the book and Leon is caught in the bind, partly because he can afford his wife's care in the Turkish clinic. The book ends with Leon talking to his wife and hoping she will "come back." I don't think so. (less)

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Jul 21, 2012 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Note to readers: What follows are most impressions rather than conventional book review. Also be aware of spoilers.

This is my first book by Joseph Kanon I’ve and it compares very favorably with the other espionage novels I’ve read. At least in respect to the setting, it reminds me of Alan Furst’s Night Soldiers series, taking place Istanbul, rather than on the front lines of the major players. The twists and turns of the story kept my attention. The phrase, “moral ambiguity”, is often used to de...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Mal Warwick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Intrigue, Romance, and Betrayal in Post-World War II Istanbul

Some books build slowly, and just as you begin to wonder whether you have the energy to finish them, you discover you’re a captive and no longer able to put them aside. Then they build and build, until you find yourself on the last page, out of breath from the frenzied rush to the end. Istanbul Passage is one of those books.

Kanon, born in 1946, writes spy stories about the period immediately following World War II and before the Korean...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Cathi Davis rated it 2 of 5 stars

A John LeCarre wanna be, but the character is not as complex as George Smiley. Not sure I even like the main character or his "love interest." The most compelling character is his brain addled wife, but, unfortunately she does little except provide a room for exposition. How could an accidental spy be so good at what is portrayed in other books as a craft? It kind of demeans the whole profession and makes it seem like any intelligent person could double deal, elude tails, create alibis, etc. I d...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Judith Starkston rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mystery

Hard to imagine any other setting for Kanon’s historical thriller, Istanbul Passage. Post World War II spy intrigues, war criminals seeking new friends, allegiances shifting yet again between America and Russia, battered Jews looking for refuge, illicit romance, the legacy of harems and the labyrinthine streets opening onto the wide waterway connecting two continents. Where better than Istanbul to depict the mire of ambiguous compromises, the sinuous balancing of countries against each other by...more Hard to imagine any other setting for Kanon’s historical thriller, Istanbul Passage. Post World War II spy intrigues, war criminals seeking new friends, allegiances shifting yet again between America and Russia, battered Jews looking for refuge, illicit romance, the legacy of harems and the labyrinthine streets opening onto the wide waterway connecting two continents. Where better than Istanbul to depict the mire of ambiguous compromises, the sinuous balancing of countries against each other by those too crafty to reveal themselves, the naïve light of idealism shadowing into something dingy but workable? An ancient city that has known many masters and seen so much.

At one point a character in Kanon’s book points out that the Westerners view Istanbul as a bridge between Europe and Asia, but for the Turks, and for the Ottomans in their day, it is the center, not a place to pass through. That tension pervades the novel. The plot revolves around characters seeking passage through Istanbul to escape horrors behind them, either of their own or others’ making. Other characters strive to maintain Turkey’s tenuous hold on living in the center. The main character, Leon, may make a passage or he may join the centuries of tangled roots clinging to Istanbul. In the process he makes a rite of passage through moral compromises and idealistic choices, betrayals and loyalties, that is so subtle and sophisticated the reader never loses interest.

Leon, we hope along with him, is a good man—at least an ordinary man like us who can rise to the occasion when called upon. He’s easy to identify with, but what a tangled mess he gets into without there being an identifiable moment that tripped him up. We know we could have gotten there just as easily. He clings to the notion of doing right—but right for whom? His country? An adrenalin high? Displaced Jews? His wife? During the war, spying and death were easy to justify, but what now?

Then there’s Alexei. Not a good man, not ever, we fear. The classic bad guy, torturing Jews out of racial hatred, inherent badness, a man who kills without remorse. Why should Leon help such a man? Does he have information worth preserving? Does every man deserve to live? Does Leon find it impossible to be responsible for his death—no more reason than that fundamentally moral position? Leon’s most morally admirable friend tells him to turn Alexei over to his enemies who will kill him. Then glimmers of some other sort of man show through as Kanon develops Alexei. Do we feel sympathy for him? Was there a time when he was good but that is past, or do men, like cities, carry their layers forever existent simultaneously? It’s a cliché, but life is complicated. Kanon excels at making us feel that in our bones. Complicated, but also exciting.

Even the trees in Istanbul Passage tell the story—along the Bosphorus the Judas trees will bloom again, flowers hiding the betrayals. Is that enough to make life worth living? This suspenseful, full-bodied novel will hold you in a thoughtful embrace.
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Jun 12, 2012 Nan rated it 4 of 5 stars

American Leon Bauer is mourning his mad wife and the end of the war as he goes about his daily business as a tobacco rep in Istanbul in 1945. He's agreed to perform one more covert errand for a friend in the American consulate--these harmless missions help Leon feel involved in the war effort (he failed the physical to actually serve). When this last one goes wrong and he ends up killing the agent who hired him, he's launched on a roller-coaster of choices that must be made in an environment of...more

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May 27, 2012 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fast-paced and involving, Istanbul Passage gives an "insiders view" of life at the end of World War II as seen thru the eyes of Leon Bauer, and American living in Turkey who is thrust into a dangerous and complicated web of deceit that his job as a "part time" spy has not prepared him for. Used to "routine" assignments-helping to transport refugees from Nazi occupied countries-Leon learns in a split second that even his closest friends are not who they seem to be, and then tries to navigate a wo...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Candace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just when you think you have heard every horror of World War II, Joseph Kanon tells you about Străuleşti. In earlier thrillers like “The Good German” and “Los Alamos” Kanon has gone to unexplored corners of the war experience and turned them into exceptionally atmospheric novels. “Istanbul Passage” covers the period right after the war when government intelligence networks were being dismantled, but new alliances were forming to smuggle Jews to Palestine and bring people with certain knowledge t...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Eastbelt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I admire Kanon's novels; at his best as in "The Good German" he combines suspense, interesting characters and a great gift for background and setting. While "Istanbul Passage" is good at providing an interesting and unusual historical context (Istanbul in 1945, sending Jewish refugees to Palestine, and the start of the Cold War), this book gets off to a rather slow start, with a lot of meandering dialogue. A major problem with the book is its style - an excess of terse, clipped, narrative and di...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This one showed up in my book stack as a gift, complete with the mostly favorable NY Times review clipped inside (more on that below). The timing was good - I'd only recently returned from Istanbul (only my second time, a truly exotic location), and the geography, sights, sounds, and smells were fresh in my mind. I'd not read Kanon previously, but I understand that his work changes places, but remains mostly fixed in the chaotic end-of-to-post-WWII-era of the 1940's, obviously a fertile period f...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Colleen Clark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, fiction, middle-east

A gripping story. I could hardly stand to read the last chapter so uncertain was I how it was going to turn out and who would survive and who were the good guys and who the bad ones....And even so, it wasn't clear in the end.

I picked it up in the first place because the title with the 'I' in Istanbul dotted, as it is in Turkish, and the evocative cover photo by the famous Turkish photographer Ara Guler just made it irresistible to someone who lived in Turkey - not in Istanbul - in the 1960's.

And...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, europe, fiction, foreign-affairs, historical-novel, mideast, russia, spies-and-such, war

A man, filled with good intentions, is caught in the jaws of the competing and intersecting interests of global powers in Istanbul after World War II. Istanbul is the bridge between north and south in Europe, and between West and East. It has always been a place of great intrigue and mystery, filled with industrialists and spies. By setting his mystery here after the war, Kanon capitalizes on the reader’s sense of dislocation. We are familiar with the war, but we know little about what happened...more A man, filled with good intentions, is caught in the jaws of the competing and intersecting interests of global powers in Istanbul after World War II. Istanbul is the bridge between north and south in Europe, and between West and East. It has always been a place of great intrigue and mystery, filled with industrialists and spies. By setting his mystery here after the war, Kanon capitalizes on the reader’s sense of dislocation. We are familiar with the war, but we know little about what happened shortly after, when hundreds of thousands of Jews needed resettlement from Reich-controlled countries and war-time spies were tying up loose ends, chasing double agents and moles.

Istanbul was a port through which some of the refugees streamed, bought from their oppressors by well-meaning Jewish citizens with the intention of giving them passage to some other country where they could set up a new life. Palestine was one of these destinations, by no means the obvious choice.

This is the first novel of Kanon’s I’ve read, but I have taken note of his books and know that his particular interest has been the war years in Europe. He flawlessly captures that insular American consulate feeling, the wide-eyed naiveté gradually devolving into a slight disdain fueled by lack of understanding. The intrigue of a city of spies comes through clearly as well, the confusion and the calculation as one undercover spy after another is picked off, leaving the innocent (and the reader) to figure out what happened and who is responsible and what can be done.

Kanon’s style is telegraphic, abrupt, pointillist when describing a man’s thoughts…rather like the way we talk in our own heads when walking down the street. We don’t think in complete sentences when we are noticing street action. Only words and phrases come to us: red hat, sidling walk, cold, sun. Together these can add up to a larger understanding that we must explain in sentences to another. And there was my difficulty. Not only was Kanon noticing and attaching value to things differently than I might have, he didn’t always give me a complete sentence in which to process his progress. I got the gist, and I got used to it, but it certainly added to the mystery of the piece that I couldn’t completely trust the judgment of the main character and I suspected everyone. The mystery his language produced was akin to that fog of incomprehension his characters were laboring under—who knew what and when, and who held the cards? After my initial reserve I entered fully into Kanon’s vision, and he managed to crank the stress level quite high enough to impel this reader through to the end.

Istanbul comes through clearly: colorful, exotic, dangerous. The sly knowingness in the Turkish character makes the people attractive and descriptions of the city and the Bosporus are irresistible. Makes you want to book passage. Now.

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Apr 20, 2012 Paul Pessolano rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Istanbul Passage” by Joseph Kanon, published by Atria Books.

Category – Mystery/Thriller

If you are looking for a really, really good spy novel “Istanbul Passage” will satisfy all spy aficionados. There is no better place, today or back in the 1940’s, for a spy novel than Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus, one side Asia, the other side Europe. It has always been a hotbed for spies, Russian, American, British, and just about every other country. The Turks were, and still are very...more

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Aug 08, 2012 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a tale of post World War II espionage that packs a punch. Even though I wanted to stop reading because of the staccato writing style, the bursts of confusing thought, as if someone was talking, thinking, then speaking again, never quite finishing or expressing the original thought, I kept being drawn back, neglecting all else, to finish it in one day. I began to think that it must be the author’s intention to keep the reader as confused as the characters caught up in the mystery, to give...more This is a tale of post World War II espionage that packs a punch. Even though I wanted to stop reading because of the staccato writing style, the bursts of confusing thought, as if someone was talking, thinking, then speaking again, never quite finishing or expressing the original thought, I kept being drawn back, neglecting all else, to finish it in one day. I began to think that it must be the author’s intention to keep the reader as confused as the characters caught up in the mystery, to give the reader the charged feeling of tension the characters experienced. Perhaps the disjointed style was deliberate to make us understand how disjointed this whole spying process really is and was. It was very clearly cut throat. Everyone was used. People were commodities and considered very expendable. Whatever device the author was using, it certainly worked for me. I could not put it down until the end.
The novel is composed of seven separate sections, each named for a different Turkish location and the action that occurred there. It begins with a scene in which two men are waiting for a boat to arrive with a secret passenger. Soon it becomes apparent that they are both engaged in work of a clandestine nature. During World War II they were involved in espionage work. It seems that post-war, they are still somewhat engaged in those activities. They, and their families, have both been permanently scarred by the effects of the war, and they are motivated by that pain to continue their efforts.
Leon, who works for a tobacco company in his public life, works for the Americans, on the side, in his secret life. He is awaiting the arrival of a Romanian, a victim of the war, but he knows nothing else about the objective of his mission or about the man. Who was this person he was rescuing and for what purpose? Was he a friend or an enemy? Was he a criminal, a killer, a Jew? Leon just blindly followed his orders. Mihai, who works for the Mossad, rescuing Jews, before and after the Holocaust, is doing Leon a favor because he speaks Romanian, and there is a possibility that an interpreter will be necessary. Leon’s wife used to work with Mihai and is now in a sanitarium. Her mind has shut down from all that she has witnessed. When Leon visits, she neither reacts nor responds. She has retreated into a world no one else can enter. It is from his visits and monologues with her that we learn more about Leon and his past.
When, suddenly, men attached to the American Consulate are murdered, Leon becomes involved and is thrust into a larger plot. He is drawn into the maze of the investigative machinery of the Turks and the deeper undercover work of the Americans. There are bad apples everywhere, and at first he is shocked and ill equipped to deal with the work on so sophisticated a level. However, we soon learn that he is a quick study, and the reader is also suddenly more aware. The previous opacity becomes clearer for them too, and the story really takes off in several exciting directions.
The story emphasizes the fact that spies are everywhere and they are all watching each other. It is an unending game of chess using people instead of inanimate pieces. The Turks are watching, the Russians are watching, the Israelis are watching and the Americans are watching; they each have their own agenda and brand of tactics, some much more brutal than others. Can anyone be trusted? Can anyone be bought for services if the stakes are high enough? Is survival the ultimate motive?
Once in the game, is there any exit from it? In the end, whom can Leon trust, his friends or his enemies, or perhaps both? Was everyone compromised? Does each serve their own purpose? Is everyone simply using each other? Is the enemy the only one he could truly trust, because they both were the ticket for each others survival?
The relationships between the characters seemed too incestuous at times. Coincidence sometimes played an unrealistic role. The writing style was confusing with the short staccato sentences. Still, I couldn’t put it down so the writer accomplished his purpose. He wrote a really good, action-packed book, and the ending was not obvious at all, so it held me until the final page.
Finally, I was left with some compelling questions. There was so much betrayal. Was it all worth it? Is there ever a good purpose to spying or a good conclusion? Is the spy a willing conspirator or a captive audience with no choice once he gets in because he gets in too deep? Is there always an innocent victim? Do the means really justify the end? Perhaps the road to Hell is truly paved with good intentions.(less)

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Apr 02, 2013 Nick Sweeney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another espionage thriller, this one set in Istanbul just after the Second World War. Tobacco buyer Leon Bauer is an American with contacts in the American consulate, embassy and a fledgling version of Mossad. He gets mixed up in a convoluted plot to bring a Romanian defector from the Russians over to the US side. The whole story is taut and well-paced.

Joseph Kanon certainly knows his Istanbul - I lived there for 3 years in the 90s, so know the current version quite well - but that was one of th...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-mystery-suspense

Post WWII in Istanbul with the Cold War just beginning to become a reality. The protagonist, Leon Bauer, works for RJ Reynolds but has slowly been pulled into the spy business during the war. The book focuses on a simple spy-type matter that goes awry and just keeps getting worse. Fans of Alan Furst will like this book (as well as Kanon's "The Good German" - haven't read his others, yet) - all the twists and turns, plus the cryptic conversations that speak volumes. What did make me nuts was the...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Yvonne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: international-setting, around-the-world, set-in-istanbul, mystery-thriller, spy-fiction

I wanted to love this book but was repeatedly stymied by the dialogue heavy, clipped writing style. Add to it, the thrown in foreign phrases and that the principle characters were foreign nationals from Romania, Turkey, Germany and Russia and I found it incomprehensible at times. If you're going to have a complex plot, it's best to write in complete sentences once in a while.

It's not all bad though. Istanbul is a star in this one. It's neutrality during WWII makes it a hotbed for spies of all n...more I wanted to love this book but was repeatedly stymied by the dialogue heavy, clipped writing style. Add to it, the thrown in foreign phrases and that the principle characters were foreign nationals from Romania, Turkey, Germany and Russia and I found it incomprehensible at times. If you're going to have a complex plot, it's best to write in complete sentences once in a while.

It's not all bad though. Istanbul is a star in this one. It's neutrality during WWII makes it a hotbed for spies of all nationalities. Our main character, Leon, an American, has been doing odd jobs here & there to help out the war effort. One such cause has tragic results leaving his wife psychologically traumatized and in a coma like state.

The story begins as the war is now over and Leon is told he'll be out of a job but he's given one more assignment. He has to pick up & basically help someone defect to the west. When Leon meets up with this man the situation turns and Leon has a dilemma on his hand as he tries to help this man while outwitting all the people who're after him.

Parts of the story was interesting but I kept getting distracted by this question, why is Leon Bauer doing this, especially after he finds out more about the man he's helping? Honestly the question is never really answered and it ends up being a major flaw in the story.

There were some interesting side characters like Mihai who is a Mossad agent who helps to smuggle out Jewish refugee. (this is based on some true events). The female characters were not as interesting. Well one is catatonic (Leon's wife), the other is the prostitute Leon sees. We also have a woman Leon decides to have an affair with. I think we were supposed to feel emotional about the two of them, but I found her all kinds of blah.

This was a story that got better in the second half. It had some interesting twists and turns. The setting is really lovely as well (I had to look up some of the streets, the mosques & the bridges mentioned as I've never been to Istanbul). It was fine but I don't see me rereading this. I have a feeling it would make a better movie than book. Maybe that's what all the almost staccato dialogue writing was about.

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Jul 09, 2012 DR rated it 2 of 5 stars

Joseph Kanon has set several previous novels in mid- or late 1940s, which plays to one of his most tangible strengths--convincingly depicting a place and time almost frozen in amber. His plots also have picked up a fraught event in history (e.g., the Manhattan Project in LOS ALAMOS, post-war U.S. occupation in THE GOOD GERMAN and the growing anti-Communist hysteria in Hollywood in STARDUST) and put convincingly real characters, men and women, in motion in that specific and tense historical conte...more Joseph Kanon has set several previous novels in mid- or late 1940s, which plays to one of his most tangible strengths--convincingly depicting a place and time almost frozen in amber. His plots also have picked up a fraught event in history (e.g., the Manhattan Project in LOS ALAMOS, post-war U.S. occupation in THE GOOD GERMAN and the growing anti-Communist hysteria in Hollywood in STARDUST) and put convincingly real characters, men and women, in motion in that specific and tense historical context.

ISTANBUL PASSAGE highlights the exotic locale of a neutral country juxtaposed between Europe and Asia, between the ancient and the modern. And it’s set during the months following WW II when a “hot” war is gradually being superseded by a Cold War and the spies are all putting on new camouflage. (“You couldn’t fight the next war until you’d lied about the last one” is one keen observation.)

American expat Leon Bauer, a contract intelligence operative for the U.S., takes a routine assignment to pick up and shelter a defector, but unexpectedly finds himself dodging bullets on the waterfront. The “package” turns out to be a morally despicable leader of the murderous Romanian Iron Guard, responsible for the massacre of Jews. Leon finds himself trying to outwit the police, an oily agent of Emniyet (the Turkish secret police), thuggish KGB types and his own consulate--all to protect a war criminal entrusted to him without his prior consent, an intelligence "hot potato" for this amateur spook.

I had two major problems with the novel. First, Leon’s actions never seemed based on a coherent motivation. He had a hundred reasons to divest himself of the repellent “Alexei” and almost none for putting himself and his “mad,” hospitalized Jewish wife in peril. Second, Kanon’s way of doing dialogue was nerve-wracking: all stutter-steps and fragments and strange rhythms, almost as if none of the multi-lingual characters had native languages of their own, much one in common. The central moral issue has some resonance: “What do you do … when there’s no right thing to do. Just the wrong thing. Either way.” However, I ended the book still feeling like Leon would have spared himself the tense yet tedious “who do I trust?” chess game and stayed a dependable pawn instead of trying to be a knight.

In some indirect ways, ISTANBUL PASSAGE reminded me of John le Carré's THE NIGHT MANAGER (1993)--which is a far better novel in every way. (less)

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Jan 25, 2013 Elizabeth Adams rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A very exciting story of international espionage, set in Istanbul at the end of WWII. The title refers to the clandestine passage of boatloads of Jews, recently released from concentration camps in Eastern Europe, through Istanbul on their way to Palestine. Both money and information change hands, putting American, British, Russian, Romanian, and Turkish interests on a collision course.

I listened to Istanbul Passage as an audio book, and was mesmerized by Jeffrey Mays' reading performance, which...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is a great story, well written, intriguing, with a little something for our history interests, a little for our love story interests, and a main character whose character is well developed - unlike a lot of espionage heroes.

It is the story of an American working in Istanbul at the close of World War II. He has done odd jobs for the allies over the years and, as some of his associates begin to be killed, he gets deeper involved in espionage efforts in what will later be called The Cold War. Th...more

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The Book Club: * Final Comments on Istanbul Passage and April Business	1	2	Apr 24, 2013 11:39am
The Book Club: * Istanbul Passage	5	2	Apr 18, 2013 08:51pm
The Book Club: Chapter 1: Bebek (3 - 63)	20	2	Apr 16, 2013 09:07am
The Book Club: Chapter 6: Büyükada (283 - 341)	5	1	Mar 30, 2013 09:08am
The Book Club: Chapter 5: Üsküdar (225 -279)	2	1	Mar 30, 2013 08:35am
The Book Club: Chapter 3: Pera (93 - 163)	5	1	Mar 30, 2013 08:01am
The Book Club: Chapter 4: Kanlica (167 - 220)	2	1	Mar 30, 2013 07:13am

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