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The Stasi File - Opera and Espionage: A Deadly Combination
Dust from the demolished Berlin Wall has barely settled, the East German police state is teetering on the edge of collapse, and Stasi General HOLGER FRANTZ will stop at nothing to save it. Caught in his intrigue are two unlikely heroes: American lawyer ROLF KELLER, recently divorced, fresh off the bottle, and mysteriously dispatched by his senior law partner to coordinate document drops by a defecting Stasi agent, and aspiring opera diva SYLVIA MAZZONI, Rolf's former lover who has been coerced into acting as courier.
After the scheme goes fatally awry, the reluctant recruits uncover an assassination plot designed to thwart the unification of East and West Germany. In the crosshairs of rival intelligence services and with a professional Stasi killer hot on their heels, Sylvia and Rolf resist the urge to run for their lives, and risk everything to stop the assassins.
After the scheme goes fatally awry, the reluctant recruits uncover an assassination plot designed to thwart the unification of East and West Germany. In the crosshairs of rival intelligence services and with a professional Stasi killer hot on their heels, Sylvia and Rolf resist the urge to run for their lives, and risk everything to stop the assassins.
488 pages, Paperback
First published January 30, 2009
About the author
Peter Bernhardt
11 books6 followersAs I approached my prime, I developed the powerful urge to write thrillers. My wife harbored the absurd suspicion midlife crisis had struck, because I was bound in those days to courtroom and desk at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. So my dream remained just that for a long time. As soon as I retired, though, we moved to Arizona and I took things in hand by enrolling in a workshop for wannabe authors. German is my native tongue, not English, and my experience as an author consisted of the publication of a couple of student papers and law journal articles, plus cranking out numberless legal pleadings and briefs. What was I thinking?
The workshop was a bust, but it did push me into tackling my first book, The Stasi File – Opera and Espionage: A Deadly Combination, in which, following the age-old advice to “write what you know,” I wove together the unlikely combination of a German upbringing, a lifelong love of opera and my experiences as an attorney. After a beginning that seemed to take forever, I was surprised when the challenge of creating characters and building a plot that was real and intriguing started to take over my waking hours, and a few sleeping ones too.
My skill and talent developed quickly, but there were many times they seemed almost superfluous--I was too busy holding on tight as my characters and their actions took over and went their own ways, leaving me to serve as their scribe and menial servant. What a journey!
The Stasi File was named a finalist for Book of the Year by the British-Arts-Council sponsored website www.youwriteon.com, and is ranked a bestseller by the site. The novel was a quarter finalist in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Reviews and reader comments on the book include “breathtaking roller coaster ride,” and “comparable to the books of Clancy, Ludlum and Follett.”
The sequel, Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter, pits The Stasi File protagonists, Sylvia and Rolf, against ruthless smugglers of Indian artifacts during Sylvia's engagement at the Santa Fe Opera, interweaving as subplot the story of thirteen-year old Indian girl, Teya, during the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680 that drove the Spanish from New Mexico.
The fierce cold-war espionage battle between East and West Germany inspired me to write my third novel, Red Romeo. The plot takes the reader inside the Stasi spymaster's ingenious method of unleashing his small army of spy gigolos on lonely women working in the West German government's most secret divisions.
The workshop was a bust, but it did push me into tackling my first book, The Stasi File – Opera and Espionage: A Deadly Combination, in which, following the age-old advice to “write what you know,” I wove together the unlikely combination of a German upbringing, a lifelong love of opera and my experiences as an attorney. After a beginning that seemed to take forever, I was surprised when the challenge of creating characters and building a plot that was real and intriguing started to take over my waking hours, and a few sleeping ones too.
My skill and talent developed quickly, but there were many times they seemed almost superfluous--I was too busy holding on tight as my characters and their actions took over and went their own ways, leaving me to serve as their scribe and menial servant. What a journey!
The Stasi File was named a finalist for Book of the Year by the British-Arts-Council sponsored website www.youwriteon.com, and is ranked a bestseller by the site. The novel was a quarter finalist in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Reviews and reader comments on the book include “breathtaking roller coaster ride,” and “comparable to the books of Clancy, Ludlum and Follett.”
The sequel, Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter, pits The Stasi File protagonists, Sylvia and Rolf, against ruthless smugglers of Indian artifacts during Sylvia's engagement at the Santa Fe Opera, interweaving as subplot the story of thirteen-year old Indian girl, Teya, during the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680 that drove the Spanish from New Mexico.
The fierce cold-war espionage battle between East and West Germany inspired me to write my third novel, Red Romeo. The plot takes the reader inside the Stasi spymaster's ingenious method of unleashing his small army of spy gigolos on lonely women working in the West German government's most secret divisions.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 16, 2013
The Stasi File by Peter Bernhardt combines espionage with opera, a combination that gives the book its unique flavor. The story unfolds from multiple POV's, which in the hands of a less gifted writer could have spelled disaster. But, Bernhardt is a master of clarity and tension and infuses his characters , even the bad guys, with a humanity that makes them three dimensional and distinguishable from others. The story moves along in a forward ride full of unexpected twists and turns and uses real events that took place after the fall of the Berlin Wall to create a feeling of historical verismo. The Stasi File deserves the highest accolades. I loved this book and would place it at the top of the list with the best-selling books of the genre. Congratulations, Peter Bernhardt. Can't wait to read more from you.
December 26, 2011
The Stasi File impresses on several levels: author Peter Bernhardt knows Germany, he knows opera, and he knows how to write a solid thriller.
The time is the early 1990s, and Communism is crumbling. The Berlin Wall has fallen. East Germany is a failed state with an uncertain future. Will it even remain independent, or will West Germany absorb it? Some fear a resurgent, powerful Germany, while others see reunification as crucial to the future health and stability of Europe.
The Stasi, the newly defunct East German secret police, hate and fear the prospect of reunification. Attorney Rolf Keller is sent from America to Berlin to obtain a secret Stasi file that may be critical to the West. Meanwhile, the opera singer Sylvia Mazzoni has a past that embroils her in a dangerous game of espionage, whether she likes it or not. She sings a key role in Bizet's Carmen. What is in store for her? A bright career, arrest, or death? Keller and Mazzoni have to work together, but can they trust each other? And what is the real threat?
The Stasi File reads smoothly as Bernhardt builds the tension from multiple viewpoints and brings the story to an exciting and satisfying conclusion. This is the work of a pro that deserves a wide audience.
The time is the early 1990s, and Communism is crumbling. The Berlin Wall has fallen. East Germany is a failed state with an uncertain future. Will it even remain independent, or will West Germany absorb it? Some fear a resurgent, powerful Germany, while others see reunification as crucial to the future health and stability of Europe.
The Stasi, the newly defunct East German secret police, hate and fear the prospect of reunification. Attorney Rolf Keller is sent from America to Berlin to obtain a secret Stasi file that may be critical to the West. Meanwhile, the opera singer Sylvia Mazzoni has a past that embroils her in a dangerous game of espionage, whether she likes it or not. She sings a key role in Bizet's Carmen. What is in store for her? A bright career, arrest, or death? Keller and Mazzoni have to work together, but can they trust each other? And what is the real threat?
The Stasi File reads smoothly as Bernhardt builds the tension from multiple viewpoints and brings the story to an exciting and satisfying conclusion. This is the work of a pro that deserves a wide audience.
June 30, 2025
Fantastic book - a little bit of history and deception as well as romantic chemistry.
March 6, 2012
The Stasi File: Dust from the demolished Berlin Wall has barely settled, the East German police state is teetering on the edge of collapse, and Stasi General HOLGER FRANTZ will stop at nothing to save it. Caught in his intrigue are two unlikely heroes: American lawyer ROLF KELLER and aspiring opera diva SYLVIA MAZZONI.
Rolf, recently divorced and fresh off the bottle, is dispatched to his native Germany by the senior partner of his Washington law firm to coordinate the drop of top-secret documents by a defecting Stasi agent. Rolf is stunned to learn that Sylvia, his former lover during Berlin college days, has been coerced by West German intelligence into acting as courier with threats of exposing her youthful involvement with Red Army Faction terrorists.
Nothing has prepared these reluctant recruits for the Stasi’s ruthlessness. Although the first drop of stolen documents goes smoothly, subsequent arrangements end in a burst of violence that sends the pair fleeing into the East German countryside. Following clues left by the murdered defector, they unearth his document cache and escape into the night, pursued by armed Stasi henchmen.
Besides a file containing damning information about Sylvia, they recover documents with cryptic references to a plot for derailing unification by assassinating West Germany’s chancellor—but when and where? With Germany’s future hanging in the balance, Rolf and Sylvia manage to decipher the coded document in time to race to the assassination site. But a Stasi killer is waiting. As he marches them into a deserted clearing in the Bavarian woods, all seems lost—their effort to foil the assassins, German unification, and their very lives.
Nothing like a well written book to wake you up, shake you out of your typical genre, and make you want more. From the moment I flicked my Kindle “on” switch, I joined Peter Bernhardt’s compelling, well drawn out characters in an action packed suspenseful plot, full of twists and turns, straight through to a satisfying (but “I want more”) ending. Caught up in The Stasi File, I neglected sleep, Twitter, Facebook, my husband, and yes, even Words With Friends.
An element that I appreciated in Bernhardt’s suspense thriller was that he mastered plot, characters, tension, and drama without using the profanity that makes Grandma cringe.
Peter Bernhardt obviously knows Germany (see author questions/answers below) and opera, and I admire the way he combined his love and knowledge of the two.
And you know those novels that incorporate intriguing history that makes you want to search Google for more details, but you can’t tear your eyes from the pages? This is one of those books. Oh, but never mind, continue reading and learn about the Red Army Faction, Stasi Files, German Reunification, opera, and label the new knowledge under, “pure entertainment.”
The Stasi file captures the mood and feel of German cities and villages so much that I want to claim I was there and send postcards home. Germany is great! Love my new friends Sylvia and Rolf. Got caught up in espionage. Saw Carmen at the Opera. Savored delicious German food. Had a fantastic time. Wish you were here! You can be if you read The Stasi File. Suspense thrillers are my new favorite genre. Thanks Peter. Great Read!
Rolf, recently divorced and fresh off the bottle, is dispatched to his native Germany by the senior partner of his Washington law firm to coordinate the drop of top-secret documents by a defecting Stasi agent. Rolf is stunned to learn that Sylvia, his former lover during Berlin college days, has been coerced by West German intelligence into acting as courier with threats of exposing her youthful involvement with Red Army Faction terrorists.
Nothing has prepared these reluctant recruits for the Stasi’s ruthlessness. Although the first drop of stolen documents goes smoothly, subsequent arrangements end in a burst of violence that sends the pair fleeing into the East German countryside. Following clues left by the murdered defector, they unearth his document cache and escape into the night, pursued by armed Stasi henchmen.
Besides a file containing damning information about Sylvia, they recover documents with cryptic references to a plot for derailing unification by assassinating West Germany’s chancellor—but when and where? With Germany’s future hanging in the balance, Rolf and Sylvia manage to decipher the coded document in time to race to the assassination site. But a Stasi killer is waiting. As he marches them into a deserted clearing in the Bavarian woods, all seems lost—their effort to foil the assassins, German unification, and their very lives.
Nothing like a well written book to wake you up, shake you out of your typical genre, and make you want more. From the moment I flicked my Kindle “on” switch, I joined Peter Bernhardt’s compelling, well drawn out characters in an action packed suspenseful plot, full of twists and turns, straight through to a satisfying (but “I want more”) ending. Caught up in The Stasi File, I neglected sleep, Twitter, Facebook, my husband, and yes, even Words With Friends.
An element that I appreciated in Bernhardt’s suspense thriller was that he mastered plot, characters, tension, and drama without using the profanity that makes Grandma cringe.
Peter Bernhardt obviously knows Germany (see author questions/answers below) and opera, and I admire the way he combined his love and knowledge of the two.
And you know those novels that incorporate intriguing history that makes you want to search Google for more details, but you can’t tear your eyes from the pages? This is one of those books. Oh, but never mind, continue reading and learn about the Red Army Faction, Stasi Files, German Reunification, opera, and label the new knowledge under, “pure entertainment.”
The Stasi file captures the mood and feel of German cities and villages so much that I want to claim I was there and send postcards home. Germany is great! Love my new friends Sylvia and Rolf. Got caught up in espionage. Saw Carmen at the Opera. Savored delicious German food. Had a fantastic time. Wish you were here! You can be if you read The Stasi File. Suspense thrillers are my new favorite genre. Thanks Peter. Great Read!
October 14, 2012
What a pleasant surprise to find a novel that fuses the fascination of the Stasi with my passion for Bizet's "Carmen." Having just seen the movie "The Lives of Others," I was ready to learn more about the way private citizens were so closely watched. One of the most powerful secret police and espionage services in the world, the Stasi--East Germany's Ministry for State Security--infiltrated every walk of East German life, stifled all opposition, and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of citizens.
Peter Bernhardt's "The Stasi File" opens in the waning days of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall is crumbling, but powerful Stasi members continue to oppose unification with the West. An opera singer is coerced into a deadly game of delivering military secrets from East Germany to West.
It was fun to see historical figures interacting with Bernhardt's fictional people. The heroine literally bumps into Helmut Kohl. Other historical figures in this novel include hard-line stalinist Erich Mielke; Alfred Herrhausen, the Deutsche Bank chief who was murdered as described in the book; Erich Honecker, Gorbachev, and various opera stars, e.g., Kirsten Flagstad and Franco Corelli. Bernhardt skillfully weaves into his tense, riveting narrative a lot of true events. The facts about the RAF being trained by the Stasi, a shootout in a train station, the suicide of RAF members in prison, the various killings of West German industrialists and public officials--all taken from real life, as are the bumbling and disgraced chiefs of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Cologne, and the various Stasi moles embedded in West German institutions.
That's the kind of fiction I like best--a history lesson in disguise.
Bernhardt's descriptions of Germany evoke the mood and feel of cities and villages from Berlin to Mittenwald. I could smell the coffee, feel the weight of sausage in my stomach, taste the Black Forest cake, see the wet gray sidewalks glisten under street lamps and feel the damp chill. It made me want to book a flight to Frankfurt.
The characters are easy to like--Rolf, a recovering alcoholic who has to fight temptation at every meal, given the German love of beer with lunch or dinner; Sylvia, fighting to launch her career in opera; Dobnik, an East German trying to defect to a life free of the Stasi. Stein, Rolf's boss, and Dieter, the West German contact, kept me guessing. I duly hated Gen. Holger Franz, the Stasi boss. Oddly, I came to identify with Schlechter, the "heavy" used by Holger for the dirty work. He represented intense moral conficts--obey the commands or get killed; obey the commands, and get killed anyway when Holger wants to hide his trail. In a tense confrontation with Rolf and Sylvia, I was rooting for Schlechter. I love it when an author makes a villain human and multi-dimensional.
If you love opera, feel homesick for Germany, have a school kid studying the fall of East Germany, or if you just love a good spy story, this is the book you need to read.
Peter Bernhardt's "The Stasi File" opens in the waning days of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall is crumbling, but powerful Stasi members continue to oppose unification with the West. An opera singer is coerced into a deadly game of delivering military secrets from East Germany to West.
It was fun to see historical figures interacting with Bernhardt's fictional people. The heroine literally bumps into Helmut Kohl. Other historical figures in this novel include hard-line stalinist Erich Mielke; Alfred Herrhausen, the Deutsche Bank chief who was murdered as described in the book; Erich Honecker, Gorbachev, and various opera stars, e.g., Kirsten Flagstad and Franco Corelli. Bernhardt skillfully weaves into his tense, riveting narrative a lot of true events. The facts about the RAF being trained by the Stasi, a shootout in a train station, the suicide of RAF members in prison, the various killings of West German industrialists and public officials--all taken from real life, as are the bumbling and disgraced chiefs of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Cologne, and the various Stasi moles embedded in West German institutions.
That's the kind of fiction I like best--a history lesson in disguise.
Bernhardt's descriptions of Germany evoke the mood and feel of cities and villages from Berlin to Mittenwald. I could smell the coffee, feel the weight of sausage in my stomach, taste the Black Forest cake, see the wet gray sidewalks glisten under street lamps and feel the damp chill. It made me want to book a flight to Frankfurt.
The characters are easy to like--Rolf, a recovering alcoholic who has to fight temptation at every meal, given the German love of beer with lunch or dinner; Sylvia, fighting to launch her career in opera; Dobnik, an East German trying to defect to a life free of the Stasi. Stein, Rolf's boss, and Dieter, the West German contact, kept me guessing. I duly hated Gen. Holger Franz, the Stasi boss. Oddly, I came to identify with Schlechter, the "heavy" used by Holger for the dirty work. He represented intense moral conficts--obey the commands or get killed; obey the commands, and get killed anyway when Holger wants to hide his trail. In a tense confrontation with Rolf and Sylvia, I was rooting for Schlechter. I love it when an author makes a villain human and multi-dimensional.
If you love opera, feel homesick for Germany, have a school kid studying the fall of East Germany, or if you just love a good spy story, this is the book you need to read.
November 22, 2012
A decent novel of intrigue dealing with the realities of the falling of the Berlin wall. I was hoping for more intrigue. There is a bit too much non-storyline that watered down the thriller aspect of the story. I will happily read more by this author if it is in a genre I enjoy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews