Silesian Station (John Russell, #2) in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 27, 2014 Eric_W rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, ww-ii, spies

Downing begins his second novel in the John Russell series with a girl being sent by her Jewish farm family to Berlin where they expect things to be better. She arrives at the Berlin Siliesian Station (now known as Berlin Ostbahnhof, it was a main station in East Berlin) expecting to be picked up by her uncle, but instead is met by someone in his stead. She disappears.

John Russell is on his way back from the United States where he has been visiting with his son, Paul, and obtaining an American p Downing begins his second novel in the John Russell series with a girl being sent by her Jewish farm family to Berlin where they expect things to be better. She arrives at the Berlin Siliesian Station (now known as Berlin Ostbahnhof, it was a main station in East Berlin) expecting to be picked up by her uncle, but instead is met by someone in his stead. She disappears.

John Russell is on his way back from the United States where he has been visiting with his son, Paul, and obtaining an American passport (it’s complicated, but explained in Zoo Station, the first volume - they should be read in order). While on the return voyage he receives a telegram informing him that his girlfriend, Effie, has been arrested by the Gestapo. Russell realizes it’s because they want something from him.

John’s ex-brother-in-law, Tom, whom he trusts implicitly, reveals the niece of one of his Jewish employees has disappeared and her uncle had been killed by storm-trooper thugs shortly before she was due to arrive. Russell, having written a story about private detectives a year before promises to find one who might be able to look for the girl. The detective is shut down by the police so Russell embarks on his own search.

And so begins another in this excellent series, part spy novel, part mystery. Downing’s choice of a journalist as the protagonist is an excellent vehicle for portraying the events the events surrounding Germany’s annexation of Czechoslovakia and the provocations leading up to the invasion of Poland. Russell observes all these events “from the ground” so-to-speak which gives them an intricacy and immediacy not often present in a history book, which by its very nature, has to take a broader view. Yet at the same time, Downing provides that as well through the interactions of Russell with the Gestapo and the British foreign office.

Downing must have done an immense amount of research to get the details of ordinary life down so well. (Remember Pathe newsreels?) An excellent series. ...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Scott Head rated it really liked it

Set in Berlin and pre-war Europe, Silesian Station is a very enjoyable spy novel with just enough developed characters to warrant keeping a record. We discover a deepening of the web of obligations in which our hero has found himself in this tale, which is well crafted and carries a lot of visceral scene crafting. It is summer, 1939. Germany is making up reasons to invade Poland, faking news, instigating political shenanigans which all but insure a second great war. It is a very troubled time, b Set in Berlin and pre-war Europe, Silesian Station is a very enjoyable spy novel with just enough developed characters to warrant keeping a record. We discover a deepening of the web of obligations in which our hero has found himself in this tale, which is well crafted and carries a lot of visceral scene crafting. It is summer, 1939. Germany is making up reasons to invade Poland, faking news, instigating political shenanigans which all but insure a second great war. It is a very troubled time, but Berliners continue to keep themselves in denial of the obvious. This theme is carried from the first book, as are many of the characters. This novel takes us a month past the war's commencement, and is one of my favorite periods from which to read historical fiction. There are so many power grabs, deals, allegiances and interests all vying with one another to gain an upper hand in what is obvious to all - a major outbreak of war. Into this tension-filled climate, a spy story is simply right at home.

This is the second 'John Russell' novel, the man is a British citizen journalist working in the Berlin as a journalist, now employed by an American paper as a foreign correspondent. This story opens with a heart-wrenching abduction of a Jewish girl at the railway station the book takes its name from. She will factor into an absolutely brazen, tension-filled operation near the end of the book that satisfies the reader, yet lays a series of possible hooks on which Russell may find himself hanging in the future. He has to contend with Nazi thugs, goons, and high ranking SS jerks, and sometimes they leave him a little worse for wear. But it's all in the job, which he is enduring in order to insure a passage out of Germany for himself and his family, should it come to that.

There is a good sense of uneasiness building in Germany, and with Russel, as he finds himself more deeply embroiled in his spying activities. Using his advantage as a journalist, he continues to feed the Soviets fake info from the Nazis, and to return the favor feeding false info from his Soviet handlers to the Germans. All the while, he's also doing light clandestine errands for the Americans. We don't have much appearance in this book of his native British spooks, but we remember they are there too. He's a man with many irons in the fire, a useful condition for working one wicked agency against another, but one hard to keep sorted out.

Many moody scenes, well-narrated sequences, and believable circumstances. The story ends with some fireworks for sure, leaving the John Russell fan yearning to know wha happens next.

I enjoyed this one more that Zoo Station, the first book in the series was good and very moody. The second continued the story well, and I am now into the third. ...more

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