Potsdam Station (John Russell, #4) in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 05, 2019 Scott Head rated it it was amazing

Exceptional and riveting. The last days of the Reich and the slowly collapsing city of Berlin are a tense, gritty crucible. The Russians are closing in, ringing the once mighty city with fire and rape. John Russell, Berliner, American journalist, unwilling spy, has escaped, but his fiance, film star Effi Koenen, stayed behind to go under cover, seeking to protect and care for family. Wanted by the Gestapo, Effi manages a believable ruse, though one wrought with trials.

Rusell's son, Paul, now a s Exceptional and riveting. The last days of the Reich and the slowly collapsing city of Berlin are a tense, gritty crucible. The Russians are closing in, ringing the once mighty city with fire and rape. John Russell, Berliner, American journalist, unwilling spy, has escaped, but his fiance, film star Effi Koenen, stayed behind to go under cover, seeking to protect and care for family. Wanted by the Gestapo, Effi manages a believable ruse, though one wrought with trials.

Rusell's son, Paul, now a soldier, is serving on the eastern front, which by now is just a short drive toward the Oder river, and eventually he too finds himself in the putrefying city.

Against all better judgment, Russell brazenly contacts his old Soviet handlers, hopeful he could offer them so good reason for a lift to Berlin to seek out his family. Of course, it would cost something in return, perhaps even his life. Inserted by parachute as a guide, he leads a four man NKVD team in a raid on an abandoned German nuclear installation, intent on discovering just how far the Germans had gone toward a super weapon. This, of course, makes him a traitor to his native US, as the tensions are already thick between the East and West. The story runs its course, packed with turns, anger, joy, angst, death, and life. This was a great end to the John Russell saga in Berlin. With two more installations in the series, I am eager to plow through the post war years with John, Effi and Paul.

This is more than a thriller, much more than just a spy novel. This series give the reader an insightful and historical experience. We learn just how desperate the Reich was, how absolutely absurd the Nazi machine was, and how sick minds of evil men digest their own people. The Hubris of tyrants is palpable, the city desperate. Downing has a way of painting pictures that don't easily go away. Though he has been criticized for being a bit too precise with forgotten street names, directions, and place names, and I did often find my way just skimming past the descriptions of a journey down this street or that, the many place names - real ones - give the reader a real sense of the historicity. You can look on Google earth and find the larger landmarks, those that were not reduced to rubble or re-contoured or built over. I learned much about Berlin, and the region, and the series has a very educational side effect. Highly recommended. ...more

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Jun 28, 2015 Eric_W rated it really liked it

Shelves: ww-ii, spies

# 4 in the John Russell series. At the end of volume 3 in this excellent series, Russell had escaped to Sweden and Effi had returned to Berlin, hiding in plain sight disguised as an old woman by using her make-up and acting skills. Germany had just declared war on America and the Gestapo sought both of them. Fast forward to April, 1945. Paul, John’s son, is sixty miles from Berlin on the eastern front as part of a Panzerfaust unit as the eastern front shrinks, Effi is surviving but also working ...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Elli rated it really liked it

Shelves: germany, world-war-2, mystery-historical, cold-war, mystery-espionage

A really fine book. Setting is the very end of the world war 2 fighting in Germany, Berlin in particular. The family situation is complicated, but the hero and his de-facto wife have been separated for most of the war. He, a journalist, escaped after learning he was to be arrested, but she chose to stay and try to work underground to help others escape. In this sequel the war is ending, but the danger is definitely not. The hero must work with the Russians under cover in order to be able to find ...more

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Sep 18, 2013 Cold War Conversations Podcast rated it really liked it

Shelves: espionage, eastern-europe, fiction, world-war-2-western-front, berlin, world-war-2-eastern-front, alternative-history

I have really enjoyed the John Russell series for it's evocative atmosphere and attention to detail. My main criticism in Potsdam Station would be echoed by other reviewers in how much did people understand the power of the atomic bomb in May 1945 particularly a journalist.

The other rare mistake is this book mentions the street Clayallee which wasn't named as such until 1953 after the US Military governor of the US Zone of Occupation. ...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Jeremiah Genest rated it liked it

Shelves: spyfi

Not as good as the earlier novels, maybe I'm just suffering fatigue by this point, but I think its more likely the setting in midst of ther Soviet conquest of Berlin changed the atmsophere too much. I'm looking forward to the 5th bringing the series to the beginning of the cold war. ...more

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