Silesian Station

Just a good spy story set in Nazi Germany. If you are into this sort of story, it is as good as it gets. Doesn't require a whole lot of thinking...

Having just finished reading Zoo Station, the first book in David Downing’s “John Russell” quartet, I eagerly took up book two in the series, Silesian Station, which covers the period immediately preceding the beginning of WWII in September, 1939. Russell is a half-British half-American journalist living in Berlin, where he has been for many years, and has acquired a former wife, a son, a current lover, and deep connections with Germans and Germany. As was so true with many Germans themselves, he is incredulous and disgusted with what has become of a country he loved and respected. His status as an expat-journalist becomes one of fear for himself and his German family, and ultimately of survival itself. While no superhero, Russell is quietly admirable in many respects. His adventures and increasing involvement with victimized Jews and Germans willing to oppose the Nazi regime, provide the plot line for this finely researched historical thriller. One of David Downing’s talents is to create believable and vulnerable characters with whom the reader can identify to the point of actually caring about what happens to them, which is not obvious. Having just finished reading Silesian Station, I am already reading Stettin Station, the next book in the series, after which I will no doubt read the final book, Zoo Station. Although Silesian Station is understandable and enjoyable as a stand-alone book, for anyone who has not read Zoo Station, it is advisable to read that book first,

very good but wish i had read the first one. not sure if I will continue to find out what happens since I have so many others I want to listen to. but still a good book.