The Matchmaker

De: Paul Vidich

Narrado por: Jeff Harding

Berlin, 1989. Protests across East Germany threaten the Iron Curtain and Communism is the ill man of Europe.

Anne Simpson, an American who works as a translator at the Joint Operations Refugee Committee, thinks she is in a normal marriage with a charming East German. But then her husband disappears and the CIA and Western German intelligence arrive at her door.

She had been targeted by the Matchmaker—a high-level East German counterintelligence officer who runs a network of Stasi agents. These agents are his "Romeos" who marry vulnerable women in West Berlin to provide them with cover as they report back to the Matchmaker.

The CIA is desperate to find the Matchmaker because of his close ties to the KGB. They believe he can establish the truth about a high-ranking Soviet defector. They need Anne because she's the only person who has seen his face and she is the CIA's best chance to identify him before the Matchmaker escapes to Moscow. Time is running out as the Berlin Wall falls and chaos engulfs East Germany.

But what if Anne's husband is not dead? And what if Anne has her own motives for finding the Matchmaker to deliver a different type of justice?

©2022 Paul Vidich (P)2022 Tantor

Another great read/listen

He has really hit his writing stride, and I look forward to each new book he writes. The story is not quite as compelling as his last book, but is no slouch.

The narration was much better with this book, and didn’t take me out of the story at all.

An engaging read

The plot is well-constructed, and the book is well-written. The narrator may not have been the best choice for this novel, but after a while the robotic nature of his voice establishes a sinister atmospheric quality that seems appropriate.

A taut and poignant spy thriller

Set in West and East Germany just before the Berlin Wall came down, this is a suspensful and very personal story of a woman used and tossed aside by a cruel and heartless man called the Matchmaker, and the double agent whom she loved.
At the heart of the book is both unfairness and justice.

Plot Had Potential

The plot had potential, but it was hindered by mediocre writing and a poor narrator. The audiobook sounded like it was an instruction manual being read by a robot. I had to increase the speed just to get through the book.

As for the story, the protagonist was an erratic person who never thought about the consequences of her actions. She was only focused on herself. Some of the relationships were not believable, and the actions of some of the characters seemed illogical. The ending was weak. The overall concept of the story was 3.5 stars. The writing was 2.5 stars.

Disappointing

I struggled through this one. Some plots drags on for longer than needed, and I could never really care about any of the characters.

Painful to listen

I was really looking forward to this book, but the reader's style is aggressively wooden -- suitable for reading a list of pharmaceuticals, perhaps, but not fiction. This was clearly a choice, but an unfathomable one. Can't comment on the story because the reading style made me dislike everyone involved.