The One with Silesian Station

202. Title & Author: Silesian Station by David Downing (306 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Spy Thriller

Completed: 9 November 2011

                

Summary & Review:

John Russell, a Englishman living in Berlin during the final days before the German invasion of Poland, is asked by a friend to help locate a young Jewish girl from the Silesian countryside who went missing upon her arrival in the city. Russell, however, finds himself in a ever tightening web of lies and deception as he makes alliances with the SD after being blackmailed, the Americans in order to obtain an American passport, and the Soviets with whom he shares a hatred of the Nazi regime. Struggling to keep his loved ones safe and balance the tenuous house of cards he has set up, Russell investigates the disappearance.

                

This was an enjoyable read. Downing’s prose was crisp, yet descriptive as he was able to artfully portray the intensity of Berlin in the run up to World War II. While I liked the book, the plot was a little wide reaching. But, as this book is a part of a series, it understandably includes other storylines that allow the saga to continue while still providing enough of a narrative thrust for the book to be able to stand alone. Most of the pages were devoted to Russell’s comings and goings as a foreign correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper. These portions of the book were heavy on descriptions of the era, yet light on action. When the climax of the many story arc was reached, the action was fun, but too short-lived.

                

John Russell as a character is a hero that is a little hard for me to identify with. Throughout the novel he clearly expresses his condemnation of the Nazi regime, but he is himself a communist with a lot of sympathy for the Soviet system. I don’t know if these are a reflection of the author’s own political beliefs, i.e. that Nazis were bad and communists were/are good, but I think they must be because several times a distinction is made between the bad “right-wing” Nazis, and the idealistic if a little overly enthusiastic left-wing communists. If they are indeed Downing's beliefs, something doesn't quite compute. While not excusing the Nazi's behavior in the slightest, it should be remembered that communist regimes have been responsible for millions more murders and other atrocities than the Nazi’s ever were. And explain again how the National Socialist party is right-wing? (See Jonah Goldberg’s excellent Liberal Fascism for more on that).

                

Anyway, so despite the strange affinity for communism possessed by the main character (and I assume the author), the book was entertaining enough that I will probably read another one from the series at some point.

Rating: 7.0