Shsssh! Sorry but I cannot be interrupted (even for a Prada half-price sale!) because I'm totally engrossed in Masaryk Station, the final John Russell novel. While all five of the previous Russell stories (Zoo Station, Stettin Station, Potsdam Station, etc.) have intrigued the final one is especially riveting and revealing as it answers many questions that have piqued curiosities and gone unanswered until now.
Readers will remember that we first met Russell in Zoo Station where he was introduced as "a politically disillusioned English journalist living at the heart of Hitler's Reich." We are on the brink of World War II and Russell is seen as a person of interest. A former card-carrying communist the Russians are quick to use him, which is only the beginning. What toll is taken on the man?
Downing's works have been favorably compared to that of John Le Carre, beautifully crafted, compelling thrillers. The Washington Post said "Downing is brilliant at evoking even the smallest details of wartime Berlin on its last legs."
Along with a multitude of others I'm sorry to see Russell's journey come to an end, so I'm relishing every word of Masaryk Station.
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