Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon
Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon
4 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

Leaving Berlin

Author: Joseph Kanon

Narrator: Corey Brill

Unabridged: 11 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2015


Synopsis

New York Times Notable Book * Named one of NPR and Wall Street Journal's Best Books of the Year *

The acclaimed author of The Good German “deftly captures the ambience” (The New York Times Book Review) of postwar East Berlin in his “thought-provoking, pulse-pounding” (Wall Street Journal) New York Times bestseller—a sweeping spy thriller about a city caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation.

Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war’s end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West, a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East, the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life. Even culture has become a battleground, with German intellectuals being lured back from exile to add credibility to the competing sectors.

Alex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. But the politics of his youth have now put him in the crosshairs of the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and the loss of his family, he makes a desperate bargain with the fledgling CIA: he will earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin. But almost from the start things go fatally wrong. A kidnapping misfires, an East German agent is killed, and Alex finds himself a wanted man. Worse, he discovers his real assignment—to spy on the woman he left behind, the only woman he has ever loved. Changing sides in Berlin is as easy as crossing a sector border. But where do we draw the lines of our moral boundaries? At betrayal? Survival? Murder? Joseph Kanon’s compelling thriller is a love story that brilliantly brings a shadowy period of history vividly to life.

About Joseph Kanon

Joseph Kanon is the Edgar Award–winning author of Los Alamos and nine other novels: The Prodigal SpyAlibiStardustIstanbul PassageLeaving BerlinDefectorsThe AccompliceThe Berlin Exchange, and The Good German, which was made into a major motion picture starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Other awards include the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers and the Human Writes Award of the Anne Frank Foundation. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 12, 2024

3.75 stars: “Leaving Berlin” is one of the best spy thrillers I’ve read. It’s fast paced, with fast paced dialogue. In fact, while reading, I clearly saw this as a movie. The screenwriters wouldn’t have to do much, just use the book. The story takes place in post war Berlin, in 1949, when there is a......more

Goodreads review by Cold War Conversations Podcast on November 07, 2014

If you are a fan of Alan Furst, David Downing , Rebecca Cantrell or Jonathan Rabb then this is definitely for you. I am a great fan of what some call “Berlin Noir” and in this book you can almost taste the grit and smell the grime of post war Berlin. Alex Meier’s politics have put him at the forefront......more

Goodreads review by Martha on September 25, 2023

This is my first Joseph Karon novel and I must say I was a bit disappointed. The story never really held my attention and the writing style was awkward. Karon never made me feel invested in the characters. I never wanted to cheer for any of them (or boo the bad guys). The plot was too pat. Drop in e......more

Goodreads review by Mike on October 12, 2024

This was my third book by Joseph Kanon after Istanbul Passage and The Defectors. I have to say this work was far more complex and complicated. Alex Meier a young Jewish writer has escaped from the Nazi’s before the War and come to the US. But the McCarthy purges send him back to Germany in 1948 to b......more

Goodreads review by Mal on February 28, 2023

Joseph Kanon’s historical spy novels reek of authenticity. Set in the years immediately following World War II, they conjure up the fear and desperation that hung over Europe in the early days of the Cold War. Then, it seemed as though open war might well break out between the two erstwhile allies,......more