Helpful Score: 3
A well-written thriller that takes place in Berlin immediately after Germany's surrender in 1945. The author masterfully sets the scene, showing you the devastated city through the shocked eyes of Jake Geisner, an American reporter returning to the city after four years away. Jake covers the Potsdam conference for Collier's magazine, searches for his former lover, and stumbles on a murder that takes him deep into the dark side of the occupation. The book explores some of the moral ambiguity of both sides of the conflict--both the victorious armies and the vanquished. The author has a real talent for characterization and detail, and you feel like you're really in the rubble of Berlin, looking around at the end of one war and the dawn of a new, Cold war. Incidentally, the book is nothing like the movie. The story details are very different, and the book is much more satisfying and complex.
Helpful Score: 2
If you are looking for murder mystery, a love story in a historical setting then you will enjoy this historical thriller.
Helpful Score: 2
This book gives a very good picture of post war Berlin, with several layers of story going on at once. It is not a fast paced book but the characters are well drawn.
Helpful Score: 2
Kanon picks such interesting settings (in this case, 1945 Berlin), that it sort of overwhelms the mystery part of the story. With building in ruins, concentration camps being discovered, people starving, World War 3 threatening to break out (all of which Kanon brings to life), I didn't find Kanon's murder mystery story especially interesting.
Helpful Score: 1
I really liked this book and didn't want it to end. It takes place in Germany after the war and contains a little history, a mystery and a love story.
