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Stettin Station (2009)

by David Downing(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1905847815 (ISBN13: 9781905847815)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Old Street

series

John Russell

review 1: This book is a good addition to Downing's John Russell series. It has plenty of suspense to tempt a reader to keep turning pages well beyond midnight. The one sustained impression it leaves with me is the awful realization that events like these actually destroyed countless real lives. Yes, it seems the books' main characters survive, but many of the minor characters died like their real life counterparts. The narrative is fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time.
review 2: Stettin Station is the third book in the John Russell and Effi Koenen series. The strengths of the tale are the characterisation, sense of atmosphere and place, and the historicisation. Russell and Koenen are well realised and rounded characters and they are accompanied by a broad sp... moreectrum of nicely penned others, including journalists, administrators, various forms of police, family, friends and other citizens. Downing manages to nicely blend the everyday realities and complexities of living in Berlin during the war with the politics and machinations of a police state and his role as a foreign journalist. The result is a story that captures the everydayness of getting on with lives in a state of perpetual background fear, and the tactics of surviving and resisting. Moreover, by utilising real events and occasionally real historical characters, Downing provides a semblance of authenticity. Where the book suffers a little is with regards to the plot. Whilst it is an interesting story the tale seemed largely a transitory one, moving the characters into place for the next instalment rather than having its own self-contained arc and denouement. Moreover, the ending seemed somewhat contrived and didn’t ring true to me. Nonetheless, Stettin Station is a solid addition to a very good series and I look forward to reading the next instalment. less

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