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The Berlin Exchange

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The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon is a Cold War history lesson. Kanon is able to convey the time and the climate of the era. I struggled at times to keep reading, but I did find the plot to be worth continuing to find out what happened and why. It's full of spies, deception, and worry for the characters as they sort out what everything means to their particular situation. It's a world most in the 21st century can't imagine, yet we aren't that far removed from it and the possibility of it occurring again in the future. If you wonder what it was like after WW2 and the effect it had on a world, give this a read.

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Kanon had a strong introduction and made me want to care about his characters, despite their Communist sympathies. The finish was also strong, with an unexpected although not implausible twist. The middle of the book bogged down for me, though; it became increasingly hard to follow the dialogue and to keep track of the characters and their various motivations and manipulations. The research was thorough and the sense of paranoid atmosphere he created in East Berlin was excellent: everyone watching and listening to everyone else, no one knowing who else could be trusted, and underhanded deals being made across the criminal underworld. He also effectively conveyed the sense that things in East Germany were not always as the government wanted to present them to the outside world, particularly in the Dresden scene where the residual effects of World War II had not abated. I particularly liked the character of Peter, the 11-year-old who is swayed by Communist propaganda, not knowing any better, but who doesn't necessarily succumb to it. His parents, however, were more morally ambiguous, particularly his mother, Sabine; her loyalty to ideology over family was rather disconcerting. A good if not a great spy thriller; not my favorite Kanon novel, but it had some very good scenes and moments.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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"The Berlin Exchange" by Joseph Kanon is an absolute masterpiece that transports readers to the heart of post-World War II Berlin with breathtaking precision and authenticity. This thrilling historical espionage novel is an extraordinary blend of riveting suspense, impeccable research, and compelling characters that will keep you enthralled from the first page to the last.

Kanon's writing is nothing short of brilliant. His attention to detail and evocative prose paint a vivid portrait of a city in turmoil, divided by political ideologies and teeming with spies and secrets. The atmospheric setting feels like a character in its own right, immersing readers in the tension and uncertainty of Cold War Berlin.

The protagonist, Alex Meier, is a tour de force - a conflicted and complex character whose journey of redemption and self-discovery is profoundly moving. Kanon masterfully captures the psychological nuances of a man torn between duty and personal demons, making Meier an unforgettable and relatable figure.

The plot is a symphony of intrigue and surprises, with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. Kanon's skillful pacing ensures that the tension builds steadily, and the suspense is palpable throughout. As the layers of deception and betrayal are peeled back, you'll be left in awe of Kanon's ability to craft such a gripping narrative.

"The Berlin Exchange" delves deep into the moral complexities of post-war Germany, exploring themes of guilt, redemption, and the blurred lines between right and wrong. Kanon's exploration of the political landscape and the human cost of the Cold War is both thought-provoking and deeply resonant.

In conclusion, "The Berlin Exchange" is a 5-star triumph that showcases Joseph Kanon's brilliance as a storyteller. With its intricate plot, rich character development, and atmospheric setting, this novel is a must-read for anyone who appreciates masterful historical fiction and espionage thrillers. Prepare to be transported to a world of intrigue, danger, and emotional depth. "The Berlin Exchange" is a tour de force that will linger in your thoughts long after you've turned the final page.

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Have been unable to review due to illness. Review coming soon! This novel looks fantastic and I highly recommend this author to everyone!

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Joseph Canon’s last book on Cold War Germany is another thriller based on the interaction of a family torn apart by their love, the politics, and the fact that both are spies in one fashion or another. Set in East Berlin, it moves directly and indirectly back and forth across the border with the son a famous child actor, the wife with a deadly disease, and the spy released from prison (early) to maybe be back together.

It was an easy read and moved quickly through the story. I would recommend it to anyone interested in spies, postwar Germany, and an odd love story.

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My Dad was a huge fan of John LeCarre, so I was intrigued with this book's description and the spy angle. I actually did not know much about this period in history prior to reading. The first plus was the map. That helped to understand the setting, and would recommend purchasing a hardcover version of The Berlin Exchange so that places could be easily referenced.
The story was told in a distant, suspicious manner. Dialogue and actions moved the plot; of course there were no inner reflections or feelings. The cool and matter-of-fact tone carried the mounting anxiety. Who was to be trusted? What had happened in the past? Who are the "good guys"?

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The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon tells the story of Martin, an American and a former spy who returns to East Berlin in 1963. His life is complicated by his past associations and the expectations of those who helped secure his freedom. The plot is full of twists and turns and hidden agendas. Readers who enjoy Cold War fiction won't be disappointed.

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As we enter what seems like a second Cold War, Kanon takes us back to the original-- the post World War II frenzy to recruit the world's best bomb-makers and build an arsenal equal to any in the world. So the old is new again, and if you think that there is nothing more to be wrung out of that bygone era, then you have not read the canon of Kanon. A small drama with large implications, and building to a tension-wracked conclusion that is worthy of another master, the late, great Jon LeCarre.

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Published by Scribner on February 22, 2022

The Berlin Exchange gives readers a different take on the spy thriller. The protagonist is a failed spy, an American physicist who passed secrets to the Russians while America was developing the atomic bomb. He served about ten years in a British prison before a prisoner exchange sent him to East Germany, reuniting him with his ex-wife and son. The novel begins with the exchange as the tense steps across the border are followed by gunfire and a crashed ambulance.

Martin Keller taught physics in Germany. When he met Sabine at a party, she told him she was a Communist “in her head,” but not openly because the Nazis did not tolerate Communists. She also told him that she wanted to leave Germany before a war started and that an American would be positioned to make that happen. Martin married her, brought her to America, and — like Sabine — became a spy for ideological reasons. He believed that America’s quest to be the sole nation with nuclear weapons would hinder the cause of world peace.

Martin got caught while he was in England. To maintain her cover, Sabine denounced and divorced him, then returned to the country that had become East Germany, where she took up residence. She married Kurt Thiele, a lawyer who arranges prisoner exchanges with the help of a priest and some black marketeers. Thiele raised Martin’s son Peter as is own, although Peter has always known Martin is his father. At Sabine’s request, Kurt arranges the prisoner exchange that brings Martin to East Germany, a place Martin views as little better than the prison in which he had been serving time.

Peter plays a starring role in an East German television show that is a propaganda vehicle for East Germany’s brand of communism. Peter has been raised in an environment of propaganda and views his father as a hero for betraying the West. Peter believes what he has been taught — communism is fairness, everyone in East Germany has everything they need. Given the status of Peter and his father, Peter has it better than most, making it easier to swallow the lie.

Against that background, a plot unfolds. Martin has abandoned his ideological respect for communism because of how it is practiced in Russia and East Germany. He doesn’t like the oppressive society that he has been forced to join. He doesn’t like the return of his former Russian handler to his life or the expectation that he will spy on a friend and former colleague. He doesn’t like Kurt. But he cares about Sabine (despite having good reason to hate her) and he loves his son. The story follows Martin as he masterminds a plan to save Peter, Sabine, and himself.

Joseph Kanon doesn’t try to make Martin particularly likeable, but he does craft Martin as a decent man who earns the reader’s sympathy. Martin is trying to make the best of an impossible situation and is willing to take risks to overcome his mistakes. His relationship with Sabine is complicated but he doesn’t let anger prevent him from doing the right thing.

Martin’s plan is complex and clever, designed to stay a step ahead of his adversaries, but the story always feels real. Kanon sets up a meticulous plot but doesn’t bog it down in unnecessary detail. Every scene has a purpose, setting up a suspenseful ending that could have a variety of outcomes. Until the final pages arrived, I had no idea how the book would end.

Kanon writes some of the smartest thrillers on the market, and some of the best suspense novels that are set in post-war, Cold War era. The Berlin Exchange meets the high bar that Kanon has set for novels in that genre.

RECOMMENDED

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5/10

Reading this book further solidified in my mind the greatness of the book “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold”, by John Le Carre.

Joseph Kanon is no Le Carre.

The “Berlin Exchange” has some similarities to “Came In From The Cold” but is a second rate version. Let me clarify.

The story is good enough it’s got characters and intrigue and a twist, just nothing new. 1963. Martin is
An American who worked on the Manhattan Project and spied for the Russians during WWII. He spent the past 15 years in jail. He was taken out of jail and sent to East Berlin, where his ex-wife and son are living.

Of course it’s a spy novel in East Berlin so you never know who’s good and who’s bad, you don’t know who is telling the truth and who is lying, and you’re not quite sure where it’s all leading to.

My biggest problem with the book - and this is a big big problem - os Joseph Kanon’s writing style. He doesn’t give a ton of description so I never got a great picture in my head of any of the characters. Or the places.

And with the dialogue, everybody sounds the same. Every single person talks with the same cadence.

Which gets to the grande dame of challenges for this book: the dialogue. Good lord it was frustrating. Everybody speaks in short non-sentences with incomplete thoughts. In any given five sentence paragraph, there is only one sentence that has all the elements of a proper sentence structure.

This style can work and it can work effectively. But it can NOT work when every single person speaks the same and the words in a sentence just don’t make sense.

So ridiculously frustrating to read. Dear editor of Joseph Kanon’s, help him work on cadence and description.

I had never read Joseph Kanon before and, truthfully, I’m not sure I will again.

Did I tell you how much I love Le Carre?

#netgalley #theberlinexchange

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Another book that I wanted to like, but had difficulty reading it. The story was a bit complicated, and I did not like the characters enough to pursue it. Sorry. It was a good idea.

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The Berlin Exchange is first-rate thriller for fans of espionage. Cerebral yet accessible, the novel tells the story of a former spy who has inexplicably been released from prison and summoned back to Berlin at the height of the Cold War in 1963. There, he meets up with his son and former partner (now married to the handler of the exchange). But what do they want from him? What is the reason behind his presence in Berlin? With increasing tension, the answers are revealed.

BookBrowse Review: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4405/the-berlin-exchange

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I received an advance copy of “ The Berlin Exchange “ from Net Galley in return for an honest review. Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher, and the author.
“ The Berlin Exchange” is a revising to the dark, early days of the Cold War. Berlin is divided by The Wall , mutual suspicion and ideology. The opening scene is of the exchange of Martin Heller, American, a physicist who worked on the ManhattanProject at Los Alamos. While there, he delivered classified information to the Soviets, acting out of feeling that the secrets should be shared with our ally because it would make th3 world safer. Now, ten years later, he is released from prison into East Germany, where his German wife ( also a spy, but who was not implicated at the time, lives with their son and new husband..
Martin is openly welcomed by the DDR authorities, offered a research job at a major research University and a nice apartment with amenities . He soon learns that all comes with a price: he must spy on his co-scientists. Martin quickly becomes disillusioned about life in the people’s republic. That is the thread of the plot.
Mr Kanon is an experienced writer of the spy novel genre. He delivers an captivating story, tightly plotted that builds to a dangerous climax. Using the changes in primary character Martin Heller’s attitude as he learns to live in the DDR the reader gains sympathy ,for him as a man conflicted by idealism and reality. Heller, his wife Simone, and his son Peter, whom Heller saw last as a baby in his mother’ s arms are all well done.
“ Exchange in Berlin” is a good spy story. It depends not so much on the tricks of the spy trade and the personalities of the characters. It is a diverting and entertaining novel, and well worth reading.,

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Eh, this was just an okay read for me. I have read the author before and really had forgotten that I wasn't really a fan of that read as well.
The idea BEHIND this story is a good one. An American spy [Martin], out of prison after 15 years, is traded back to East Germany where he has to try and learn to live with all he had done and also with his beloved wife, now his ex, and his son, who's life he has missed so much of. When they ask him to again spy, knowing that this time he cannot say no, Martin decides to put a plan in motion that takes most of the book to execute and that where the problem comes in - it just takes SO FREAKING LONG to get from beginning to end and after awhile it becomes just blather. Blather, blather, blather until the last 45 minutes of the book, when all heck breaks lose. This had so much potential and it just falls flat over and over again. I have to admit that I was really disappointed because it was such a great premise.

Thank you to NetGalley, Joseph Kanon, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Marin Keller is an American scientist who spied for the Soviets at Los Alamos, After serving a 10 year prison sentence, he is being sent to East Germany in exchange for some British political prisoners. There he will reunite with his ex-wife (married to the man who facilitates prisoner exchanges with the West) and his son, who is a child tv star. Life behind the Iron Curtain is not all it's cracked up to be, though, as Martin is quickly recruited/forced into spying on a colleague, inadvertently participates in a murder, and sees his ex dying of cancer, He concocts a daring plan to spirit his family to the West, but his escape will not come without costs. The atmosphere remains tense throughout, as one false step by Martin will mean his ruin, and Kanon does an excellent job of exploring the ethical and political dilemmas he faces.

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I always enjoy this reading Joseph Kanon’s books. Clever, with a bit of mystery, interesting characters in a fascinating setting. This one takes place in 1963, Berlin. The Cold War, spies being traded, usually from East to West, but this story is more complicated.

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Espionage thriller!

Always a sucker for a Cold War spy novel, especially East vs West Berlin and of course the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, along with John Le Carre’s Smiley and crew, remembrances beckoned me just from Kanon’s title. How could I resist this addition to a long held tradition? And let me just say I Ioved it. A smart and intricate plot. Martin is that quiet, intelligent character that I adore. He has hidden idealist’s past and hidden depths.
It’s 1963. American communist and Physicist, Martin Keller, is exchanged back into East Germany from Britain after ten years in prison for treasonous espionage. Fortunately he’d been caught in Britain and imprisoned there. If he’d been caught in the US it would have been the death penalty. The exchange is organized by his ex-wife’s husband, some sort of free lance wheeler and dealer, with links to the KGB and it seems, the Black Market. During the exchange an ambulance races past them attempting to crash the barrier into West Berlin. Shots are fired, and a death occurs. Martin finds himself wondering just who was the target of those shots?
Reunited with his ex-wife and son, all very weird, it’s not long before Martin realises that he doesn’t want to return to make weapons. It seems his ideology has taken a blow. Martin wants his son safely away from the East. But who to trust? How to make this happen? The Stasi is real. Who’s a friend and who’s waiting to turn him in? Talk about misdirection, about false information mixed in with truth, and of course, betrayal.
(BTW, I did not know that these swaps became big business for the DDR. Kanon explains in his Notes, “the swaps grew into an important revenue stream for the DDR…for some DM 3.4 billion ($850 million). Whatever the actual figures, there is no doubt that the swaps made a contribution to the DDR’s economic viability.” Fascinating! I also loved the cover.)

A Scribner ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

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🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon
Special thanks to Scribner Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book all thoughts and opinions are my own.
It’s 1963, Martin Keller is being exchanged for a another prisoner from the German Democratic Republic. Martin is was atomic spy, who was working on the Manhattan project during World War II thought that the nuclear secrets should be shared with the USSR because they were allies. He was caught sharing secrets and has been in prison for 15 years.
Martin can’t figure out why he’s being treated as an asset that’s worth anything for the exchanged. His knowledge of any atomic science is outdated by many years. He learns that his ex-wife, Sabine’s new husband Kurt is a lawyer and it’s his job to exchange prisoners. Martin’s son is a teenager now and needs his father.
As they cross the border the an ambulance comes speeding up and someone inside shoots at Martin and Kurt. But who and why? As Martin works to figure out what’s going on he learns that parts of his past are coming back around.
As always Kanon provides a gripping story that’s hard to put down.

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Intrigue and excitement make The Berlin Exchange the best novel I have read this year. This stellar offering by author Joseph Kanon keeps the excitement going as scientist/spy Martin Keller is released by the British to return to East Berlin, where his wife and son live. The wife has remarried to a Stasi fixer, and the latter soon involves Martin in prisoner exchanges and more. Martin ponders his options, them makes a break for the border, trying to take his family with him. The escape had me on razor's edge as the escape was fraught with peril..
I have enjoyed other Joseph Kanon novels in the past, and here's hoping he keeps them coming.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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After serving ten years in an English prison for espionage, Martin Keller is released and exchanged for several people being held in East Germany. His exchange was arranged by Kurt Thiele, who is currently married to Martin’s ex-wife Sabine. She had requested her husband’s help to free Martin after receiving a diagnosis of cancer. This is a chance for him to get to know his son Peter, but he also knows that this will come at a price. Martin was an American and still retains his passport. As a physicist who worked at Los Alamos, he justified his activities by insisting that peace could only be kept by providing the same technology to all sides. Before the war he had studied in Germany where he met his wife. Now at the height of the Cold War he is being treated as a celebrity. He will also be able to work again with his former friends.

Shortly after his arrival Martin is contacted by Andrei, his former handler from Russia. In a society where everyone is watched and your words can get you arrested, he is asked to spy on his former co-worker Professor Schell, who has been publicly expressing unpopular opinions. Once again Martin is being dragged into the spy game.

Joseph Kanon’s 1963 East Berlin is one of paranoia and shortages. The armed guards at the Berlin Wall and all crossing points make you realize that Martin escaped from one prison in exchange for another. While Kurt is happy to help Martin settle in, he is a member of the government and can not be trusted. His son Peter is well known as an actor in a popular television show, Die Familie Schmidt, that provides some privileges for the family. His show is an example of what a true East German family should be. Martin’s life becomes a high wire act where one misstep could cause his fall and imprisonment or death. His primary concern becomes finding a way to protect his family and friend. Kanon’s thriller will appeal to historical fiction vegans for its’ accuracy in describing life in Cold War Berlin. I would like to thank NetGalley and Scribner Publishing for allowing my review of this book.

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