Iron Curtain is a historical thriller set in late 1980s East Germany and follows Adam, an American who lives in Germany, who gets involved in the mystery of a young girl's disappearance.

I thought this was fine. I'm not the biggest fan of series so I didn't really appreciate that format, however this is a personal preference and has nothing to do with the quality of this book. I do understand the decision to make this a series and I can see people enjoying this more than I did.

The characters could have been more fleshed out, Adam was your typical brooding male main character, I didn't understand his motivations (although maybe I just didn't pay attention in the beginning because I wasn't that hooked). Evelyn was, well. I understand her role in the book but I am so tired of male dominated action books and the women just... being merely supportive characters, dying or (view spoiler).

I liked the portrayal of 1980s East Germany, you could tell that it was well researched and that the author has personal relations to the topic. The languages Russian, English and German were cleverly interwoven, although I think I had a slight advantage being fluent in both English and German. However, you can also understand the book if you only speak its primary language, English. All things written in German and Russian are translated.

Overall, would I recommend this to everyone that will let me speak about books for .2 seconds? No. However I can imagine some thriller and mystery fans will enjoy this more than I did. Solid debut.

As someone who grew up behind the Iron Curtain and has experience with the persecution (my family refused to join the Communist party and my uncle tried to flee to the West but was caught and imprisoned; two facts which landed us on the persona non grata list) that happened back then, I can tell you that this book describes very authentic events, even though--and that's why I only gave it 4 stars--I believe that there was not enough "Stasi" (secret police) involvement. When something like this happened, there was usually a lot more involvement to either get the people back in line or make them disappear. But that is just me, someone who lived during that time in that place. Someone who reads this from any other perspective wouldn't know. All the references to things that you would most likely only know if you lived in East Germany, such as Bockwurst, VEB, etc., gave me all kinds of flashbacks and made me enjoy this story even more. I like that the books is quite fast-paced, yet still gives you the opportunity to get to know the characters.

Thank you, Netgalley and the author/publisher, for the opportunity to read (listen to) and review an advanced reader's copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.

This Is a very good book I actually rated it as a 3.5 as it is better than a 3 star average rating. I loved the story line and found it very interesting. I did have to finish it in one day as I just needed to know how it was going to end. So definitely a page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the development of the main character as he strikes to do what his father had trained him to do. Which was definitely an very interesting upbringing. There was plenty action in the story and a few heart stopping moments where I was on the edge of my seat. The book was so close to that 4th star. As I loved many aspects of the story I didn't fully connect with it. Well as much as I wanted to. I just can't work out the reason for this. I recommend this book to cold War fans and those lovers of espionage. Also you can always try a sample of this book at many retailers to see if this book is for you.

Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating this very interesting and intriguing story. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/iron-curtain-by-raf-beuy-ibpa-independant-author-3-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

All too convoluted and stilted reading for me .. one reviewers makes a good case its being full of clues to another time and regime .. but the clichés abound for me as it's told .. the ending is too full of coincidence etc ... just not for me.

In 1970s GDR a boy is being tortured – in 1987 GDR a man is slaving away, pushing coal to feed his collective’s factory’s furnace. Are they connected? The answer to that question must wait until very late in the book. The coal pusher is Adam Hedman, an American citizen brought to the GDR by his idealistic, socialist father and with a complex, but unrevealed, story since then. Despite his menial position he is clearly a man on a mission; a mission which centres on him finding and killing someone who had wronged him in the past. This intention is thwarted because a girl, Anna, from the collective has gone missing, feared dead, and the whole town is looking for her. The girl’s sister persuades him to join her in investigating the disappearance. Murder? Suicide? Runaway to the West? For some reason the Stasi don’t want this investigation to succeed which makes him more determined to solve the mystery, and unexplained elements from his past mean he has access to funds, weapons, disguises, false documentation as he sets off across the GDR and the USSR on the trail of a potential suspect.
The plot as outlined above is fairly straightforward, but its exposition is convoluted and frankly too driven by improbable coincidences. The writing style, explained in a preface as being an attempt to render the GDR patois into a form of English slang, is interesting but sometimes grates. So this book is not recommended for skim readers or those looking for a holiday read. On the other hand it is set in a strange world which, although only thirty odd years ago, collapsed just two years after this story ends. The dénouement of the story is almost as precipitate as the fall of the GDR, and leaves as many loose ends. It is the first of an intended trilogy where, hopefully, Adam’s back story will eventually become clear. In some ways I feel I should give this 4 stars, for its novelty, and in others I feel I should give it 2 stars for its flaws. I’ve gone for the mean.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I was really excited to read this book and it didn’t disappoint. It was very well written and I liked how the scenes were described throwing us back in history.

I also liked the fast pace of the novel but at some times it did seems to drag on, or the sentences were in complete which annoyed me a little bit bcs besides those (few) times the story line is very interesting

The ending was a bit weird, but after some looking around on the internet I saw that it the first book in a trilogy. I missed this when I starting reading and would have been useful to keep in mind.

Al by all I really enjoyed the story and did not regret requesting it, and I will definitely look out for part 2

I should have loved this book. Iron curtain is set in East Germany in 1987, a setting rarely found in historical fiction. The main character, Adam Hedman, is an American stuck behind the Iron Curtain who finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation. What an intriguing premise. Unfortunately the execution was lacking.

The writing in this book is stiff and cold, leading to a detached tone. There is little backstory or detail about how Adam came to be in his present situation. Despite his blue collar job as a coal shoveler, he is an unsympathetic character. The mystery he is trying to solve is interesting, however, I did not have confidence in his ability to solve it. I found myself forgetting he was American and not caring what would happen to him. At times I wondered if he was some kind of government agent posing as a worker and pretending to solve the mystery. He is able to fight, infiltrate, and spy far more easily than your average joe with no explanation as to how he obtained these skills.

Overall this book had great promise but was disappointing. It is planned as the first installment of a trilogy but I will not be continuing on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kawoom Press for providing this ebook for review.

‘Kinder, lieber Kinder, es hat mich Spaß gemacht!!’

‘Du sollst zerbrechen!’

I find it incredibly difficult to review this book, because I get the impression that this book is easily misunderstood, especially by a group of readers that is trying to make sense of the story, which, in fact, doesn’t make sense at all.

This book is not about Anna at all - she is insignificant - obliterated - and for peeps who read this novel as a mystery - haha - fools you are.
‘Oh, you’ve read it, and see this as evidence, because it’s PRINTED?!’ Having doubts? Hilarious. hahah.

There is a huge gap between what is written and what is meant, and the above is, of course, a rather silly and harmless example of Zersetzung. (Stasi technique)
The writer tries to raise moral issues through this multifaceted story about a woman who has gone missing, quite ‘business as usual’ in the GDR and certainly not something people should be bothered about. In fact, when they tried to find answers, it was most likely they ended up the same way.
It’s the writer who puts magic sand in the eyes of the readers, bringing good dreams and sleep, like Unser Sandmännchen - (GDR children’s programme).
He is continuously misleading the reader, taking detour after detour. After all, the outcome is already certain, so why bother?

Anna - probably not her real name - didn’t commit suicide and probably worked as a Mielke Maiden ( a highly educated prostitue working for the Stasi- it’s male counterpart being the Romeo- , they preyed upon the vulnarable and the outcasts for information (and Westmark) only). Confusion is deliberately created by the use of apparent contradictions in the use of namens like Anna and her alter ego (- Karenina)., Adam - in Socialist Paradise, Hermann/Immanuel Kant, et&… and where in AHHa trains are a leitmotiv, the author here opted to use the Trabant as means of transport ‘(God make me small and bent so that I can fit in a Trabant - )
The book is abundant with clues and references to people, places, art, music, literature, and music. For instance, the part in which Adam was shot and taken to a villa and cared for hints at Elrich Mielke ( a bad shot) in the forest of Brandenburg, hunting grounds for the Nazi & GDR elite; if you know who Mielke was and what he stood for, it places this rather apparent innocent ‘shooting accident’ in a whole different light..
Further references to the Punk scene in Berlin (Punk meant freedom, most however ended up in Hohenschönhausen), films: Das Leben der Anderen, Goodbye Berlin, Bayon (band),
Hasselhoff (“looking for freedom’) and many more.
As a Germanist, and having been to (a divided) - Berlin and the GDR many times, I could figure out most of the clues in this metaphorical story. In Part II Adam enters Zhivago country, where features and scenes from Russian literature are woven into the story.

I guess the only ‘mystery’ in the novel is how and why a country that has been so rich in literary and philosophical traditions, can wage draconian psychological warfare on the human soul by means of (gaslighting, zersetzung, ‘Zwangadoption’, property damage, … and in which 6% of the 173,000 inhabitants were child spies who betrayed siblings, parents, grandparents, friends, teachers… in the name of… ??

I liked the book, but fear that most of the breadcrumbs and the double meanings are lost on younger generations readers.
The use of the many metaphors, clues and references, which are ingeniously woven into the story, makes this a fascinating journey of discovery.

I would like Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read this.
I leave this review voluntarily.

***** 5 stars

I seldom come across novels set in East Germany during the Cold War. So when ‘Iron Curtain’ promises a ‘fast-paced adventure’ I hit the Request button fast because I like suspense and intrigue in a thriller, which this novel claims to be.

In this thriller, the first in a trilogy, American citizen Adam Hedman, a model worker in a coal collective, has a kill mission to do. We are not told what that is at the start and even the ending does not give the game away. But he has to abort it when his co-worker Anna disappears, and Evelyn, Anna’s sister, enlists his help to find her. The official line is that Anna is dead but both Evelyn and Adam are sceptical. Reluctant at first, Adam’s search for Anna gradually grows to be his personal mission, which takes him to far-flung places in Russia.

Truth be told, my reading enjoyment of this book didn’t turn out the way I expected. About halfway through it, I found myself losing traction slowly. The promised fast-paced adventure appears to be more of a stroll in the park. But perhaps, the story would pick up speed in the second-half - I consoled myself - because I don’t want to feel I’ve already wasted time plodding through the first-half. In all fairness the pace does pick up toward the end with a bloody finale in a forest villa.

With the involvement of the spy agencies from East Germany and the Soviet Union, I had imagined the main character to be spy-like or well versed in spycraft who undertakes risky and dangerous missions to save the West from destruction. But this isn’t the case because the plot has very little to do with such things.

The writing style is quite lively but there are some places where it grates on me when the author uses incomplete sentences in a row. I get it that it is perhaps intentional to convey the protagonist's thought processes. And that in itself isn't a bad thing.

Would I want to read the second book of the trilogy? I would but only because I want to know what Adam’s original kill mission is.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for for the free ARC. This review is given voluntarily.

[2.75]

Iron Curtain is a historical thriller set in late 1980s East Germany and follows Adam, an American who lives in Germany, who gets involved in the mystery of a young girl's disappearance.

I thought this was fine. I'm not the biggest fan of series so I didn't really appreciate that format, however this is a personal preference and has nothing to do with the quality of this book. I do understand the decision to make this a series and I can see people enjoying this more than I did.

The characters could have been more fleshed out, Adam was your typical brooding male main character, I didn't understand his motivations (although maybe I just didn't pay attention in the beginning because I wasn't that hooked). Evelyn was, well. I understand her role in the book but I am so tired of male dominated action books and the women just... being merely supportive characters, dying or going insane.

I liked the portrayal of 1980s East Germany, you could tell that it was well researched and that the author has personal relations to the topic. The languages Russian, English and German were cleverly interwoven, although I think I had a slight advantage being fluent in both English and German. However, you can also understand the book if you only speak its primary language, English. All things written in German and Russian are translated.

Overall, would I recommend this to everyone that will let me speak about books for .2 seconds? No. However I can imagine some thriller and mystery fans will enjoy this more than I did. Solid debut.

I picked this book to review as I've just been to Berlin and explored various museums about the DDR years. The author conveys a lot of information to set the scene accurately. The writing style, reminiscent of something translated from German, adds to the atmosphere. I wish the author well with the trilogy.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

2.75 Stars
Iron Curtain is a thriller set in East Germany in 1987. Our main character, Adam, is blackmailed by his colleague Evelyn into helping to search for her missing sister, Anna, who is presumed dead - but Evelyn does not believe that. Our search for clues to figure out what exactly happened to Anna was somewhat engaging at times and quite boring at others (especially at the start, when you just know that the first lot of suspects aren’t responsible, because there’s no way they would be right this early on). The first part of the book was also difficult to get through because, while they would sometimes find themselves in tricky situations, they would get themselves out of them far too easily. While Adam still possessed the very convenient ability to break in/break out (or even sometimes be let out for no good reason) of any secure place when we were nearing the end of the book, the odds didn’t feel as much in his favour. There seemed to be plot twist after plot twist, and while not all of them were entirely surprising, the final “chase” and “confrontation” we’re quite exciting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the last 3% were the most intense of the whole book. Some of the things we found out and what eventuated on literally the last two pages did leave me feeling a little underwhelmed, but I think it actually sets up well for the next book.

As for the characters, I wasn’t incredibly attached to them and wish they were more fleshed out. Adam did feel like a typical “male protagonist in an action movie whose wife died at the start of the movie and who lowkey doesn’t have a personality other than being good at fighting” (you know what I mean), but his dialogue was so unintentionally funny at times that I like him 5% more than I would have otherwise. I wish it delved more into what his original plan was (I thought it would have been clever for that to somehow be connected to Anna’s disappearance) and exactly what he went through, because I still feel as though I know nothing about him. I also don’t have much to say about Evelyn, but I did feel bad for her at the end. Her and Anna’s relationship is also something I wish was explored more (and hopefully will be) because I still can’t understand why Anna acted the way she did.

The writing style was also kind of boring sometimes. There were too many short and simple sentences in a row, which is not something I even realised I paid attention to. The way pronouns were used instead of names also confused me, because whenever he/him was used multiple times in the same section to refer to different people, I couldn’t figure out who was who, which was quite distracting.

Overall, there are several things I think this book could have done better, but I am still interested in reading the sequels.

What has happened to Anna? Will her sister ever find out and can Adam help her without putting himself in real danger. We don’t really know who Adam is but the hints from his past are that he is on a mission for revenge. He is distracted by the plea to help find out what has happened to Anna & it brings him into conflict with some very powerful men.
An insight into the hazards & difficulties of life behind the Iron Curtain especially if you are trying to find a truth that others would like to keep hidden!

I gave this book as much leeway as I could but I am sorry to say that it didn't grip me. The story did not hold my attention and I did not finish the book.

I approached this novel with cautious optimism and, frankly, I wasn't disappointed. The Iron Curtain is a thriller-mystery following the proletariat Adam Hedman, who harbours a dark and foreboding past. His ploy to confront the man who 'ruined his life' are interrupted when fellow worker Anna Sievers goes missing, and he partners up with her sister to uncover the truth. There are many enamouring aspects to the story, from the location hopping across East Germany and Soviet Union, to the undercover 'missions' Adam takes on while searching for Anna. Adam as a protagonist emits an air of mystery that's enough to keep you curious, yet still maintain unflinching faith in his character. The writing is very solid, and kept me well engrossed, even as the plot took a full swivel one-third into the story. That being said, there were points where the 'mystery' dragged way too long over the course of the novel, before running in haste to wrap up at the end. Not to mention it was just a tad comical at the amount of times Adam was taken into the custody of various military units, and still came out seemingly unscathed each round.

All in all, a really good time. A big thank you Kawoom Press and Netgalley for this arc!

I liked this style of book as its was both interesting to learn about the history for the soviet union as well as the crime thriller aspects of the book. Was highly engaging an dam looking forward to the next books in the series

First of all, this book has more to offer than most. And that is said a lot. It is more than an incredibly well-written thriller with an unexpected plot. More than a page-turner that keeps you reading. It is a time machine that takes you back to a forgotten era that seems more current than ever.
The protagonist Adam Hedman is fascinating, far from the schematic heroes we encounter in most other thrillers nowadays. The hero is so multi-faceted with exciting family background. You want to get to know him better and follow him on his journey (fortunately, as the info states, "Iron Curtain" is part of a series, and we can look forward to more). Raf Beuy takes us on an unexpected journey to East Germany, Russia, and back. He is weaving in numerous unseen scenes and stories that are so well nuanced that at times you almost forget you're reading a fast-paced thriller and not a general fiction novel.
But at the same time, the story itself is so exciting that there's no time to think, as it catapults you into the following scenes and makes you feel like you're really there.
(Spoiler alert!) I could almost relate to the pain of the young woman in the psychiatric ward, hear the statesmen talking in the villa in the woods, and relate to the protagonist's obsession during his arduous journey through the freezing cold Eastern European streets, to name just three of countless scenes.
There is also an exchange of letters between father and son that is highly compelling. It shows that Beuy is a master of his craft and brings together talent, ideas, and knowledge. I can't wait to hear and read more from Raf Beuy.

Thank you to Kawoom Press Publishers and NetGalley for this ARC.