Reviews

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay

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odessaseven's review

mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

The experience of the Berlin Wall was the best part of the book; the speed with which it went up and the feeling of being trapped. As for the mystery .... it's pretty predictable. That said, it's a breezy, light read that'd be great to travel with (if the trip is short).

nruth's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

cakt1991's review against another edition

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3.0

I’ve read Katherine Reay in the past, although she’s not a must-read author. But the premise of The Berlin Letters intrigued me, as I’ve been enjoying some interesting books about codebreakers lately, and I was curious about the Soviet and East German angle to the story.

Reay did a great job conveying the Cold War era and the politics of the era, especially with Germany being divided along political lines after World War II.

I generally enjoyed Luisa’s perspective, and she was engaging to follow. I generally enjoyed following along with her as a protagonist, even if she didn’t always make the wisest decisions.

But this was a weak book as a dual-timeline narrative. While it was interesting to learn a bit more about her father from his own perspective, this also bogged the story down quite a bit, and I wish there had been a more concise way to get the story across that didn’t slow down the otherwise gripping pace of the book.

While this was a somewhat underwhelming read overall, I’m not opposed to reading more from Reay in the future if the story sounds interesting. And I would still recommend it if you’re interested in historical fiction set during the Cold War.