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A review by charles__
Zoo Station by David Downing
2.0
Period wartime espionage thriller with an imperfect attempt at 1939 Berlin atmosphere.
I have a fetish for WWII and WWI pre-wartime thrillers. Both Goodread’s and Amazon’s algorithms constantly dog my reading heels with Downing’s Station Series. I gave it a try.
Note: Alexander Platz (1939), home of the Berlin Police Detective Headquarters . This book takes place in the early months of 1939, not the summer as shown.
This is a spy thriller about a somewhat leftist, British, past-his-prime journo anchored to Nazi Berlin by personal and family ties. It's the series’ hero's origin story and how he begins in his own small way to resist the Nazis. It’s modestly well done, if you’re not a rabid fan of the sub-genre. I thought some parts of the story to be overly theatrical. In addition, despite a serious attempt at atmosphere, there were holes in the historic detail. Finally, a lot of prose is dedicated to setting-up for the series and not this particular story.
My dead-tree copy was a bog standard 300-pages. Original copyright for the story was 2007. Parts of this book went very quickly, others I was tempted to page through.
[a:David Downing|35840|David Downing|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1457103894p2/35840.jpg] is a British author most known for his historical thrillers. However, he has also written non-fiction, histories and rock music analysis. This is the first book in his Station Series series. Its named after mostly Berlin rail stations, but also rail stations in other European cities. The series is six (6) books. The series' hero (John Russell) has spy adventures in Berlin and Eastern Europe before and after the war. The last book in the series was written in 20013.
The plotting was well-enough done. Downing heavily leverages the Making the Choice for You trope with his hero Russell. Like many British WWII espionage thrillers written in the 00's, I saw the [a:Robert Harris|3367417|Robert Harris|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] influence on the story. The cross-double cross was professionally handled. Pacing was fine until about two-thirds of the way thought—then it became a rush to the end. Scenes were a mixed bag. Naughty Bits were of the fade-to-black category. Participants didn't seem concerned with birth control. That was peculiar, considering how abortion cropped-up in the plot more than once. Violence was mostly physical with somewhat graphic descriptions. Alcohol was used, but not abused. (I wanted a glass of Goldwasser while reading this.) The more sedate scenes are much better than the action/confrontational ones. Many of Russell’s confrontational scenes with Nazis were overly theatrical. In general, I thought book's public Nazi behavior contained a considerable amount of hyperbole. For example, I doubt the Nazi party militia would assault a young, female, English, Red Cross worker on a public train platform in front of witnesses, including a journalist in pre-war 1939? German police procedure was also not as methodical as it should have been.
I happen to have read both a lot of fiction and non-fiction about the historical setting of this book (Berlin Between the Wars). It was interesting to see how the author integrated his hero into the early period of the Nazi regime. I particularly liked Downing’s German domestic scenes. He described a sampling of rather liberal German’s regarding the Hitler regime six (6) years after he became Chancellor. Normal folks (properly volk) will tolerate a lot in their political leadership, hoping things will get better. At least when they’re not a persecuted minority, like the Jews were. There was also some interesting insight into Jewish refugees and asylum seekers from Germany in 1939.
I have mixed feelings about the author's attempt at period atmosphere. Firstly, there is very little German vocabulary in the book. I suspect the author can’t speak it, or at least not as well as Russell. Most of the dialog would have been in German. Some are noted to have regional accents. (What did a Silesian accent sound like?) I was disappointed there was no significant attempt to included period vernacular in the dialog, which was very rich. When the author did use German, it was for brand name products, locations, organizations and venues. Most of the Berlin venues were just names used in the narration. For example, Kranzlers (the location is now a boutique, mini-mall), Hotel Adlon (modern incarnation not on the original location), and the Tauentzienstraße KaDeWe (interior renovated beyond recognition . I don’t think a reader would have known Kranzler’s was a café, if Russell hadn’t eaten breakfast there. Frankly, a skint journo like Russell shouldn't have been eating, drinking or shopping in any of these places, on his own nickel. I also didn’t get the right feeling for time and distance for Russell’s tramping across Berlin in winter. He must walk really fast! By my reckoning, he should have passed through or past the Tiergarten a lot more than he did. (The Tiergarten is adjacent to Zoo Station.) Finally, it was never mentioned and I could not figure out what borough Russell’s love-interest (Effie) lived in? (It might have been Charlottenburg ?). As an aside, Effie and Randell make a highly unlikely couple. Oddly, for a British author, the London scene descriptions suffered likewise. (The author lives in the UK’s South East, not London.)
This was a modestly entertaining wartime espionage thriller. However, it was by no means the best I’ve ever read. The author’s strenuous attempt at Berlin (and London) location atmosphere was an obvious facade to me. In addition, too much of this first book was devoted to setting-up for books two (2) thru six (6), rather the one in my hands. It’s possible that a novice reader of the genre wouldn’t notice this—I did. However, this was an easy read, and contained a modicum of historical Edutainment. Unfortunately, (for the author) there are better series' out there in the sub-genre to read.
I will likely not be reading the next book in the series [b:Silesian Station|3285072|Silesian Station (John Russell, #2)|David Downing|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494095594s/3285072.jpg|3321422].
Readers interested in better espionage fiction on the period should try [b:Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem|236814|Berlin Noir March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem (Bernie Gunther #1-3)|Philip Kerr|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388175786s/236814.jpg|229374] by the late [a:Philip Kerr|53936|Philip Kerr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242600733p2/53936.jpg]. This is the first book in an excellent series by the author. [b:Night Soldiers|627614|Night Soldiers (Night Soldiers, #1)|Alan Furst|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436043153s/627614.jpg|810894] by [a:Alan Furst|49941|Alan Furst|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1226085973p2/49941.jpg] is also excellent and is likewise the first book in a series. A good non-fiction book to get background on the period is [b:Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy|1465376|Weimar Germany Promise and Tragedy|Eric D. Weitz|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348611572s/1465376.jpg|1456279].
I have a fetish for WWII and WWI pre-wartime thrillers. Both Goodread’s and Amazon’s algorithms constantly dog my reading heels with Downing’s Station Series. I gave it a try.
Note: Alexander Platz (1939), home of the Berlin Police Detective Headquarters . This book takes place in the early months of 1939, not the summer as shown.
This is a spy thriller about a somewhat leftist, British, past-his-prime journo anchored to Nazi Berlin by personal and family ties. It's the series’ hero's origin story and how he begins in his own small way to resist the Nazis. It’s modestly well done, if you’re not a rabid fan of the sub-genre. I thought some parts of the story to be overly theatrical. In addition, despite a serious attempt at atmosphere, there were holes in the historic detail. Finally, a lot of prose is dedicated to setting-up for the series and not this particular story.
My dead-tree copy was a bog standard 300-pages. Original copyright for the story was 2007. Parts of this book went very quickly, others I was tempted to page through.
[a:David Downing|35840|David Downing|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1457103894p2/35840.jpg] is a British author most known for his historical thrillers. However, he has also written non-fiction, histories and rock music analysis. This is the first book in his Station Series series. Its named after mostly Berlin rail stations, but also rail stations in other European cities. The series is six (6) books. The series' hero (John Russell) has spy adventures in Berlin and Eastern Europe before and after the war. The last book in the series was written in 20013.
The plotting was well-enough done. Downing heavily leverages the Making the Choice for You trope with his hero Russell. Like many British WWII espionage thrillers written in the 00's, I saw the [a:Robert Harris|3367417|Robert Harris|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] influence on the story. The cross-double cross was professionally handled. Pacing was fine until about two-thirds of the way thought—then it became a rush to the end. Scenes were a mixed bag. Naughty Bits were of the fade-to-black category. Participants didn't seem concerned with birth control. That was peculiar, considering how abortion cropped-up in the plot more than once. Violence was mostly physical with somewhat graphic descriptions. Alcohol was used, but not abused. (I wanted a glass of Goldwasser while reading this.) The more sedate scenes are much better than the action/confrontational ones. Many of Russell’s confrontational scenes with Nazis were overly theatrical. In general, I thought book's public Nazi behavior contained a considerable amount of hyperbole. For example, I doubt the Nazi party militia would assault a young, female, English, Red Cross worker on a public train platform in front of witnesses, including a journalist in pre-war 1939? German police procedure was also not as methodical as it should have been.
I happen to have read both a lot of fiction and non-fiction about the historical setting of this book (Berlin Between the Wars). It was interesting to see how the author integrated his hero into the early period of the Nazi regime. I particularly liked Downing’s German domestic scenes. He described a sampling of rather liberal German’s regarding the Hitler regime six (6) years after he became Chancellor. Normal folks (properly volk) will tolerate a lot in their political leadership, hoping things will get better. At least when they’re not a persecuted minority, like the Jews were. There was also some interesting insight into Jewish refugees and asylum seekers from Germany in 1939.
I have mixed feelings about the author's attempt at period atmosphere. Firstly, there is very little German vocabulary in the book. I suspect the author can’t speak it, or at least not as well as Russell. Most of the dialog would have been in German. Some are noted to have regional accents. (What did a Silesian accent sound like?) I was disappointed there was no significant attempt to included period vernacular in the dialog, which was very rich. When the author did use German, it was for brand name products, locations, organizations and venues. Most of the Berlin venues were just names used in the narration. For example, Kranzlers (the location is now a boutique, mini-mall), Hotel Adlon (modern incarnation not on the original location), and the Tauentzienstraße KaDeWe (interior renovated beyond recognition . I don’t think a reader would have known Kranzler’s was a café, if Russell hadn’t eaten breakfast there. Frankly, a skint journo like Russell shouldn't have been eating, drinking or shopping in any of these places, on his own nickel. I also didn’t get the right feeling for time and distance for Russell’s tramping across Berlin in winter. He must walk really fast! By my reckoning, he should have passed through or past the Tiergarten a lot more than he did. (The Tiergarten is adjacent to Zoo Station.) Finally, it was never mentioned and I could not figure out what borough Russell’s love-interest (Effie) lived in? (It might have been Charlottenburg ?). As an aside, Effie and Randell make a highly unlikely couple. Oddly, for a British author, the London scene descriptions suffered likewise. (The author lives in the UK’s South East, not London.)
This was a modestly entertaining wartime espionage thriller. However, it was by no means the best I’ve ever read. The author’s strenuous attempt at Berlin (and London) location atmosphere was an obvious facade to me. In addition, too much of this first book was devoted to setting-up for books two (2) thru six (6), rather the one in my hands. It’s possible that a novice reader of the genre wouldn’t notice this—I did. However, this was an easy read, and contained a modicum of historical Edutainment. Unfortunately, (for the author) there are better series' out there in the sub-genre to read.
I will likely not be reading the next book in the series [b:Silesian Station|3285072|Silesian Station (John Russell, #2)|David Downing|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494095594s/3285072.jpg|3321422].
Readers interested in better espionage fiction on the period should try [b:Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem|236814|Berlin Noir March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem (Bernie Gunther #1-3)|Philip Kerr|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388175786s/236814.jpg|229374] by the late [a:Philip Kerr|53936|Philip Kerr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242600733p2/53936.jpg]. This is the first book in an excellent series by the author. [b:Night Soldiers|627614|Night Soldiers (Night Soldiers, #1)|Alan Furst|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436043153s/627614.jpg|810894] by [a:Alan Furst|49941|Alan Furst|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1226085973p2/49941.jpg] is also excellent and is likewise the first book in a series. A good non-fiction book to get background on the period is [b:Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy|1465376|Weimar Germany Promise and Tragedy|Eric D. Weitz|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348611572s/1465376.jpg|1456279].