A review by sams84
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon

3.0

This is a complex character drive story set in East Berlin after the end of WWII where everyone is spying on everyone and very few people, if any, are what they seem to be. The story starts off simply enough with Alex Meier returning to Berlin from the US after having fled the Nazis before the war but things quickly turn as it is shown that his return has been driven by more than just personal choices. Instead he has bargained with the newly created CIA to utilise his connections and knowledge to be their agent in Berlin and clear his name of suspicion. But of course things are not even that straight forward as all sides are recruiting and there are double and triple agents everywhere. While I did enjoy the overall story and the depth of the characters was impressive, I did find some aspects quite hard to follow, particularly the conversational aspects which seemed a bit clunky and blended into each other quite frequently. I also found the complex interplays between the characters a little hard to keep up with but I think this was partly due to me getting lost in the narrative as much as anything else. I suspect though that given another read or two it might become a bit clearer.