We observe rather than co-experience Alex’s development as he hones his observational and deductive skills – and his instincts for survival. Indeed, by the end of the book we seem to be twisting and turning so much that it begins to feel like a game of musical chairs and Alex’s fate will be decided when we run out of pages. Most books I review deserve concentration by the reader: this book demands it with characters of similar names – Markus, Markovsky and Martin – and constant twists. Kanon encourages us to wonder what compromises we would take in order to survive. There is more moral ambiguity than during the war. But the East German dream is being sullied even before the state is formed. Kanon doesn’t take sides, even as he tries to force Alex to do so. Moving through the novel are unrepentant Nazis and firm enthusiasts for the Russian regime, together with, oddly, the playwright Berthold Brecht. His return to Berlin is a cultural coup for the Russian Zone, but he has actually set up a deal with the American secret service to enable him to return to the US one day, and to be reunited with his son. The main protagonist is a writer, Alex, who fled to America during the Nazi period but who falls foul of anti-communist hearings in the States. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon published in the UK by Simon and Schuster UK on 6 November 2014.
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