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    Zoo Station
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    Zoo Station
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    Zoo Station
    Ebook347 pages6 hours

    Zoo Station

    By David Downing

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Englishman John Russell is a member of the foreign press corps in Berlin and a first-hand witness to the brutal machinations of Hitler and the Nazi party in the build-up to war during the early months of 1939. Unlike many of his colleagues, Russell wishes to remain in Berlin for as long as possible to be close to Effi, his glamorous actress girlfriend, and above all to Paul, his eleven-year-old son who lives with his estranged German wife. When an old acquaintance turns up at his lodging house, Russell's life begins to change. Gradually he is persuaded by a combination of threats, financial need and appeals to his conscience to become a spy first for the Soviet Union and then, simultaneously, for the British. The grimness, the constant fear and the skin-deep glitter of pre-war Berlin alleviated by atmospheric excursions to Prague, Danzig, London and the Baltic seashore form a rich backdrop as Russell, a reluctant hero and saviour for some, treads along ever narrowing lines between the Russians, the British and the Gestapo.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOld Street Publishing
    Release dateSep 1, 2010
    ISBN9781906964375
    Author

    David Downing

    David Downing is the author of eight John Russell novels, as well as four World War I espionage novels in the Jack McColl series and the thriller The Red Eagles. He lives in Guildford.

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    Reviews for Zoo Station

    4/5

    226 ratings27 reviews

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    • 4/5
      John Russell is a British expat in Germany in 1939. Although conditions are worsening for many in Hitler’s Germany and it seems like Europe is heading for another war, Russell is loath to leave Germany because of his young son, who lives with Russell’s ex-wife and her new husband. Russell also has a German lover he’d rather not leave behind. Russell is approached by a Soviet agent with a request to write a series of articles about life in Nazi Germany. Soon the British have requests for him, too. He walks a fine line trying to keep the Soviets and the British happy without getting into trouble with the Nazis.The book has a strong sense of place. It explores the growing danger for German Jews in 1939, with Russell assisting a Jewish family to whom he’s been giving English lessons. It also explores the dangers faced by other groups targeted by the Nazis – homosexuals and persons with disabilities. Russell is a bit of an antihero. He’s not a moral crusader on a mission to rescue Jews and defeat the Nazis, but he does his part to help those who need it within his circle of friends and acquaintances.
    • 2/5
      Just could not get interested in the character.
    • 4/5
      This is an excellent period piece. It does prewar [late 38/early 39] Berlin excellently while also wandering through other parts of Germany, Poland and Prague. Indeed the only historical howler is a British intelligence officer telling the POV character [he is scarcely a hero] that the UK will fight over Poland because they cannot let Hitler get further ahead in armaments. In fact Hitler had gotten a 3-4 year head start but the Anglo-French were in the process of catching up. Adolph's best window of opportunity was 1939 into the first half of 1940. By the autumn of 1940 the window starts to close and by the end of 1941 it is gone [this presumes Paris doesn't fall so the French program is finished]. However the author's howler is what most of the pop histories say so he doesn't lose the one star for that. However while this is a lovely costume dram / period piece it works much less well as a piece of fiction. There are too many plot threads, too many secondary characters and the ending is more than a trifle too deus ex machina pat. Still kudos for making a workable ending. Many writers would have simply let it hang. The book was good enough that I ordered the next volume from Amazon but I do hope the author refines his story telling as the series goes on. It just never quite works as a thriller or a spy story or a police procedural [perhaps because it seems never to quite decide exactly what it is].
    • 4/5
      This is a very good slow boil thriller set in Berlin just before the start of WWII, during 1939. It is billed as a spy thriller but it isn't the sort that Alan Furst excels at. There are several things the story revolves around, notably Jewish Germans and the development of a final solution for developmentally disabled children and other asylum residents. The characters in here are interesting and well developed. The author obviously knows his history with all the period detail, although the naming of just about every street eventually seems a little excessive. This isn't a history lesson, however, unless one knows absolutely nothing about the rise of Nazi power in Germany. What it does do is put a human face on the unfolding events. Not a page turner until close to the end but it is a very satisfying read. This is the first book in a series and my book included a preview of the following novel Silesian Station which looks very good.
    • 4/5
      David Downing is Alan Furst's equal when it comes to setting a scene and creating a terrific cast and atmosphere, and he probably beats Furst when it comes to plotting in this one. A great read, and the first in a series that I am looking forward to devouring sooner, rather than later.
    • 5/5
      A brilliant evocation of 1939 Berlin, pre-war but with war clouds gathering. Meticulously researched as English journalist John Russell is recruited to spy on the Nazis for the Russians but finds it useful to share information with the British as he tries to help a Jewish family. I can't wait to read the rest of the "Station" series.
    • 4/5
      John Russell has divided loyalties. A British citizen with an American mother, he married a German woman he met while attending the 1924 Communist Party Congress in Moscow. Now, in 1939, he has been living in Berlin for nearly 20 years, is divorced with a 12 year old son, Paul, and has a German film star girlfriend named Effie. As the Nazi invasion of Poland looms ever closer, events conspire to test these various loyalties.From a fellow journalist, John learns about a horrible crime the Nazis are secretly perpetrating against a segment of the German population. When his colleague is murdered, John must decide how to get the information out of the country; perhaps it will be the turning point that will sway American isolationists into the coming war. At the same time, John tutors two Jewish girls in English as their father is trying to get them visas to England. When first the brother and then the father get into trouble with the Gestapo, John has to decide how best he can help the family without the Nazi's revoking his German residency visa.What I liked best about this book was the increasing tension as the war looms closer but no one knows exactly when it will start. What I liked least was the portrayal of Effie in this book. To me, she seemed a caricature of a not-so-bright film star used for sex. Fortunately that changes as the series progresses.
    • 4/5
      John Russell is a british journalist living in pre-WWII Berlin who writes human interest stories for British and American papers. He has a son and girlfriend living in Berlin and if war breaks out Russell will either have to flee the country or risk being placed in a labour camp for the duration of war. Russell is approached an old soviet buddy to write some Nazi friendly stories for a Russian newspaper and he reluctantly agrees but quickly finds there are more strings attached. When his american journalist neighbour stumbles onto an explosive story and needs help with a translation Russell accompanies him to the interview and the information they receive could get them killed but if they do nothing could get thousands of children killed. In the midst of all this drama Russell finds himself trying to help a jewish family that he has grown to like and desperately needs his help.This is a low key and slow paced thriller but one that kept me thinking. I quite enjoyed this novel and was happy to find out it was part of a series. I will be picking up the next book as soon as I can!
    • 4/5
      This was a tightly written, and gripping thriller, that appears understated at first glance, as it doesn't have car chases and thrilling escapes, but is actually more tense through its very nature that you keep expecting the worst to happen.This is the story of John Russell, an English journalist who has been living in Berlin for a number of years, and has a son by a German mother. It is the beginning of 1939, when things in Nazi Germany are beginning to get more difficult. John is torn between his loyalties to his native country, his loyalties to his son, and his loyalties to his adopted country, despite his hatred for the Nazi regime. He gets sucked into smuggling of papers and people, in an attempt to keep the people he loves safe and secure.This is the first in a series of books, the third of which is due to be published in 2009, so I will certainly be looking out for the second book which picks up chronologically where this books leaves off.
    • 5/5
      John Russell, a successful Anglo-American journalist, lives and works in Germany with deep ties in the community. He has a son being raised as a member of Hitler's youth group by his German ex-wife and he has a German girlfriend. Consequently, he avoids the kind of writing which could get him evicted from Nazi Germany as long as possible.Unfortunately for Russell, events and international agendas will over take him as the Soviets, English and Germans all demand his assistance in spying on each other. What makes this a fine and satisfying novel is his successful juggling act using each of his adversaries to manipulate the other and gain his ultimate goals.
    • 5/5
      John Russell, a British journalist who was once an active communist, is now trying to keep a safe, low profile in Nazi Germany, writing non-controversial articles about life in Germany. He has a German ex-wife and a son with her, and a German girl friend. But he finds it hard to avoid acting according to his conscious, starting from the very beginning of the book, when he happens upon some SA soldiers harassing a kindertransport group trying to leave Danzig and intervenes.This book is much more interested in the mood of the time and place than it is with a linear plot line. Its mostly about the everyday life in a city that is on the brink of war and greater disaster. It is similar in this way to Alan Furst's recent book, Midnight in Europe, which I also greatly enjoyed reading.
    • 4/5
      A quite satisfying novel. John Russell is an English journalist in Berlin prior to the onset of World War II. He is no idealist, and with a girlfriend who is German and a son who is in the Hitler Youth he feels ties to Germany, but his conscience gets the best of him when Nazi brutality hits those close to him.

      This is an atmospheric novel where the gloom of the Nazi shadow is palpable, but it is not as dense as some of Alan Furst's books, and Downing knows how to ratchet the tension up to sweaty-palm levels.

      The first book in a series, I'm eager to pick up the next one.
    • 3/5
      Altogether a decent enough page turner. I have some friends who just love this author and the John Russell series and they pore over old Baedeckers and maps of Berlin etc., delighting whenever they find evidence of the many (!!!) street names and landmarks. Downing certainly does know how to pad: while most paragraphs, and many pages, fail to carry the plot forward in any appreciable degree, he is able to insert something that adds a bit to the reader's store of not uninteresting facts. As for larger meanings, if anyone is in doubt that, on the whole, nazis were rotters and being a good father is a good thing, this book might be of assistance.
    • 5/5
      This thriller set in Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of the Second World War, is very well written. The description of the tensions and ordinary life in the capital are exceedingly convincingly realised and the central character, the English journalist John Russell and his German girlfriend Effi, likeable and well rounded. Russell's half German son, Paul, the product of his former marriage to Ilse, is also a well drawn and realistically likeable child, not a cipher like children quite often are in novels. The plot contains a great selection of grim and horrible incidents, but does meander a little occasionally and the ending was abrupt. This is certainly an impressive first book in this series and I was pleased that the next four were available to download for 99p each.
    • 5/5
      Great story of an English-American journalist struggling to do what is right in Nazi Germany as WWII is about to break out. Provides a stark picture of the realities of Hitler's systematic persecution of Jews and other groups deemed to be unworthy of life and liberty.
    • 5/5
      When we meet John Russell in a seedy hotel in Danzig (now Gdansk) at the start of 1939 he's already had an interesting life. It's about to get a lot hairier. He's a freelance journalist living in Berlin. He grew up in England and the US, has a German ex-wife Ilse whom he met at the 1924 Communist Party conference in Moscow, and a 12 year old son Paul. His girlfriend Effi is an actress, and he makes a bit of extra money by giving English lessons.. Downing makes the most of all Russell's connections to give a full picture of life in Berlin before the war. Russell finds the Nazis repugnant even at the start of the book, but tries to keep his head down and just be a good Dad to his son, who's in the Jungvolk and a bit embarrassed by his English Dad. His attitude changes as he learns more and more about what's going on.There is lots of character development in this book, and detail of Berlin. I loved that I had visited quite a few of the places in the book - one of the S-Bahn stations where something happens was the nearest one to my hotel last year so I could picture the different exits. Downing spends a lot of time showing the reader what life was like and it makes for a very tense book. When the police are the killers, there's little chance of a wholly happy ending. As usual, the Jews are like frogs in heating up water, but this book is set pretty late in the 30s so life is unbearable already and the lines at the British Embassy to get exit visas are very long. Felix Wiesner used to be a doctor, before he was banned from practising medicine, and as a favour to a friend in the embassy John Russell starts tutoring Ruth and Martha Wiesner in English. They're a really lovely family and they're trying to get the girls out to England.Highly recommended if you like spy thrillers. My hands were shaking near the end and I don't remember that happening before! I liked this more than the first Phillip Kerr (it was silghtly more believable near the end). I bought the next one, Silesian Station last night.
    • 4/5
      You'll like Zoo Station, if you like Philip Kerr's 'Bernie Gunther' stories or Robert Harris' 'Fatherland'. If you like Alan Furst.

      If you like thrillers set in Europe the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII.

      If you'd like a tantalizing glimpse into a somewhat forgotten - and in many ways, misunderstood - world.

      Zoo Station, the first in David Downing's Zoo series, is a really rather wonderful and absorbing period piece. In essence; a small tale set against a much bigger, darker backdrop. Involving ordinary people doing ordinary things, like just getting on with their lives, during extraordinary circumstances. The 'hero', is John Russell, an English freelance newspaper writer living in Germany in the early months of 1939, obviously just before the outbreak of World War II. Though, as the book further illustrates (and as if you have read anything else about this period, you will know), 'outbreak' is much more accidental-sounding than was actually the case. Through Russell, we see how the Nazi party has infiltrated its way into the minutiae of Germans' everyday life. And not in a pleasant way of course. You don't need to have done, but it certainly would increase you understanding of novels set in this period, if you had read a book like Richard J. Evans' 'The Coming of the Third Reich'.

      With hindsight, it might seem a little strange that an Englishman is living in Germany at this time. But he has good reason to be there. His has an ex-wife, a son and a beautiful, actress girlfriend to care for. He becomes involved with the Russians, ostensibly writing articles on typical German daily life, so the Russian people might better understand their prospective allies. But really he's spying. He knows that and thinks that as long as he can keep the Russians where he can see them, he'll be ok. The same with his British allies. As of course, the British also want a piece of the information cake. So Russell in effect becomes something of an unwitting double agent, with no real master but himself and no real loyalty to anyone, apart from to his family. But, being an Englishman more than somewhat integrated into pre-War German society, gives Russell the opportunity to observe, perhaps understand - though without condoning - and maybe react differently to the zeitgeist. Differently to how a typical German person would have. Or would have been able to have done.

      I found this a wonderful, engaging and involving read. An Englishman in a strange land, just doing the right thing, without fanfare. Acting heroically when looked back on, but only made heroic by the times. It is sublimely written and plotted, really well put together. You can almost touch the atmosphere of pre-War Berlin (I have no idea what the pre-War Berlin atmosphere was really like, but I can't imagine it being far from what is brought out here). It's the little things, the small incidents that do it. Giving English lessons to Jewish children, taking trains to Poland, trips to London, picking his son up from his ex-wife, all give this story its edge over others you might read. It's not exactly what you'd think of if I said 'a real page-turner', but to someone who appreciates fine writing and acute observation, sometimes with an acerbic edge *takes bow*, it was a book I found very hard to put away. The best part is, there are many more to come after this one.

      My only beef, would be with the recommendation on the cover. I'm never normally a great fan of 'a wonderful evocation of *insert long, long ago time period here* -type recommendations. I mean, unless they themselves were the character's age during that very same time, how do they know? It's not just about knowing the facts of what went on, that's often the easy part. It's surely about knowing about what people felt at that time and why. And the 'and why' can only come if you grew up in that period, were there and were affected by those special circumstances. A person born today would, when reaching writing/author age, surely have trouble imagining a time when there was no Internet, for instance. Tell someone that TVs used to be only black and white, only one or two channels and were the size of a Shetland pony - see what kind of look you get back. So someone saying it is 'a wonderful evocation of...', is guessing it is, hoping it is and probably should have inserted 'in my opinion' in there somewhere. Having said all that...this, in my opinion and based on what I have read about the period - and with parents still alive who were alive during that period, IS 'an extraordinary evocation of Nazi Germany on the eve of war...', as CJ Sansom says on the front cover.

      If you like an absorbing read, a good tale well told and with more to come. This is for you.
    • 4/5
      I am definitely a fan of this series and will keep reading. The author knows the places he describes well, and he also has deep understanding of the culture and range of social nuances appropriate to this volatile and complex setting, too. The story start off in Danzig in 1939, move chiefly to Berlin, but will visit Poland, Czech, northern Germany and even England during the course of the novel as well.The main character is John Russell, an Anglo-American forty year old journalist with complex ties to Germany that include a twelve year old son in the Hitler Youth and a strong willed actress girlfriend. He is fluent in Russian, German, and English, and is wise enough to see both the growing dangers the Nazis represent and the growing dangers to those who openly challenge them. He does not not see himself as heroic, but is a man of principle. Given whom he knows and where he goes, he becomes increasingly useful to representatives of different nations and political perspectives. Downing builds suspense at a slow but sure speed.
    • 3/5
      This has a lot of great reviews but I found it to be a bit disappointing. It is well written, and I agree that the author is great at creating unease, but for all the sneaking and planning, there is not a lot of drama in the story. It does have a fairly happy ending, which was unexpected, but it is clear that there will be a sequel and there is no definitive ending to the story.
    • 4/5
      Very good, atmospheric, intense, elaborate story, and pleasantly emotional with the hero's son and his lover, and other relations.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the historical aspects, the atmosphere, the challenge for a British man with a German son. The spy thriller plot was the cherry on top.
    • 5/5
      I wouldn't have called myself a spy novel fan before reading this novel in which suspense and mystery are masterfully combined with historical events. The story begins on New Year 1939, exactly nine months before Hitler's invasion of Poland. British journalist John Russell has been living in Berlin since the early 20s, having fought in WWI and doing his best ever since to put the memories of trench warfare behind him. The Nazis have become all-powerful, with 1938's Kristallnacht—an attack on Germany and Austria's Jews during which more than 1,500 synagogues were ransacked, and more than 250 set on fire—still very fresh in everyone's memory. Jews are no longer allowed to earn a salary and are turned away from restaurants and most public places, dissidents of the Third Reich are sent to concentration camps and rarely returned to freedom in one piece, if at all. Considering all this, Russell knows he should leave Germany and seek shelter either in Britain or better yet, in the United States, where his American mother is living, but this option doesn't seem possible to him, since his twelve-year-old German son by a German ex-wife, Paul, along with the love of his life, Effy—a minor film star and local celebrity—won't likely be able to leave with him. When he is coerced by a Soviet operative who requests he write articles for Russian newspapers, things take an even more dangerous turn for him. One of his neighbours, a young American journalist has hit upon a potentially explosive story—and one that is likely to get him killed—a reliable witness has given him documents confirming that the Nazis have been killing off disabled and mentally deficient children as part of their plan to purify the race, while keeping the parents in the dark as to the true cause of death. Russell knows better than to get involved, but before long he feels morally obliged to take on the documents. He's also taken on a private tutoring engagement to try to make ends meet—teaching English to two Jewish sisters who's parents want to send them to England. He becomes attached to the family and does all he can to help them, even as the father, a doctor who is no longer allowed to treat patients, is taken into a concentration camp under false charges. All these plot elements are woven together in an expert manner, and I found myself invested in the fates of these characters who are trying to survive in very dangerous times. The impeding sense of doom is very real, all the more so because while we know the historical facts, Downing does a commendable job of convincing us that the outcome is as yet unknown by presenting us with credible stories of individuals doing their best to survive. Captivating.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book that I have read entirely in 2015.

      Amazon had the whole series as a deal of the day for 99p each. I’d had this one, the first in the series, for a little while so I dipped in to see if the rest were worth buying. I got hooked and spent a fiver!

      I bought this one as an amazon recommendation. I’ve been buying first hand accounts and histories of the SOE for decades. I picked up the pace a bit a year ago when doing background reading for the short story Hunting Nazis which I used for the end of module on A215. I also read cold war spy fiction too. So amazon recommended me Downing’s series. The link is fairly obvious.

      This is about an Anglo American journalist living in Berlin in 1939 where his German ex wife and kid live too. He has a girlfriend too. The book starts on 31 Dec 1938 just as things are darkening. The story is as much commentary on how the war comes and why ordinary people didn’t protest as it is about how John Russell is drawn into working for various intelligence agencies.

      The story is paced very well and has that car crash quality about it. You know everything is going to hell but you want to keep on reading to find out how. I hadn’t expected a number of the twists in the story and I did wonder if it was going to end with him in jail, I knew it couldn’t be worse because there were five more books.

      This was very enjoyable and I finished it in a few days. It sneaked in ahead of some other books in the reading order, although I’m resisting the next one until I’ve managed a couple of paper books, per my 2015 resolution.
    • 3/5
      The end of the story was good. However, I did not like the beginning to the middle. There was no plot. The scenes/scenarios did not relate to each other. The characters were "peep holes" to the action. I think the goal/purpose was to show what motivates John Russell as he drove the second half of the book, manipulating his environment, and making things happen. I like that in a story, better than having the main characters not controlling what is going on, just reacting to events. The book reminded me of other stories, which is a bad thing for me. Hermon Wouk's "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" has similar Jewish/German plotting. Max Bryd's "Jackson" and Gore Vidal's "Burr" has the "journalist as lead character" thing. I rather read original stuff. The spoiler on the back cover also bothered me. When a book has no plot/is meandering, I read the flaps and/or back covers. I avoid the summaries when enjoying a book. I learned there was a "cliff hanger ending." The ending was cool and exciting, but I was expecting something, and that took away the impact. Overall, I liked the book, but will not put it in my "recommended library." This is the only library that has “include in recommendations” checked, which greatly improves book recommendations. Even though this was an enjoyable read, I am not interested in reading another Jewish/German story, or a narrative told by a reporter, or a book where the main character isn't in charge the majority of the time.
    • 4/5
      David Downing has written a series of novels about an English journalist in Berlin during WW II. In Zoo Station, the first of the series, John Russell, is in Danzig when he’s approached by a Soviet NKVD agent offering him a lot of money for a series of articles that portrayed Naziism in a positive light. Russell is an Englishman, a former Communist, who fought in WW I, having married (now estranged) a German woman. His son, Paul, born in Germany, is a member of the Hitler Youth. Russell suspects the Russians might be laying the groundwork for a future non-aggression pact. Then the Nazis approve, having their own motivation. Both sides want him to report whatever he might learn about the other side’s interests. So Russell is walking a tight-rope as the Russians demand more (no surprise), but Russell uses that for his own ends.Some reviewers have complained there is no action and that the book is just a litany of Nazi evils with too much journal-like writing. I disagree. What Downing has done is to present the horrifying atmosphere and story of a people gradually being subjugated (often quite willingly) by a group of thugs. At what point are we willing to resist and what motives lead us to participate or push back. There’s the story of the mother who discovers her retarded daughter has been pegged for euthanasia by the state as part of their ethnic-cleansing and the father who reports his Down-Syndrome children precisely because he wants the child to disappear. The recurring theme is the failure of ordinary people to resist. What makes this series (at least this first book that I’ve read in the series) interesting, as with Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther books, is the sense of place, the paranoia and fear of living in a repressive regime, and the difficulties faced by relatively ordinary people during that time of crisis. I’m reading Traitor’s Gate by Michael Ridpath, which has similar themes.I will be reading the other volumes.
    • 4/5
      In Nazi controlled Germany one spent much of their time keeping their head down and trying not to draw any attention to themselves. In [Zoo Station] David Downing captures this claustrophobic feeling as he tells the story of Anglo-American journalist John Russell, living and working in Berlin, held there by emotional ties. He has a German girlfriend he doesn’t wish to leave and a half-German son who means the world to him. Being a divorced father means he gets to spend very little time with his son, but if he left or was expelled he would have to leave his son behind.What then does he do when he stumbles on an enormous story, one that the rest of the world really should see to get a true picture of how far the Nazi regime is willing to go to keep their bloodlines pure. Another journalist has already been killed over this story, and the hunt is on for the letters and documents that would reveal their plans. At the same time John agrees to teach English to a couple of Jewish girls whose parents are trying desperately to get the family, or at least the children out of Germany. When the father is accused of a crime and the mother is refused a Visa, how can a man of conscience not get involved?David Downing manages to tell a well paced, complex story that draws the reader along, quietly building the tension as the increasingly murderous nature of this regime is revealed. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and we know what is going to eventually happen, but this is a masterful look at a repressed and frightened people under the control of a government that ruled by terror, unfortunately these people looked the other way and did not want to become involved until it was suddenly too late.
    • 4/5
      “ a world more full of weeping than you can understand.”-YeatsJohn Russell is a British freelance journalist living in Berlin. The year is 1939 and war is rapidly approaching. He has been there for fifteen years. His girlfriend is German and his son, from a previous marriage also lives in the city.One fine day a Soviet agent corners him and asks him to do a few assignments for them. He agrees and soon uncovers various Nazi atrocities and finds himself in some very dangerous waters, especially when the Brits, Americans and the Gestapo want a piece of him too.This is a low-key thriller, more of a slow burn than a conflagration. Nicely written, with a likable lead and some fine dry humor: “If the Eskimos had fifty words for snow, the Nazis probably had fifty for dried blood.”This is the 1st in a series and I am looking forward to the next.