Description
John Russell is a German expatriate living in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. The death and destruction of the recently concluded Second World War has transitioned to the paranoia and uneasiness of a Cold War between Russia and the United States. Russell is thousands of miles from home, yet his troubled past hovers over him every day. He was forced into acting as a double agent in the previous war and extricated himself from a certain death by utilizing blackmail. In 1953, Russell covers the Hollywood beat for a pittance, while his wife Effi stars in a popular sitcom. Communism factors into both their lives as the McCarthy hearings are dominating the news in the US and the death of Josef Stalin has ramifications in the US and Eastern Europe. The past casts a shadow on the present over John and his family.
Union Station” is a noteworthy effort from author David Downing and the latest in his series featuring John Russell. The drama runs consistently strong from the sundrenched city of angels to the back alleys of the zone-divided Berlin. This is a top-notch historical fiction novel that is nearly impossible to put down.