Synopses & Reviews
The bestselling author of Los Alamos and Alibi returns to 1945. Hitler has been defeated, and Berlin is divided into zones of occupation. Jake Geismar, an American correspondent who spent time in the city before the war, has returned to write about the Allied triumph while pursuing a more personal quest: his search for Lena, the married woman he left behind. When an American soldier’s body is found in the Russian zone during the Potsdam Conference, Jake stumbles on the lead to a murder mystery. The Good German is a story of espionage and love, an extraordinary re-creation of a city devastated by war, and a thriller that asks the most profound ethical questions in its exploration of the nature of justice, and what we mean by good and evil in times of peace and of war.
“[Joseph Kanon] is fast approaching the complexity and relevance not just of le Carré and Greene but even of Orwell: provocative, fully realized fiction that explores, as only fiction can, the reality of history as it is lived by individual men and women.”
--The New York Times Book Review
“The kind of book that reads so easily that it’s almost impossible to put down once you’ve started it.”
--The Baltimore Sun
“Kanon is as ambitious a novelist as he is a gifted one.”
--The Washington Post
Review
"[Joseph Kanon] is fast approaching the complexity and relevance not just of le Carré and Greene but even of Orwell: provocative, fully realized fiction that explores, as only fiction can, the reality of history as it is lived by individual men and women." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"The kind of book that reads so easily that it's almost impossible to put down once you've started it." The Baltimore Sun
Review
"Kanon is as ambitious a novelist as he is a gifted one." The Washington Post
Review
"What Carol Reed's film The Third Man did for Vienna immediately after World War II, Kanon's superb thriller does for Berlin....Superb popular fiction, combining propulsive narrative drive with a subtle grasp of character and a fine sense of moral ambiguity." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"A terrific book....Kanon is the heir apparent to Graham Greene and early- and mid-passage le Carré, for he writes of moral quandaries that are real and not created to drive a plot....The multilayered story is beautifully told." The Boston Globe
Review
"Kanon spins an ever-more-riveting thriller that is bolstered by vivid period detail, genuine characters, and a thoughtful exploration of the many layers of postwar German guilt. (Grade: A-)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"[A] lavishly atmospheric thriller overburdened with political and romantic intrigue. Though driven by strong characters and rich historical detail, the book ultimately falters under the weight of a ponderous, edgeless plot." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Gripping....Kanon has written a tale about the untenable choices war entails, and about the moral dangers of demonization. For American readers, the book cuts to the bone..." Newsday
Synopsis
The bestselling author of
Los Alamos and
Alibi returns to 1945. Hitler has been defeated, and Berlin is divided into zones of occupation. Jake Geismar, an American correspondent who spent time in the city before the war, has returned to write about the Allied triumph while pursuing a more personal quest: his search for Lena, the married woman he left behind. When an American soldier's body is found in the Russian zone during the Potsdam Conference, Jake stumbles on the lead to a murder mystery.
The Good German is a story of espionage and love, an extraordinary re-creation of a city devastated by war, and a thriller that asks the most profound ethical questions in its exploration of the nature of justice, and what we mean by good and evil in times of peace and of war.
Synopsis
A dramatic saga of intrigue and love set against the tumultous backdrop of Berlin in 1945 follows Jake Geismar, a former Berlin correspondent for CBS assigned to do a series of articles on the American occupation of Berlin, as he tries to find Lena, the German mistress he left behind, and stumbles upon a murder, which hurls him into a dark underworld of corruption. Reissue. (A Warner Bros. film, directed by Steven Soderberg, releasing Fall 2006, starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, & Tobey Maguire) (Suspense)
Synopsis
Kanon's New York Times bestseller is now the basis for Warner Bros. Picture's latest film, starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire, scheduled for release in November. American reporter Jake Geismar is sent to Berlin to cover the final Allied summit meeting of World War II and becomes tangled up in a murder mystery.
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Los Alamos and Alibi returns to 1945. Hitler has been defeated, and Berlin is divided into zones of occupation. Jake Geismar, an American correspondent who spent time in the city before the war, has returned to write about the Allied triumph while pursuing a more personal quest: his search for Lena, the married woman he left behind. When an American soldier's body is found in the Russian zone during the Potsdam Conference, Jake stumbles on the lead to a murder mystery. The Good German is a story of espionage and love, an extraordinary re-creation of a city devastated by war, and a thriller that asks the most profound ethical questions in its exploration of the nature of justice, and what we mean by good and evil in times of peace and of war.
About the Author
JOSEPH KANON is the author of four novels, including Los Alamos, The Prodigal Spy, and Alibi. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a book publishing executive. He lives in New York City.