The German Club

By: Patrick Oster

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Synopsis: If you ask people why the Berlin Wall came down so unexpectedly, those who remember those days might tell you it was because of President Ronald Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" speech. Many forget that address took place more than two years before Germans put sledgehammers and pick axes to the cement barrier as the beginning act of their reunification. Now, after a quarter of a century has passed, a story has begun to circulate about what really happened. It's a tale of a mysterious group with ties in many countries, a billionaire industrialist, the CIA, Stasi thugs, goosestepping East German soldiers, a Nazi general, massive disinformation -- and murder. In the middle of the story is a Chicago homicide detective who gets tossed into those whirlwind times and becomes key to them all."Oster's story is full of double agents and hidden agendas, which he ably ties into the days leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. He provides enough historical context for readers with only a cursory understanding of Cold War politics that they should be able to follow the plot's various twists. Oster unravels the mystery with a steady, straightforward delivery befitting its protagonist(who) pushes and punches his way through the novel, which never strays from the action...Each passage reveals another layer of the mystery and keeps up the story's momentum...A solid, worthwhile espionage thriller."- Kirkus