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Zoo Station

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Zoo Station

By: David Downing
Narrated by: Simon Prebble
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About this listen

By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent 15 years in Berlin, where his German-born son lives. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as war approaches, he faces the prospect of having to leave his son and his longtime girlfriend.

Then, an acquaintance from his communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets. Russell is reluctant but ultimately unable to resist. He becomes involved in other dangerous activities, helping a Jewish family and an idealistic American reporter. When the British and the Nazis notice his involvement with the Soviets, Russell is dragged into the world of warring intelligence services.

©2008 David Downing (P)2009 Audible Ltd Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Mystery Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Fiction War Imperialism

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All stars
Most relevant  
Great story, enjoyed the plot and it brought back fond memories of Berlin for me.

I look forward to the second story in the series.

Ah! pre war Berlin

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Great story, fascinating background, well written & narrated very atmospheric and gripping. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Very Good

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Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful series of books however only books 1,2 and 6 are available on Audible, so if you want to follow the whole series it would be best to get hard copies instead.

Wonderful series of books

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What is it about pre-war Berlin? Having devoured Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther Berlin Noir series I was delighted to be able to return to the scene of the crime but with another new, complex protagonist in the form of English journalist John Russell, torn between loyalties to his country of birth, his communist past and his German son with his estranged wife, not to mention his glamorous girlfriend. Manipulated by all sides and becoming a triple agent he struggles to save the fate of a Jewish family in the harsh reality of the Nazi state.

Zoo Station

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As a fan of the more subtle espionage thriller this story fit the bill. The narration has a wonderful period aura to it that helps transport the listener into 1930's Berlin.

Captivating

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A tight story, which conjures up a strong image of Germany just prior to WWII. The narration was excellent.

Great story, with wonderful narration

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Not bad, the atmosphere is well-captured and it's fairly written, but the story itself seemed somewhat unidimensional. Simon Prebble was a joy to listen to though, as always.

One thing to note if audible or the producer is monitoring these reviews, there's a strange reintroduction with title and author part way through the book (I believe it was at about the five hour remaining mark). For a moment it was confusing as I wondered if something had gone wrong and I was missing the rest of the book.

Decent

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I took a punt on this book, having no previous knowledge of it. It was really excellent. A good story well told. I am off to buy the next one!

A great boojk

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I loved this story, subtle and still chilling with its details of Germany on the eve of war. Superb narration and production too. Highly recommended.

Perfect historical thriller. Perfect audiobook.

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The premise of the book interested me but it plodded. Perhaps the narrator’s laidback style wasn’t right for this story or perhaps he was bored reading it? Perhaps I just prefer books with pace and more in depth characters. This novel tried hard, and did have moments when I thought it would take off, but overall just didn’t hit the mark for me. However, I did listen to the end as I knew if I started to read another book I wouldn’t go back to this one and I was interested enough to want to know what happened at the end so something about the plot must have been right!

It never really got going.

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