Zoo Station

John Russell has been in Berlin for a decade by early 1939.  He has a son with his German ex-wife.  For the most part he is happy, he sees his son regularly and he has a beautiful girlfriend.  However, life in Nazi Germany is not as happy as the Germans portray.  Jews are being sent off to concentration camps for no reason at all.  Life is becoming regimented and certain things are becoming harder to come by.

Life changes for Russell when a fellow journalist supposedly commits suicide.  He had been working on a story that the Nazis didn't want to get out, and Russell was privy to the basic information that the Nazis planned to euthanise those who were mentally handicapped.

In addition, the Soviets have asked Russell to write a series of stories for Pravda that would tell the Soviets about the Third Reich.  He is about to become entangled in the world of espionage.  How can he stay in Germany, help his Jewish friends and keep his son and girlfriend safe, and be a spy all the while maintaining his front as a legitimate journalist?  Fear of the Gestapo was constant.

As I started reading "Zoo Station" I wasn't sure that it was going to be a good read, but David Downing does a tremendous job building the story and tension. I thoroughly enjoyed it.