ISTANBUL PASSAGE: JOSEPH KANON

I liked this novel for various reasons, most importantly, it instantly brought back memories of our life in Istanbul back in the 1970's though the novel is set earlier, just after WW II, as the various powers were drawing back their agents, for a time, just before the Cold War was to begin.

Leon Bauer, an American tobacco merchant and sometimes spy finds himself involved in a final escapade for Tommy, his CIA mentor, who soon will be leaving for the States.  Simply, he had to pick up a defector just below Rumeli Hisar, on the Bosphorus.  When he arrives in his car, to pick up the defector, he is shot at by a parked car; Leon returns the fire, kills the shooter and only later discovers Tommy is the shooter.  Thus begins the mystery of the novel, why did Tommy set up Leon, supposedly his friend, who is the defector, wanted by both the Russians, Americans and Turks.  Leon takes it upon himself as a point of honor to protect the defector despite the fact that he's a member of the Romanian Iron Guard, involved in the liquidating of the Jewish community.  Leon must juggle the three powers, hiding his defector, trying to find out why he is so important, and to whom should he give Alexie up. The story is also complicated by the fact that his Leon's wife suffers from depression, lies  unconscious in a Bebek clinic, having been overwhelmed by the treatment of the Jews by the three major powers after the war, sending boatloads back to Europe rather than allowing them to go to Palestine.

The novel is rich in Istanbul sights, which Kanon uses to his advantage.  Many of the scenes take place in the places with which I am familiar as might  a tourist, the Cicek Pasaj, both the Pera Palas and Park hotels, the Blue Mosque, the Galata Bridge, and various restaurants, even my favorite, Rejans, run by three white Russian sisters.  It takes a Turkish colonel to help Bauer sort things out, and in the end, Bauer realizes he's been used by the Turks as well but he can live with himself because he never gave up on Alexie, trying to save him to the bitter end.  A good story, with an accurate view of Istanbul after the war.