ZOO STATION: DAVID DOWNING

All of the John Russell novels are set in Nazi Germany, in 1939 so far, just before the annexing of Poland, which basically starts WWII.  Russell is a British citizen, with an American mother, who marries a German woman, has a son, Paul, divorces her, but stays in Berlin because of his son.  He makes his living as a journalist, has a famous actress girl friend, Effie, and because of his early Communist enthusiasms, his British and American connections, and his German wife and son, he is pulled in many directions.  In the first novel, he makes clear his dislike, even hatred of the Nazis and all they stand for.  It's also obvious that  this cannot be stated publicly, even among friends because you cannot trust anyone, a terrible world to live in.  He befriends a Jewish family, teaching their daughters English, because they hope to emigrate to Great Britain because all of the restrictions, the violence, and the threat of camps for the Jews.   He also becomes friends with a naive American journalist, who reminded me of Alden Pyle n Graham Greene's classic THE QUIET AMERICAN.  The American stumbles upon a story where the Nazi's have plans to liquidate all children with handicaps over the next few years.   Somehow, the Nazis are on to his story, and he ends up dying, supposedly committing suicide by jumping in front of a train.  Russell ends up with the story but is unsure what to do with it.

The other plot involves the Jewish family.  The father is arrested, taken to a camp, and murdered, making it imperative that the family leave as soon as possible.  Russell connects with the underground communists, offers his services, if they will help get the Jewish family out of the country.  They will arrange it for him if he will take a document (containing German Naval Plans) out of Germany to Poland, where a Soviet agent will meet him.  Russell also decides to take the American's article with him and mail it to the American Embassy when he gets to Poland.  If he is discovered carrying either of these documents, he knows he will be arrested, most likely killed.  His journey, of course, is filled with tension.   He makes it, connects with the Soviet source, tells him this is the last time he will help, they seemingly agree but actually set him up by putting a compromising document in his bag.  Fortunately, Russell finds it, flushes it down the train toilet, and when searched by the Nazis, obviously alerted by the Russians, he feigns innocence and is allowed to go on his way.

The novel paints a realistic and depressing picture of a country held slave to a belief, one of power and intolerance, a government who can act, like putting the Jews in camps, with impunity as the populace either refuses to see or lacks the moral courage to stand up and be heard. A good part of the novel is taken up with Russell's every day life, as well, taking his son to soccer games, going out to bars and dinners with Effie, meeting fellow journalists in bars, things like that which make life seem mundane and everyday at least from the outside.  I liked the book enough to get the next three novels in the series.