Potsdam Station

We're in the final month of Nazi Germany, with John Russell, Effi Koenen and Russell's son Paul all providing points of view for this tale of the final days of the Third Reich.

The family is all scattered and trying their best to survive the carnage. There is real tension in this volume as one cannot be sure that any specific characters will survive. Will there be a happy ending, or will there be tragedy.

Effi is living undercover in Berlin helping others as she hides herself. The city is being bombed night and day by the Allies, and the landmarks are disappearing with every raid. Her side of the story continues the series trademark description of Berlin and how it is changing. Her character has really developed over the course of the show more series, she's no longer the Babelsburg film star heroine. She's become a real heroine, and refused to cowed by the nazi regime, albeit at a cost of living undercover.

Paul has been conscripted into the Army and is an anti-tank gunner. Again one wonders if he will survive the Soviet advance, and even if he does will be be taken prisoner alive. His tale is of the collapse of the German military and the desperation of the nazis. His interaction with a Hitler Youth unit when he gets separated from the rest of his regiment is heart-rending. You need to read it.

John has spent the period between this book and Stettin Station in the US before becoming a war correspondent. On realising that the Soviets will be first into Berlin he pulls all the strings he can find to get attached to the Red Army as a war correspondent. This doesn't quite work, but the NKVD remember him and come up with their own very high price to get him into Berlin.

Although separate and mostly oblivious of each other's whereabouts there are moments in the book when you expect the protagonists to discover each other. Most of these are missed, but a couple do occur, notably Paul runs into Effi a couple of times, once at a train station on opposing platforms, and again as a casualty in a field hospital where Effi is helping.

For me this is definitely the best of the series so far. I like the wider viewpoints and also the utter chaos. It also has a satisfying ending. show less

This is the fourth novel in the John Russell/Effi Koenen series set before and during the second world war. At the end of the previous novel, Russell had managed to escape Berlin for neutral Sweden in 1941, but Effi could not accompany him. This novel moves forward over three years to near the very end for Hitler's Germany, as the Red Army surrounds and advances on Berlin, in April 1945. Russell persuades his contacts in the Red Army to let him slip in as part of an advance party before the main army conquers the city, to find Effi and his now 18 year old son Paul. The action of the novel follows Russell's attempts to infiltrate, Effi's struggle to survive as the city collapses around her, and the completion of Paul's own show more disillusionment as a young member of the Wehrmacht. They do all eventually meet, but all is not quite neat and tidy, and the slightly ambiguous conclusion leads us into the fifth book. Downing describes the environment of fin de guerre Berlin very evocatively and creates well rounded and likeable characters, though as before this does ramble a little in places. show less

Downing has a brilliant talent for portraying time and place as he does so well in this John Russell series set in wartime Berlin. In this novel, the fourth in the series, the Russians are advancing while the Wehrmacht retreat and Russell's wife hides with a young Jewish girl. Downing's writing has an authenticity which makes for a gripping story. I highly recommend this excellent series.

A grippingly authentic story woven around the last days of the Nazis as the Russians storm Berlin. John Russell does a deal with the Russians to get back to Berlin where he believes his wife and son are. However, as always the Russians want something in return which involves a dangerous arrival in Berlin ahead of Russian troops. The level of detail about war-time Berlin, including streets, buildings and railways gives the story a documentary feel, as do the various characters who all seem authentic. Highly recommended.

This is the fourth novel of a six book series. It leaps 3 years and 3 months forward from the last book, to April 1945. Initially it was a little disconcerting but then I realized that Downing has already shown us what he wanted to show us, and although there is likely a story that lies untold he wanted us to now see the fall of Berlin. Focus here is at times different, but also somewhat familiar - Downing again take us through the streets and train stations with a technique that may be tiresome to some readers but one that I generally find immersive. As before, there is quite a bit of story building before things take off at an exciting pace. Our primary character John Russell, British-American journalist, was escaping from the German show more Reich at the end of the last novel 'Stettin Station', and now is determined to get back in before the complete collapse and imminent Russian invasion of Berlin to make contact with his son Paul and his girlfriend Effie. Effie is more than a girlfriend really. His plan is to follow the Red Army as a journalist. Hmmm not so easy. The Soviets are as bad as the Nazis.

Unlike prior stories large parts of this happen away from John Russell and the story quick cuts between Russell, Effi and Paul throwing the reader a little off balance as the Soviet army attacks and the German army retreats. Very well done. show less

I must confess this book didn't do much for me.

The German army is on the run and trying to defend Berlin, while the Soviet army plows through their resistance and wrecks brutal havoc on the German people in lands that they have conquered. Everyone is wondering why Hitler won't end the war and save his people. John is trying to reach Berlin in time to find and protect Effie from the Soviet army and, ironically, has to make a deal with the Soviets to lead an NKVD team into Berlin and help them find atomic secrets in order to do so. Effie, meanwhile, has become a member of a cell trying to save Jewish "U-boats", Jews who have survived by hiding. Arrested for being with a Jewish orphan, Effie refuses to leave the child and is taken to a show more collection camp which, like the rest of Berlin, is under constant Allied bombing. Paul is now seventeen and a gunner with the ragtag remnants of the German army. Finally understanding why his father did and believed the things he did and abandoned him in 1941, Paul is growing up in a world gone mad. As fourteen year old Hitlerjugend and grey bearded members of the Volkssturm are forced into the breach, Paul simply tries to survive.

The plot line had potential to be a heart-stopping thriller, however, it didn't work for me. The novel is written in alternating perspectives: John's, Effie's, and Paul's. The effect is that just as one plot line starts to gather momentum, it is stopped cold by the switch to a different voice. Not only do the abrupt changes slow the pace, but there is no easy way of determining when a switch has occurred. One section can by about John and the next paragraph can be a segment about Paul with no visual warning. I found it very disconcerting. So as fabulous as the plot was, I couldn't get into the flow of the book and was disappointed with what could have been a fascinating story. In addition, there was even less introspection than usual. show less

Potsdam Station by David Downing is a fictional book taking place during the final month of the European theater in World War II. This is the fourth book in this series, named after Berlin train stations.

When he realizes that the Soviets are about to take Berlin, John Russell calls in many favors to get attached as a war correspondent to the Red Army. The NKVD, however, remember John and are willing to grant his wish, but for a very high price.

As a minor celebrity, Effi Koenen doesn’t find it easy to hide in Berlin, but she manages and even helps others to hide. At this point in the war, Berlin is being bombed day and night and every morning more and more of the city’s landscape gets destroyed. A heroine of film, Effi finds herself show more a real life heroine.

Paul is fighting to defend Berlin. Being conscripted into the German army, this teenager knows that his choices are few and all of them are grim. He is on the losing side and is either going to die, get captured by the Red Army, or try to make it through the battle in one piece and away from zealots willing to throw their lives, and his, into Russian canons.

Every time I pick up one of the books in the John Russell series I ask myself why am I not reading more of them. This is the same question I asked myself when I picked up Potsdam Station by David Downing.
I still have no good answer.

The story is told from the point of view of three people, John Russell, Effi Koenen and Paul, John’s son. John Russell is a British journalist and amateur spy, Effi Koenen an actress, and Paul who is John’s son, a member of the Hitler Jugend and a soldier fighting the Russians to defend Berlin.

Mr. Downing draws a picture of Berlin on its last legs. In this torn down town, our three protagonists chase one another, or rather rumors of one another throughout the book, always taking one step forward to slide two steps back and continue their search.

I thought that Effi and Paul were the real starts of this book. John Russell keeps the separate stories all connected, but both Effi and Paul show growth and encounter everyday people who make their choices, good or bad, count.

The best way I can describe this novel is utter and complete organized chaos. I think this is what the author intended and he succeeded in a marvelous fashion.

Even though this book is part of a series, one which I have not read in order, I feel it is an excellent standalone book. I warn you though, you’ll want more.

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