WEDDING STATION

As Nazism tightens its grip on Germany, an English crime reporter tackles a handful of juicy stories.

Downing resumes the story of John Russell in a seventh Station novel, a prequel set many years before his spy work last seen in Masaryk Station (2013). In February 1933, reporter Russell is on a train when he and other passengers spot a raging fire in the distance. It’s the historic Reichstag fire; a moment later, the new chancellor, Adolf Hitler, and his information chief, Joseph Goebbels, emerge from a black Mercedes at the scene. Russell’s journalistic investigations play out against a backdrop of escalating violence and oppression. Downing's inclusion of episodes from the rise of Nazism and backstories involving Russell and his expatriate friends adds texture but slows the propulsive pace of the story. The castration and murder of young male prostitute Fredo Ratzel sends Russell in search of the man's missing roommate, Timo Baur. Divorce looms, meanwhile, for Russell and his estranged wife, Ilse, threatening his right to live in Germany. Although their relationship is amicable, Russell worries about Paul, their 6-year-old son. Through Ilse’s new partner, Russell meets war veteran Wilhelm Zollitsch, whose rebellious daughter, Lili, has disappeared. Is this the latest kidnapping by the SA, the Nazi paramilitary arm? A third provocative story that Russell is chasing involves the hit-and-run death of Konrad Mommsen, judged an accident by jaded Detective Kuzorra. Gaining access to Mommsen’s American widow, Donna, by serving as a translator in her police interview, Russell presses for more information.

A litany of sordid crimes that are both a MacGuffin for and a window into a chilling, compelling era.