Brandenburg Gate

by Henry Porter

Overview

In this brilliant, multilayered, espionage thriller, the 2005 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award winner Henry Porter captures the tense final moments before the fall of the Berlin Wall. September 1989. The Communist government in East Germany is on the brink of collapse. Even the Stasi, one of the most formidable intelligence agencies of all time, can’t stop the rebellion that ends in the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dr. Rudi Rosenharte, formerly a Stasi foreign agent, is sent to Trieste to rendezvous with his old lover and agent, Annalise Schering, who the Stasi believe Annalise has vital intelligence. The problem: Rudi knows she’s dead. He saw her lying in her own bloodied bathwater, and then kept her suicide a secret. As collateral for this mission, the Stasi have imprisoned Rosenharte's family. But the Stasi is not the only intelligence agency using Rosenharte. Soon the British and Americans encircle him, forcing him to choose between abandoning his beloved brother to a torturous death and returning to East Germany as a double agent. As the political pressures against the East German government rise, Rudi must face his own crises. Brandenburg Gate shows Henry Porter at the top of his game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802143143
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/10/2007
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	515,878
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Set in East Germany during the bleak, waning days of 1989, this stand-alone thriller from British author Porter (A Spy's Life) combines impeccable research with compelling characters caught up in the broad sweep of fascinating historical events. The Stasi want art scholar Dr. Rudi Rosenharte to take part in a dangerous mission involving a former lover Rudi knows is dead, but who the Stasi thinks is not only alive but also harboring vital state secrets. Rudi has little choice, since the Stasi are holding Rudi's brother, Konrad, and his family hostage. Rudi, an ex-Stasi agent himself, clandestinely enlists the aid of the British SIS, the CIA and even the KGB as he pits all of these agencies against one another in an effort to smuggle Konrad and family across the border to the safety of the West. Readers will know that in a few weeks the Wall will be torn down, but at the time, as Porter makes clear, this was not a foregone conclusion, and death and disaster, as in Tiananmen Square, was a real possibility. It's easy to see why this riveting read won the CWA's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Porter (Empire State), the British editor of Vanity Fair, returns with a topnotch Cold War thriller set in 1989 during the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rudi Rosenharte, a former agent of the East German Ministry for State Security (a.k.a. the Stasi), is being forced back into service. The Stasi has arrested his twin brother, Konrad, and is holding the man's family hostage. In his quest to free Konrad, Rudi must walk a fine line among at least four intelligence services-the British SIS, the CIA, the KGB, and, of course, the Stasi. The East Germans believe that one of Rudi's old lovers wants to pass secrets to him, but he knows the woman died years earlier. What he doesn't know is who is manipulating whom. Beautifully researched and rich in incident and intriguing characters, this tour de force on a par with John le Carr has as many twists as a mountain road but is never confusing. Readers will root for the protagonist as he struggles to free his brother's family. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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