LA Meets Berlin
For several years, I’ve enjoyed the taut, entertaining espionage novels written by David Downing. In particular, I love his “Station” series, set in Berlin during the Nazi era and the beginnings of the Cold War. The stories follow the adventures of British journalist and spy John Russell, with each book named after a train station in Berlin: Zoo Station, Silesian Station, and so on.
I was surprised when I read that his new book, Union Station, was named for LA’s famous train depot. The story begins in Southern California and only later moves to Europe. I thought it was an unlikely juxtaposition and probably a stretch for the action to straddle LA and Berlin, but, curious, I decided to read it anyway. I’m glad I did.
The story is set in 1953, in the heart of the McCarthy era, when LA experienced its most authoritarian era and, perhaps until recently, its closest brush with fascism. It’s surprisingly effective and thought-provoking to see the LA of that time viewed through the eyes of a character who, in Downing’s previous books, lived with, worked against, and was shot at by Nazis.
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