Masaryk Station

Europe, 1948. The continent is once again divided: into the Communist Soviet-controlled states to the east, and the US-dominated democracies in the west. John Russell and his old comrade-in-espionage Shchepkin need to find a way out of the dangerous, morally murky world they have both inhabited for far too long. But they can’t just walk away: if they want to escape with their lives, they must, in Shchepkin’s words, ‘uncover a secret so damaging that we could buy our safety with silence’. In this heart stopping conclusion to the series, Downing ratchets up the suspense with a superb plot involving psychopathic mass murderers, a snuff movie that leads to the highest ranks of Soviet power, and Russell and his girlfriend’s last-ditch attempt to gain freedom. AUTHOR: David Downing is a full time author. He lives just outside London. REVIEWS: ‘In the elite company of literary spy masters Alan Furst and Philip Kerr’ -Washington Post ‘A superb sequence of spy novels comes to an end … Like its predecessors, Masaryk Station offers tight, intelligent plots full of moral ambiguities and a cast of shadowy characters for whom deception is as natural as breathing. The clammy atmosphere of espionage is wonderfully conveyed.’ -Marcel Berlins in the Times ‘An extraordinary evocation of Nazi Germany’ -C.J. Sansom on Zoo Station ‘Almost epic in scope, Downing’s Station cycle creates a fictional universe rich with a historian’s expertise but rendered with literary style and heart.’ -Wall Street Journal ‘An outstanding thriller … This series is a quite remarkable achievement’ -Shots Magazine