Masaryk Station by David Downing

Published by Soho Crime on June 18, 2013

Masaryk Station appeals to the intellect but not to the heart. David Downing's writing lacks passion and the story is only moderately suspenseful. The plot is nonetheless intriguing and the background is skillfully rendered.

John Russell is an American journalist, but that's a cover for a rather complicated life. He's married to Effi, a German movie star. He also works for the Army's Counter Intelligence Corps, currently (1948) assigned to Berlin. For the moment, however, he's on loan to Trieste, serving as an interpreter for the flood of Russians seeking to defect. He's also running errands for the CIA. He uses his free time to poke into a ratline operated by Catholic priests for the benefit of (among others) the Americans who pay by the head for each refugee smuggled out of Eastern Europe. When they aren't working for pay, the priests are saving the skins of Croatian fascists and fugitive Nazis, an embarrassing fact that Russell would like to expose. Russell's other secret is that he's a double agent who reports to Soviet intelligence.

During the course of the novel, the CIA sends Russell to Udine, Belgrade, and Prague. None of his missions go well, but since Russell doesn't seem to like any of his employers, he's content simply to stay alive -- a tricky proposition given the multiple attempts that are made on his life. Russell's real agenda is to get out from under the thumb of his Russian and American employers.

A less interesting storyline follows Effi in Berlin as she wrestles with career choices (including pressure from the Soviets to act in a movie being filmed in Moscow), assists a mother who hopes to reunite with her daughter in Prague, and becomes embroiled in the mystery surrounding an actress' death. Also in Berlin, Gerhard Ströhm, a liaison between Russia and Germany, engages in a series of academic discussions about socialism, capitalism, and communism that are a tad dry. More interesting are the efforts Russia is making (and that Ströhm must help orchestrate) to disrupt American activities in Berlin.

Masaryk Station is a pleasantly meandering novel, but not a particularly suspenseful one. One disadvantage (to the reader) of Russell's status as a double agent is that, when captured by either side, he can extricate himself from trouble by saying "Hey, I work for you guys." It's hard to worry about a spy who carries a "get out of jail free" card. Although Downing delivers a satisfying amount of action, I never had the sense of danger that the best espionage novels deliver. I also found it difficult to believe that the Americans and British failed to notice that Russell is a double agent, given events in the novel that practically scream out his betrayal.

Perhaps because I haven't read the earlier novels in the series, I didn't feel I ever got a handle on what makes Russell tick. He's clearly a man with a conscience and I appreciated that aspect of his character development, but I never understood why I should care about him. I spent much of the novel wondering about his motivation to act on Russia's behalf until Downing finally alluded to it. I suppose that's my own fault for beginning with the last book in a series so I don't hold that against Downing, but I wonder if I might have enjoyed this novel more if I had read the others first. In any event, I didn't find myself fully engaged with Russell's plight.

Still, I appreciated the novel's historical setting and the atmosphere that Downing creates. I also admired Downing's ability to craft an intelligent plot even if I didn't feel particularly connected to it. On the whole, Masaryk Station is a reasonably enjoyable novel, but I would recommend that readers avoid my mistake and start with the first book in the series.

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