The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon

Published by Scribner on February 22, 2022

The Berlin Exchange gives readers a different take on the spy thriller. The protagonist is a failed spy, an American physicist who passed secrets to the Russians while America was developing the atomic bomb. He served about ten years in a British prison before a prisoner exchange sent him to East Germany, reuniting him with his ex-wife and son. The novel begins with the exchange as the tense steps across the border are followed by gunfire and a crashed ambulance.

Martin Keller taught physics in Germany. When he met Sabine at a party, she told him she was a Communist “in her head,” but not openly because the Nazis did not tolerate Communists. She also told him that she wanted to leave Germany before a war started and that an American would be positioned to make that happen. Martin married her, brought her to America, and — like Sabine — became a spy for ideological reasons. He believed that America’s quest to be the sole nation with nuclear weapons would hinder the cause of world peace.

Martin got caught while he was in England. To maintain her cover, Sabine denounced and divorced him, then returned to the country that had become East Germany, where she took up residence. She married Kurt Thiele, a lawyer who arranges prisoner exchanges with the help of a priest and some black marketeers. Thiele raised Martin’s son Peter as is own, although Peter has always known Martin is his father. At Sabine’s request, Kurt arranges the prisoner exchange that brings Martin to East Germany, a place Martin views as little better than the prison in which he had been serving time.

Peter plays a starring role in an East German television show that is a propaganda vehicle for East Germany’s brand of communism. Peter has been raised in an environment of propaganda and views his father as a hero for betraying the West. Peter believes what he has been taught — communism is fairness, everyone in East Germany has everything they need. Given the status of Peter and his father, Peter has it better than most, making it easier to swallow the lie.

Against that background, a plot unfolds. Martin has abandoned his ideological respect for communism because of how it is practiced in Russia and East Germany. He doesn’t like the oppressive society that he has been forced to join. He doesn’t like the return of his former Russian handler to his life or the expectation that he will spy on a friend and former colleague. He doesn’t like Kurt. But he cares about Sabine (despite having good reason to hate her) and he loves his son. The story follows Martin as he masterminds a plan to save Peter, Sabine, and himself.

Joseph Kanon doesn’t try to make Martin particularly likeable, but he does craft Martin as a decent man who earns the reader’s sympathy. Martin is trying to make the best of an impossible situation and is willing to take risks to overcome his mistakes. His relationship with Sabine is complicated but he doesn’t let anger prevent him from doing the right thing.

Martin’s plan is complex and clever, designed to stay a step ahead of his adversaries, but the story always feels real. Kanon sets up a meticulous plot but doesn’t bog it down in unnecessary detail. Every scene has a purpose, setting up a suspenseful ending that could have a variety of outcomes. Until the final pages arrived, I had no idea how the book would end.

Kanon writes some of the smartest thrillers on the market, and some of the best suspense novels that are set in post-war, Cold War era. The Berlin Exchange meets the high bar that Kanon has set for novels in that genre.

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