I received a copy of this book to review for Amazon Vine and this is my January 2012 review originally posted there.

The Berlin Crossing, a debut novel, is an interesting mix of thoughtful thriller and love story, set in east Germany at two different times.

In 1993, Michael Ritter is struggling to adapt to the realities of life in a reunified, post communist Germany. The Berlin Wall has gone, his wife has left and now he is losing his job as a teacher, as his new boss doesn't see him as willing to be part of winning hearts and minds to capitalism. Then his dying mother urges him to go and talk to a rural pastor. At 30, Michael is about to learn about his parents.

This was my favourite part of the novel, as I really felt for the narrator, trying to cope with so many difficult things in his life, fending them off with sarcasm. Also, it is set at a really interesting time in the history of eastern and central Europe. I also thought he was more convincingly portrayed as a character than the others.

When reading the Berlin Crossing, I really enjoyed the whole story and was carried along by it, but on reflection, I found some of the plot of the 1960s story of Roland and Petra a little bit farfetched. Roland was a young Irish man with a German father, coerced and blackmailed to Germany on a spying mission, after being arrested by the police in London. I found it hard to believe someone with no experience or knowledge of espionage would be used in this particular way. I didn't really understand what he had been sent there to achieve, or why he had been singled out. The scenes of Roland being bullied by the police were well written and really quite frightening, and I found the bullying and anti-Irish racism all too plausible.

That clumsy plot device is used to get Roland to Germany where he can meet Petra, brought up in an orphanage since her parents died in the war. Their love story is moving and unashamedly romantic, and seems to be the real centre of the story.

For all my criticisms, this was a really good read, and I would recommend it, just don't think about the plot too much, and I will look out for more books by Kevin Brophy. ( )

I really enjoyed this book - at first I was captivated by the interesting perspective of someone who had been a loyal East German struggling within reunified Germany in the 90s. It then became more of a traditional cold war tale outlining the horrors of the Stasi in the East, but was still a great story of redemption, sacrifice and love. ( )