The Good German: Summary and book reviews of The Good German by Joseph Kanon, plus links to an excerpt from The Good German and a biography of Joseph Kanon.

With World War II finally coming to an ending, Jake Geismar, former Berlin correspondent for CBS, has managed to wangle one of the coveted slots for the Potsdam Conference. His assignment: a series of articles on the American occupation of postwar Berlin. His personal agenda: to find Lena, the German mistress he left behind at the outbreak of the war. When he stumbles onto a murder -- an American soldier has washed up on a lakeshore on the conference grounds -- he thinks he has found the key that will unlock his Berlin story. What he finds instead is a larger story of corruption and intrigue reaching deep into the heart of the occupation and a city not only physically but morally devastated, where children scavenge for food in the rubble, sex can be had for a cigarette, and the black market is the only means of survival. Berlin at zero hour is like nowhere else -- a tragedy, and a feverish party after the end the world. And nothing is simple-not the murder of a soldier and not any of the lives, American and German, that Jake encounters as he tries solve it. More unsolvable still is the larger crime that hangs over everything in 1945, a crime so huge it seems beyond punishment. At once a murder mystery, a love story, and a riveting portrait of a unique time and place, The Good German is a historical thriller of first rank.

Media Reviews

Publisher's Weekly The book ultimately falters under the weight of a ponderous, edgeless plot   Library Journal Recommended only to meet demand, which may be considerable, given the book's heavy-duty marketing budget.   Booklist - Bill Ott Superb popular fiction, combining propulsive narrative drive with a subtle grasp of character and a fine sense of moral ambiguity   New York Times Provocative, fully realized fiction that explores...the reality of history as it is lived by individual men and women.   Los Angeles Times Kanon demonstrates an eerie mastery of evocative historical detail....You can feel the shattered glass crunching beneath your feet as you read.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by D. Allan Carpenter
Praise for The Good German
A brilliant story. A person cannot help but immerse themselves in Kanon's work. He brings history to life.

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