Berlin Breakdown: Thriller Provides Context For The Fall of the Berlin Wall

When publicist Wiley Saichek asked me to review a novel by thriller author Bill Rapp, I told him that I was most interested in Berlin Breakdown.  It deals with how and why the tearing down of the Berlin Wall came about.  This was an important 20th century event that led to the re-unification of Germany.

The only other novel that I'd read which focused on this period was a YA fantasy novel called The Girl With The Red Balloon by Katherine Locke which was highly entertaining, but since it centers on time travel and magical balloons that could transport people over the Berlin Wall, it certainly can't be considered factual.

 I wanted to know more about the history of this era.  So I accepted a review copy of  Berlin Breakdown provided by Wiley Saicheck as a gift from Amazon.

                     

My interest in this book wasn't solely historical.  I love a good thriller.  I slogged through many books in 2019, but the pages of Berlin Breakdown flew by.  American diplomat Karl Rosman braved violent confrontations with agents of the East German secret police known as the Stasi.

 You can find out about the Stasi from the Wikipedia article I've hyperlinked in the paragraph above.  Since stolen Stasi files are a focus of the plot, readers may also be interested in the Wikipedia article on the Stasi Records Agency which still exists in order to comply with requests for Stasi files, and re-assemble files that were shredded by Stasi staff in 1989 when the East German Communist government stepped down.  Both these articles confirm the portrayal of the Stasi as pervasive and totalitarian in Bill Rapp's novel.

I saw a review on Amazon that complained about characterization in this book.  I thought that character portrayal was consistent with standards in the thriller genre where books tend to be more plot driven than character driven.  Nevertheless, there were characters whose backgrounds and motivations were developed in the course of the narrative in Berlin Breakdown.  There were also some dramatic character revelations.  So I'd say that Bill Rapp's characterization was better than I usually find in thrillers.

I thought that Berlin Breakdown was well-written, and I appreciated the unusual choice of historical period.