David Downing grew up in suburban London. He is the author of six books in the John Russell series, Zoo Station, Silesian Station, Stettin Station, Potsdam Station, Lehrter Station, and Masaryk Station, as well as Jack of Spies, One Man’s Flag, and The Red Eagles. He lives in Guildford, England
Praise for Lehrter Station
"Outstanding . . . Philip Kerr and Alan Furst fans will be
pleased."
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Downing is a master at work."
—Huffington Post UK
"Powerfully and skillfully written, with constant suspense and
sudden surprises of satisfaction, Lehrter Station is one of the
vital 2012 books that I'd pack for a desert island—or a beach
vacation, or a rainy weekend."
—Kingdom Books
Praise for the John Russell series
"Epic in scope, Mr. Downing's "Station" cycle creates a fictional
universe rich with a historian's expertise but rendered with
literary style and heart."
—The Wall Street Journal
"John Russell has always been in the thick of things in David
Downing’s powerful historical novels set largely in Berlin . . .
Downing provides no platform for debate in this unsentimental
novel, leaving his hero to ponder the ethics of his pragmatic
choices while surveying the ground level horrors to be seen in
Berlin.”
—The New York Times Book Review“Reminiscent of Woody
Allen’s Zelig, Russell, the hero of Downing’s espionage
series, can’t seem to resist inserting himself into climactic
moments of the 20th century . . . Downing has been classed in the
elite company of literary spy masters Alan Furst and
Philip Kerr . . . That flattering comparison is generally
justified. If Downing is light on character study, he’s brilliant
at evoking even the smallest details of wartime Berlin on its last
legs . . . Given the limited cast of characters, Downing must draw
on almost Dickensian reserves of coincidences and close calls to
sustain the suspense of his basic hide-and-seek story line. That he
does ingeniously. It helps to read Downing’s novels in order, but
if Potsdam Station is your first foray into Russell’s escapades, be
forewarned that you may soon feel compelled to undertake a literary
reconnaissance mission to retrieve and read the earlier books.”
—Washington Post
“The echo of the Allied bombings and the crash of the boots of the
invading Russians permeate the pages in which David Downing vividly
does justice to the drama . . . The book is a reminder of what
happened and those who allowed it to happen . . . The book lives up
to the others in the Russell series, serving as yet one more
reminder of a world too many have entirely forgotten.”
—Washington Times
“Downing is brilliant at weaving history and fiction, and this
plot, with its twists and turns—all under the terrible bombardment
of Berlin and the Third Reich’s death throes—is as suspenseful as
they come. The end, with another twist, is equally clever and
unexpected.”
—Toronto Globe and Mail
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