The Wall

An American spy in Berlin defects to the East on November 9, 1989, hours before the Berlin Wall falls. His defection jeopardizes the lives of the innocent people around him, including his brother, an exterminator from Texas who is visiting Berlin, and a young journalist, who finds herself at the center of a story of horror and senselessness whose implications go well beyond the boundaries of journalism. The Wall is a stunning debut novel that takes us on a chase through Central Europe as the Iron Curtain collapses. More than a thriller, it is a work of fiction that allows us to experience history unfolding, even as it questions what makes up the flow of events we call history. We are there when the Wall falls and are party to all of its giddy celebration; we experience the mass riots in Prague; and, finally, we witness the terrible drama of uprising in Romania that led to the fall of Ceausescu. The Wall is a true tour de force, a thoughtful, beautifully crafted thriller that offers us insight into a cataclysmic moment in history which changed our understanding of our world. It marks the noteworthy introduction of an unusually poised and gifted writer.