Review: The Berlin Letters

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay
My rating: 💛💛💛💛

The Berlin Letters were a beautifully written story involving secrets, mysteries and spies.

The author did a great job of connecting past and present. I loved how each POV was in the main characters timeline and how everything fell into place and connected.

The story grabbed my interest with all the intrigue, and the narrator did a brilliant job of keeping me engaged and connecting me to the main characters.

I do not know much about the Berlin Wall, but the author took me back in time right in the middle of all the fear and unknowns.

*I listened to the audiobook on Everand.*

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About the book:

Near the end of the Cold War, a CIA code breaker discovers a symbol she recognizes from her childhood, which launches her across the world to the heart of Berlin just before the wall comes tumbling down. November 1989 —After finding a secret cache of letters with intelligence buried in the text, CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler learns that not only is her father alive but he is languishing in an East German Stasi jail. After piecing together the letters with a series of articles her grandfather saved, Luisa seeks out journalists Bran Bishop and Daniel Rudd. They send her to the CIA, to Andrew Cademan—her boss. Luisa confronts Cademan and learns that nothing is a coincidence, but he will not help her free her father. So she takes matters into her own hands, empties her bank account, and flies to West Berlin. As the adrenaline wears off and she recognizes she has no idea how to proceed, Luisa is both relieved and surprised when a friend shows up with contacts and a rudimentary plan to sneak her across the wall. Alternating storylines between Luisa and her father, The Berlin Letters shows the tumultuous early days of the wall, bringing Berlin, the epicenter of the Cold War, to life while also sharing one family’s journey through secrets, lies, and division to love, freedom, and reconciliation.

About the author:

Katherine Reay is the national bestselling and award-winning author of several novels and one full length

non-fiction work.

Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University and is a wife, mother, rehabbing runner, former marketer, and avid chocolate consumer. She lives outside Chicago, IL.

You can meet her at www.katherinereay.com or on Facebook: KatherineReayBooks, Twitter: @katherine_reay or Instagram: @katherinereay.