The current novel is the 7th featuring John Russell, an Englishman by birth, but living and working in Berlin in the years prior to World War II. The book is indicated as a prequel to the other novels and I must say at the onset that it is, in my opinion, the most mesmerizing. I also rank it as one of the best books I yet have read by David Downing and he has certainly more than made his mark as a top author in his many areas. The period covered by the novel includes the years during the late 1930's and describes a period when a lunatic fringe took power and turned Germany into a madman's domain with the very worse becoming the leaders of the country. Downing has done, as normal for him, a great deal of research into the period and can describe the emerging of the new Germany in great detail. Hitler has grabbed power taking over as Chancellor of the country and early on stages a fire in the Reichstag Parliament building. Using the fire as excuse to crack down on groups such as the Communist party, gays, Jews, and any other sectors where the torment on these people can be utilized to coalesce changing the truth for Nazi fiction. Loudspeakers are set up all over the cities so that Hitler's speeches can reach everyone. It becomes a suspicious act if people are not listening and praising. It also becomes a necessary part of life for all to read Mein Kampf, Hitler's manifest and plan for the future of Germany. John Russell is picked up when he is working as a crime reporter for a major Berlin newspaper. He is divorced from his wife but has no problem visiting and having a relationship with his five-year-old son the couple had when married. In the events described in this book he becomes involved in three occurrences and is attempting to cover them for his paper. The first is the murder of a young male prostitute, another the running over of a professional genealogist, and the third the disappearance of a Nazi supporting fortune teller. The three events become somewhat related with the actual facts of the cases becoming skewed by different factions of the Nazi party. Care must be taken to not rub the Nazi party the wrong way. Punishment can be firing from a job, taking over a business, and even death. The steady increase in Nazi oversight with brutality and forced obedience to an ever-changing set of rules is brought out by the author. It is loss of personal freedom engendered by a population that will not or cannot oppose their oppressors. The novel ends with John meeting the girl that becomes his new love interest in the books already written. It also indicates that he will stay in Berlin and become more and more involved with the different direction of Germany and it's moving into war. The finishing of the book will also leave the reader drained and, if not read yet, anxious to get into the next book in the series.