An excellent book. While it was a dark and violent story it was very well written and hard to put down. The characters are well developed and very believable. Watkins is an excellent author - after having finished all of his books written under the pen name Sam Eastland I decided to explore his works written as Paul Watkins - glad I did. I look forward to continuing the journey. ( )

A page-turner. Paul Wedekind is a fisherman on the Rhode Island coast with his girlfriend Suleika. When Paul and Suleika witness a brutal murder committed by someone from Paul's long-buried past, Paul reflects on the journey he took to his present situation: forcibly recruited by the East German Stasi for service in Afghanistan, kidnapped by the Mujahideen, sent by KGB to America, and unexpectedly earning a measure of freedom and anonymity with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. A vague sense of unease permeates the book as Paul confronts his memories and the intrusion of the past into his quiet life. Published in 1998 before 9/11, the war in Afghanistan in this book reads much like present-day accounts of war in the same place, only with shifted alliances, which makes the action in the book both relevant and frustrating. A good read from a great writer.

Read during Summer 2003

Although it gives the outward appearance of a spy thriller, the intrigue and secret life are not the whole story. Paul is an East German who was called in by the Stasi to inform on his best friend. Eventually, he is left as a Rhode Island fisherman when communism collapses in Eastern Europe and slowly comes to grips with his past and present life. There is a strange quality to the novel as Paul changes his name to Watkins and you begin to believe this is perhaps a true story. I tore through it in one afternoon, completely riveting.

Reread during Winter 2003/2004

Reread for book club, just as good as before, though I was more disturbed by the violent parts, perhaps because I knew they were coming.

A man walks into a bar, talks to several of the people there, walks over to a man sitting eating oysters and plunges a spike repeatedly into his skull. That's the beginning of this very well written story. It's hard to decide what genre the novel belongs to; it's part mystery, part thriller, part philosophical examination of who and what we are. The narrator, Paul Wedekind, who anglicizes his name to Paul Watkins, we learn through an assortment of flashbacks, is a Soviet spy, forced into the business by the Stazi. He was a soldier in Afghanistan who was captured by the Mujahadin. He watches two friends being tortured and is exchanged at the last minute before his own execution. Because he has been listed as a fatal battlefield casualty, the Russian secret service force him to enlist as a spy. He is sent to Newport Beach to help Suleika, another spy, whose husband had died. Suleika's cover was running a fishing boat. Her mission was to ferry couriers from Russian submarines to shore and back again. Paul's life seems settled until the Berlin Wall crumbles, a sub fails to show up during a near hurricane and the courier carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars tries to abandon them as their boat is sinking. Suleika realizes that Paul has recognized the killer in the bar, a man from out of the deep past, someone he thought was dead, and a friend he knows will intertwine him into systematic revenge he would rather forget ( )

Paul Watkins is sitting with his girlfriend and partner in his local bar on the waterfront where he works mending fishing nets when a stranger comes in and makes casual conversation. Shortly afterwards this man is brutally murdered in front of them. While the murderer is no stranger he is someone Paul never expected to see again.
This is not a very long book, but is very entertaining and moves through a variety of subplots. ( )