some interesting characterisations; a lot of omnipotence around; truly scary descriptions of torture and psychological destruction; hero as murderer is problematic ( )

Overall it was a good book and I’m glad to have read it.

I had never read anything by McCarry before, and until after I finished the book, I did not realize that Paul Christopher is a regular character of his. I did like the guy, so I should probably try one of his earlier stories to see if I like the spy story any better. I do, after all, like spy stories.

My complete review is on my Blog, Nate's Library, specifically at: http://nates-library.blogspot.com/200... ( )

McCarry takes the reader back to Paul Christopher's early days as youth in Berlin with his American father Hubbard and beautiful German mother Lori. The first half of the book is taken up with Christopher's passionate youthful romance with 'Rima' in the days immediately before WW II. Rima is the daughter of a renowned Jewish surgeon who has been ruined by the Reich (although not technically a Jew under that regime's twisted laws).

At the same time his mother attracts the attention of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. Lori uses this relationship to help protect her family - up to a point.

The second part of the book picks up in 1959. Christopher is now a crack agent for the fledging US intelligence service. McCarry sends Christopher and the readers back to Cold War Berlin. The setting is shortly before the Wall goes up and Christopher is on a mission that dually serves his own ends as well as broader American interests.

McCarry uses Christopher's experiences to explore the uses of physical and psychological torture and its impact on torturer and victim. In doing so he holds a mirror up for the contemporary reader, not in a heavy-handed way, but one is led to uncomfortable reflections about the capacity of humans to inflict unspeakable suffering in what the torturers perceive as a good cause.

McCarry's newest effort satisfies more than his recent (and somewhat fantastic) Old Boys. If it falls short of his classic Tears of Autumn: A Paul Christopher Novel, well that's the price of writing a great novel in one's early days as an author. Christopher's Ghosts carries the reader back to the fear-filled days of the Reich in the fullness of its powers as well as the relentlessly gray days of Cold War deprivation in East Berlin.

Highly recommended, especially for fans of the spy genre. There is action here to satisfy the thrill-seeker, but McCarry also delivers political intrigue and personal introspection. ( )