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In Silesian Station, set in the summer leading up to WWII, John Russell, a journalist/triple agent, watches and writes about events as they unfold in Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. He frees his German film star girlfriend from the Gestapo, searches for a missing Jewish girl newly arrived in Berlin, and seeks contacts among the underground Communist movement. Meanwhile he transports documents between officials in an effort to secure a safe passage for himself if war should break out.

Though not as singularly thrilling as its predecessor, Zoo Station, Silesian Station covers multiple tracks which sometimes cleverly intersect and sometimes just leave you stranded. Serving to unravel some of the complexities are Russell’s fellow passengers on the journey. Conversations with his German son sporting a Junvolk uniform allow him to raise questions about the prudence of blindly following one’s leaders. Interactions with his ex-brother-in-law portray the humanitarian instinct many Germans felt in aiding their Jewish neighbors. And finally clandestine meetings with an array of organizers and informants explore the line between self-sacrifice and self-preservation.

Author David Downing whisks us from prison cell to dance hall, from beer garden to blackout drill. His short paragraphs and snappy dialog have you running down alleys, tensely waiting in line at checkpoints, and impatiently finishing a cup of your landlady’s bad coffee. With the informative detachment of a news story and adrenaline of a spy novel, Downing makes it worth your while to read beyond the front page.