A Reckoning in Berlin

About the Book

Two cities form the background for the story line - the divided, spy-infested Berlin of the 1950s and its tragic consequences in the reunited, but far from pacified, Berlin of the 1990s. In 1999 Manfred is a cabaret performer and member of a militant terrorist group with an obsessive mission to avenge his familyʼs downfall. His determined and multiple efforts to kill members of an American Intelligence unit he holds responsible for his familyʼs tragic fate drive the plot. Three members of that unit now find themselves back in Berlin, with their former American espionage activities having had a contrasting effect on each of their lives. One is a gentle, retired Holocaust survivor who painfully regrets his indirect part in Manfredʼs fatherʼs ruin. A second one, a cowardly sensuous coward, has no remorse regarding his past activities and only wishes to continue, undisturbed, his libidinous Berlin life. The third, the former commander of the Intelligence unit, has long lived a quiet life in suburban New York before being rudely plunged back into his espionage past. All three are Manfredʼs targets. In quick succession, two of them die under mysterious circumstances, and the third is the imminent target of an assassination plot. But is Manfred responsible? The mystery unfolds against the backdrop of a reunited Berlin, with its dangerous underworld and erotic nightlife. Investigations by the German police, the Berlin press and the American authorities reveal a linkage between a rash of current attacks on Americans and outdated Cold War resentments. A clever and scheming young bar girl, an aging madam with terrorism contacts, a bewildered police commissioner, a tenacious investigative reporter, an anxious German spouse of a former Intelligence officer, and the commander of a militant terrorist group round out the cast of characters.

About the Author

Herbert M. Lobl was born in Vienna, Austria. He was educated at Harvard College, the University of Bonn in Germany on a Fulbright grant and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. After serving as assistant counsel to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, he became a partner in the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell and, until his retirement, served in the firm’s Paris Office for nearly thirty years. He has taught at Columbia Law School and is the author of two previous novels. He now lives with his wife in Westchester County.