The Wall

After half a century of Cold War thrillers, Marks achieves the ultimate ironic turn in his story of an American spy who defects to the East--just three hours before East Germans begin spontaneously crossing into West Berlin, bringing down the wall and the time-honored plot device at once. Marks explains Stuart Glemnik's act, its reasons and rippling effects by taking us on an elaborate tour of Central Europe in late 1989: Berlin, Rocken (Nietzsche's burial place), Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest. At the same time, Marks shifts among a half dozen linked characters: there's Stuart's best friend and fellow spy, half-German, half-African American Nester Cates, who tries to retrieve him; Stuart's German girlfriend Uta Silk, who defects with him but then turns back to the West; and Stuart's brother Douglas, a Dallas pest exterminator who comes to Berlin after losing his job and wife, and whose resemblance to the elusive terrorist Jeri Klek is the (somewhat iffy) wildcard in the tale. A former Berlin bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report, Marks handles his involved story line with assurance, avoiding the fictional travelogue mode endemic to journalists' narrative efforts and investing his story with a distinctive vision of history, borne out through plot, scene and dialogue. Though the plot sometimes creaks from a contrivance overload, Marks's success in conveying the deeper truths beneath the headlines results in an intelligent, memorable and thoroughly engaging debut. (Sept.)