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Paul Christopher #10
Christopher's Ghosts
It is the late 1930s, and a young Christopher bears witness to an unspeakable atrocity committed by a remorseless SS officer. When the action moves forward to the height of the Cold War, the SS man emerges out of the ruins of post-war Germany to destroy the last living witness to his crime. It's a case of tiger chasing tiger as Christopher is pursued by the only man who can match his craft or his instincts.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 10, 2007
54 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Charles McCarry
31 books319 followersMcCarry served in the United States Army, where he was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, was a small-town newspaperman, and was a speechwriter in the Eisenhower administration. From 1958 to 1967 he worked for the CIA, under deep cover in Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, his cover was not as a writer or journalist.
McCarry was editor-at-large for National Geographic and contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other national publications.
McCarry was best known for a series of books concerning the life of super spy Paul Christopher. Born in Germany before WWII to a German mother and an American father, Christopher joins the CIA after the war and becomes one of its most effective spies. After launching an unauthorized investigation of the Kennedy assassination, Christopher becomes a pariah to the agency and a hunted man. Eventually, he spends ten years in a Chinese prison before being released and embarking on a solution to the mystery that has haunted him his entire life: the fate of his mother, who disappeared at the beginning of WWII. The books are notable for their historical detail and depiction of spycraft, as well as their careful and extensive examination of Christopher's relationship with his family, friends, wives, and lovers.
McCarry was editor-at-large for National Geographic and contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other national publications.
McCarry was best known for a series of books concerning the life of super spy Paul Christopher. Born in Germany before WWII to a German mother and an American father, Christopher joins the CIA after the war and becomes one of its most effective spies. After launching an unauthorized investigation of the Kennedy assassination, Christopher becomes a pariah to the agency and a hunted man. Eventually, he spends ten years in a Chinese prison before being released and embarking on a solution to the mystery that has haunted him his entire life: the fate of his mother, who disappeared at the beginning of WWII. The books are notable for their historical detail and depiction of spycraft, as well as their careful and extensive examination of Christopher's relationship with his family, friends, wives, and lovers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
January 31, 2013
Christopher novel fans will be pleased with Charles McCarry's tenth, and perhaps most coherent, novel in the series. As with many of the Christopher novels, McCarry devotes his attention to Paul Christopher's back story, which has been spun out over so many books that one has to wonder if it has developed over time, or if it was there from the very start.
In this novel, Paul Christopher goes back in time to when he was seventeen and madly in love with a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany. There is a predictable, yet heart-wrenching, end to that story. Her loss haunts Christopher, as does his desire to track down the Gestapo interrogator who was responsible for the tragedy. In the second part of the book, we are catapaulted into a "present" (Cold War Germany) in which Christopher eventually comes to grips with his loss, and the man who caused it.
In terms of content, Christopher's Ghosts is not McCarry's best book (The Miernik Dossier holds that position), but it is his most coherent and probably the best paced. McCarry's weakness as a writer is that he tends to dawdle around with his plots for 50 or 100 pages before getting down to business. Many readers do not have the kind of patience needed to stick it out until something actually happens. This novel jumps right into the plot and paces itself nicely until the last line.
The drawback to McCarry's content - and this has been evident from the start - is that he does not bother to check his facts. In addition to these errors, he tends to populate his books with stereotypes. (Jews are dark and hairy, Nazis are psychopaths, Arabs are terrorists, Africans are primitive "blacks", Guatemalan Indians are hopeless drunks.) I believe that the capitulation to stereotypes comes not from sloppiness, which is clearly the source of his factual errors, but from McCarry's political perspective, which is deeply informed by his former position as a CIA operative. (I have never known a member of the CIA to hold anything other than contempt for the inhabitants of the third world countries in which they operate.)
Charles McCarry's finest novels (The Miernik Dossier and The Tears of Autumn) deserve the praise that has been heaped upon them. But as for the rest, they are good reads, but not exceptional.
In this novel, Paul Christopher goes back in time to when he was seventeen and madly in love with a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany. There is a predictable, yet heart-wrenching, end to that story. Her loss haunts Christopher, as does his desire to track down the Gestapo interrogator who was responsible for the tragedy. In the second part of the book, we are catapaulted into a "present" (Cold War Germany) in which Christopher eventually comes to grips with his loss, and the man who caused it.
In terms of content, Christopher's Ghosts is not McCarry's best book (The Miernik Dossier holds that position), but it is his most coherent and probably the best paced. McCarry's weakness as a writer is that he tends to dawdle around with his plots for 50 or 100 pages before getting down to business. Many readers do not have the kind of patience needed to stick it out until something actually happens. This novel jumps right into the plot and paces itself nicely until the last line.
The drawback to McCarry's content - and this has been evident from the start - is that he does not bother to check his facts. In addition to these errors, he tends to populate his books with stereotypes. (Jews are dark and hairy, Nazis are psychopaths, Arabs are terrorists, Africans are primitive "blacks", Guatemalan Indians are hopeless drunks.) I believe that the capitulation to stereotypes comes not from sloppiness, which is clearly the source of his factual errors, but from McCarry's political perspective, which is deeply informed by his former position as a CIA operative. (I have never known a member of the CIA to hold anything other than contempt for the inhabitants of the third world countries in which they operate.)
Charles McCarry's finest novels (The Miernik Dossier and The Tears of Autumn) deserve the praise that has been heaped upon them. But as for the rest, they are good reads, but not exceptional.
December 5, 2008
Well, I don't normally cry at the end of spy/thriller novels, but the last line of this one got me. There are a lot of Nazi-themed novels out there, but I really liked this one because it had a lot more depth regarding familial ties and personal histories of the characters.
Someone else's review here mentions how this author tells the story in 300 pages when other authors in the genre drag it out to 600 pages. I agree. I liked not getting bogged down in all the endless details of spy craft and so on.
I don't know how I missed this author all these years, but I'm looking forward to reading some of his earlier work.
Someone else's review here mentions how this author tells the story in 300 pages when other authors in the genre drag it out to 600 pages. I agree. I liked not getting bogged down in all the endless details of spy craft and so on.
I don't know how I missed this author all these years, but I'm looking forward to reading some of his earlier work.
December 9, 2010
The first half of the book I would give 4 stars. In the pre-WWII section, the author creates a powerful sense of foreboding and the inevitable that builds the suspense and tension to....not much. (Reminded me of classic Le Carre--The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and the Looking Glass War)
Then we move on to the post WWII period, this last third of the novel almost feels as if it was written by someone else, the atmosphere that was in the first half is gone and the slower pacing of the first half, which allowed the author to provide great descriptions and build the characters is sped up, which would be fine if it led to a satisfing conclusion, it does not (at least not really).
This is my first McCarry novel, there is enough here to encourage me to check out some of his other books.
Then we move on to the post WWII period, this last third of the novel almost feels as if it was written by someone else, the atmosphere that was in the first half is gone and the slower pacing of the first half, which allowed the author to provide great descriptions and build the characters is sped up, which would be fine if it led to a satisfing conclusion, it does not (at least not really).
This is my first McCarry novel, there is enough here to encourage me to check out some of his other books.
May 11, 2016
A not-quite genesis story of how Paul Christopher ended up as a spook. Probably not a good place to start on the series due to the numerous references to characters in previous books.
The teenage Paul in police-state Germany (late 1930s) is beaten up by brownshirts.
After reading books 3 and 5 of the series, The Last Supper and The Secret Lovers, I may have been spoiled. Those books were excellent, nuanced treatments of spies and their motivations. Book 10, Christopher's Ghosts, may have started out with similar intentions but the resolution wasn't as satisfying. Publication dates are 20 years apart so maybe it has something to do with that, or maybe I just need to shift genres again.
I'd say 3 stars.
The teenage Paul in police-state Germany (late 1930s) is beaten up by brownshirts.
After reading books 3 and 5 of the series, The Last Supper and The Secret Lovers, I may have been spoiled. Those books were excellent, nuanced treatments of spies and their motivations. Book 10, Christopher's Ghosts, may have started out with similar intentions but the resolution wasn't as satisfying. Publication dates are 20 years apart so maybe it has something to do with that, or maybe I just need to shift genres again.
I'd say 3 stars.
November 15, 2023
The characters were interesting, but I would have enjoyed the story more with more background on Christopher. This is the end of the series, and I think it would be important to read th4e beginning of the series first.
July 12, 2024
One of Mr. McCarry's best in this series. Full disclosure: I read this while living in Berlin for the past two months. This MAY have influenced my five-star review. Cheers!
October 20, 2010
Why I have a copy of Christopher's Ghosts is a mystery to me but I'm sure it came to be in my possession as recommended reading from some publication or another. It's definitely going to be the first and last novel I ever read by Charles McCarry.
The only way I can see anyone enjoying Christopher's Ghosts is someone who has read the entire espionage series featuring Paul Christopher. This particular installment is the seventh novel.
Christopher's Ghosts takes us back to Berlin in the late 1930s, where Paul and his family reside. Despite Paul's family being German, their family is consistently harassed by the Nazis, and the fact that Paul's girlfriend Rima is Jewish doesn't help matters. The Christopher family has one main bully, and this person is S.S. officer Franz Stutzer.
Throughout the first two-thirds of Christopher's Ghosts, we read the awful story of how Franz Stutzer interrogates and tortures Paul and Rima. After a terrible tragedy occurs, the novel fast-forwards many years into the future, when Paul is a grown man and professional spy. After dealing with the aftermath of terrible times Franz Stutzer has bestowed upon Paul's once-happy life, Paul decides to track down the evil Stutzer to carry out his revenge.
So as I read, I'm thinking that Christopher's Ghosts is going to be one of the few rare novels where we actually get to see a person do unto the terrible Nazis what the Nazis did to them. So we read the terrible chapters containing torture, but in the back of our minds, we're thinking, "Oh yeah...but this will all be redeemed at the end of the book when the Nazi dude is getting tortured right back..." but oh, this is so not the case.
***Spoilers Ahead***
This is my first book review EVER that contains spoilers. Hopefully it will be the last.
So in the final chapter of the 1930s portion, Rima is left to drown in the ocean. Paul watches as Stutzer and crew throw her over the side of the boat and the boat drives away, leaving her there.
Paul FINALLY catches up to Stutzer in the last chapter of Christopher's Ghosts. By this time, we learn that over the years Stutzer has managed to become castrated and is a little worse for the wear. Paul has some of his other espionage pals help capture Stutzer and interrogate him, but none of it seems as awful as what Stutzer did to Rima and Paul's family.
I really wanted Paul to have a one-on-one session with Stutzer during which he berates him, calls him names, and tortures him. I was looking forward to some evil, horrible, redeeming torture. But this doesn't happen. We get to the FINAL PAGE of the book, and Paul simply throws Stutzer into the water like he had done to Rima so many years ago.
THIS IS IT?! You've gotta be kidding me.
Christopher's Ghosts angered me so much. It was unfulfilling and the biggest waste of my time. All I can say is: DON'T. Don't read this book.
Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher series begins with The Miernik Dossier (1971) and continues with The Tears of Autumn (1974). His latest stand-alone novels include Shelley's Heart (1995) and Lucky Bastard (1998).
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
The only way I can see anyone enjoying Christopher's Ghosts is someone who has read the entire espionage series featuring Paul Christopher. This particular installment is the seventh novel.
Christopher's Ghosts takes us back to Berlin in the late 1930s, where Paul and his family reside. Despite Paul's family being German, their family is consistently harassed by the Nazis, and the fact that Paul's girlfriend Rima is Jewish doesn't help matters. The Christopher family has one main bully, and this person is S.S. officer Franz Stutzer.
Throughout the first two-thirds of Christopher's Ghosts, we read the awful story of how Franz Stutzer interrogates and tortures Paul and Rima. After a terrible tragedy occurs, the novel fast-forwards many years into the future, when Paul is a grown man and professional spy. After dealing with the aftermath of terrible times Franz Stutzer has bestowed upon Paul's once-happy life, Paul decides to track down the evil Stutzer to carry out his revenge.
So as I read, I'm thinking that Christopher's Ghosts is going to be one of the few rare novels where we actually get to see a person do unto the terrible Nazis what the Nazis did to them. So we read the terrible chapters containing torture, but in the back of our minds, we're thinking, "Oh yeah...but this will all be redeemed at the end of the book when the Nazi dude is getting tortured right back..." but oh, this is so not the case.
***Spoilers Ahead***
This is my first book review EVER that contains spoilers. Hopefully it will be the last.
So in the final chapter of the 1930s portion, Rima is left to drown in the ocean. Paul watches as Stutzer and crew throw her over the side of the boat and the boat drives away, leaving her there.
Paul FINALLY catches up to Stutzer in the last chapter of Christopher's Ghosts. By this time, we learn that over the years Stutzer has managed to become castrated and is a little worse for the wear. Paul has some of his other espionage pals help capture Stutzer and interrogate him, but none of it seems as awful as what Stutzer did to Rima and Paul's family.
I really wanted Paul to have a one-on-one session with Stutzer during which he berates him, calls him names, and tortures him. I was looking forward to some evil, horrible, redeeming torture. But this doesn't happen. We get to the FINAL PAGE of the book, and Paul simply throws Stutzer into the water like he had done to Rima so many years ago.
THIS IS IT?! You've gotta be kidding me.
Christopher's Ghosts angered me so much. It was unfulfilling and the biggest waste of my time. All I can say is: DON'T. Don't read this book.
Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher series begins with The Miernik Dossier (1971) and continues with The Tears of Autumn (1974). His latest stand-alone novels include Shelley's Heart (1995) and Lucky Bastard (1998).
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2014
Thoroughly enjoyed this Paul Christopher novel by Charles McCarry. It had been quite a novel since I had read a McCarry novel but I remember being really impressed by the Tears of Autumn. This novel is presented in two segments: pre-World War II, Berlin in 1939; and 1959, the Cold War era when Paul encounters and tracks down Franz Stutzer, the villain from the first segment. In the first part we find Paul as a teenager living in pre-war Berlin with his parents. It is largely a story of Paul's love for a young part-Jewish girl, Rima. The Nazis are in power and are already sending the Jews to camps. Paul, sent to America by his parents as the situation worsens, returns to Germany in an attempt to rescue Rima. His rescue attempt is ill-fated as Stutzer apprehends them on the Baltic and sends Rima to a watery grave.
When we next see Paul it is 1959. He is an American spy in Cold War Europe. One night Paul encounters Stutzer, now working for East Germany,on a dark night. Stutzer gets away. The rest of the novel concerns Paul's attempt to hunt him down.
What I most liked was McCarry's economy with words.He tells the story succinctly without the surfeit of verbiage that some authors excel in.
When we next see Paul it is 1959. He is an American spy in Cold War Europe. One night Paul encounters Stutzer, now working for East Germany,on a dark night. Stutzer gets away. The rest of the novel concerns Paul's attempt to hunt him down.
What I most liked was McCarry's economy with words.He tells the story succinctly without the surfeit of verbiage that some authors excel in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2011
I loved the beginning. I loved the ending. A lot of stuff in the middle plodded along and there were too many holes. It was sad (aren't they all? You can't write about WWII without it being sad), and the characters were all very well developed. It was the characters, rather than the story, that kept me interested. They were all just so alive.
The jacket was misleading. It said that during WWII in Germany, an SS officer had committed an atrocious crime and then spent the rest of his life trying to track down the only remaining witness to said crime. Perhaps I am jaded by the number of books of this type I have read, but his crime was really not all that bad, considering the heinous acts that went on during that time. I also didn't get the sense that he was tracking down anyone.
The jacket was misleading. It said that during WWII in Germany, an SS officer had committed an atrocious crime and then spent the rest of his life trying to track down the only remaining witness to said crime. Perhaps I am jaded by the number of books of this type I have read, but his crime was really not all that bad, considering the heinous acts that went on during that time. I also didn't get the sense that he was tracking down anyone.
May 6, 2020
Just finished another novel by one of my new favorite authors, Charles McCarry. CHRISTOPHER'S GHOSTS provides insight into the early life of Paul Christopher who matures as spook in the US intelligence community. The story takes place in East Germany before and after WWII. Paul's parents were operatives in the US intelligence community and Paul has learned some things about the tradecraft from them. He meets a girl, first love, and the two of them engage in some dangerous activities. Unfortunately, Rima is killed by a sadistic Nazi SS Officer. Paul chases him. I'll let you enjoy the story and the ending. The writing is good, but not great. McCarry's literary skills develop over time. Good story and I recommend it.
January 21, 2018
I'm reading all of Charles McCarry at the moment, including his non-fiction work. Thos book explores the early Paul Christopher years in Germany, pre World War II, and it's a fascinating reminder of how delicate life could become and what a narrow window there was of escape before life became very grim. It also establishes the character Paul Christopher's unorthodox upbringing, and how they affected his life as an agent in his later years. I breezed through this one like a glutton, only wanting more. I'm currently reading "Old Boys," so there's my more--the Paul Christopher later years. McCarry certainly knows D.C. geography and has walked it, even down to it's gingko trees.
January 11, 2016
This is one in another series of novels set in Europe, some of them around WWII, others during the Cold War. Paul Christopher is a great character. Very well written and well plotted.
May 7, 2017
Christopher's ghosts fills some spaces of Paul Christopher's life left blank in other novels of the series, namely The last supper. In fact, the first half of the book focusses on the events happened in 1939, only that, while in The last supper such events were told from Hubbard and Lori Christopher's perspective, they are presented here as seen through their son's (Paul) eyes. Actually the first half of the book is all about a love story involving the young Paul with a German girl, and the unintended consequences this relationship had on the Christoper family. The second half is about the cathartic resolution of the tensions resulting from the first part and from other books.
This is a pretty linear story, not one of the complex, multi-layered plots like McCarry offered in other books of the series (The last supper, Second sight); an OK read, a useful complement to other novels of this saga.
This is a pretty linear story, not one of the complex, multi-layered plots like McCarry offered in other books of the series (The last supper, Second sight); an OK read, a useful complement to other novels of this saga.
May 29, 2017
Charles McCarry's 'Christopher's Ghosts' goes a long way, for a reader who's relatively new to this author, in explaining the deep background of the star of the series and why he is the way he is. It's really 2 books in one: the first half covers Paul Christopher's early life in pre-WWII Germany, his 'love affair' with a beautiful young lady, and the challenges for Jews in their daily existence in Berlin. The 2nd half takes place years later, when Christopher is on his way to 'stardom' as a US spy and discovers an evil character from his past that engages his thirst for retribution.
Christopher's Ghosts is not only a fine addition to McCarry's series, but is also an excellent reminder of the evil that existed in Europe just a few generations ago. It's fiction, but he's done his homework and we can all continue to be thankful that the good guys won the war.
Christopher's Ghosts is not only a fine addition to McCarry's series, but is also an excellent reminder of the evil that existed in Europe just a few generations ago. It's fiction, but he's done his homework and we can all continue to be thankful that the good guys won the war.
December 8, 2021
The prequel to the marvelous The Tears of Autumn, written many years later, shows evidence of the bane of successful writers' existences--continuing to write books about their protagonists when the thrill is gone. In this case, we see 19-year-old Paul Christopher in 1939 Germany on the brink of WW II. There are two stories here; in the first, Paul meets the love of his life, a beauty under the scrutiny of the Nazis; formulaic danger ensues, with predictable results. In the second part, over a period of subsequent years, Christopher has several encounters with the Nazi fiend from the first part, who reinvents himself in other totalitarian regimes; sadly, these encounters, although again formulaic with predictable results, lack realism and are not engaging. Only read this if you're a diehard Christopher fan (of whom there are justifiably many).
October 6, 2020
Superior Espionage Thriller
This very interestingly conceived and excellently written story of a German -American youth's tragic years in the Third Reich and his post-WWII encounter as CIA agent with the villain of those early years falls short of the best LeCarre only because of a lack of tautness over long stretches of the telling. The historical and aircraft savvy and the richly detailed smoothness of the writing make all McCarry spy stories great reading for fans of the genre.
This very interestingly conceived and excellently written story of a German -American youth's tragic years in the Third Reich and his post-WWII encounter as CIA agent with the villain of those early years falls short of the best LeCarre only because of a lack of tautness over long stretches of the telling. The historical and aircraft savvy and the richly detailed smoothness of the writing make all McCarry spy stories great reading for fans of the genre.
April 1, 2022
Very enjoyable part of a series, although I read it as a stand-alone.
The series, evidently, concentrates on Cold War espionage in general, and a spy named Paul Christopher specifically. However, this is more about his teenage years growing up as an American in Nazi Germany and his "adventures" involving his girlfriend being pursued by an SS officer & Paul's family history as a German (on his mother's side).
It's worth reading more in the series, I think.
The series, evidently, concentrates on Cold War espionage in general, and a spy named Paul Christopher specifically. However, this is more about his teenage years growing up as an American in Nazi Germany and his "adventures" involving his girlfriend being pursued by an SS officer & Paul's family history as a German (on his mother's side).
It's worth reading more in the series, I think.
April 13, 2021
I'd not read the Paul Christopher books in many years... we used to love them...but then just were not as captured by them. But I'd forgotten .. and maybe never did read this last one but oh my it WAS good and so now I'll go back and dig out a few more to see if I've aged back into them - although know in advance I'm not a fan of the Cold War drama so we'll see how far I get...
December 31, 2024
Brilliant. I bought this book in 2007, the day it was published, and it shipped overnight so I could start reading it immediately…but I put it on the shelf and did not pick it up until now, 17 years later. Why? Because I couldn’t bring myself to finish the Paul Christopher series. Yes, it’s that great.
April 2, 2025
I definitely miss some background jumping in so late in the series. I am glad that I chose this, however, as in describing the horrors of 1930s Germany it nudges me to protect my fellow humans a little more strenuously and work to make my grands proud.
September 16, 2017
One of the best McCarry books about Paul Christopher.
September 18, 2021
Better than I expected. First part the best.
December 25, 2023
if you enjoy LeCarre you can't miss reading McCarry. Fabulous read
April 20, 2025
Story set in two parts, 1938 in Berlin as the Nazi horrors are getting ramped up and then late 50’s and the ramifications of the past. Well done thriller with plenty of interesting characters.
May 25, 2025
The best Paul Christopher book in the series.
March 27, 2020
A good read.
November 6, 2023
Charles McCarry (1930--2019) is one of the finest espionage writer as a story teller whose writing reflects his real-life experience. Christopher's Ghosts, his last novel, is no exception. The first half of the book, set in 1939, finds the young Paul Christopher living in Nazi Berlin with his American father and German mother. His love of Roma end in tragedy. In the second half of the novel, 20 years later, Christopher is now a CIA officer intent on finding the Nazi major responsible for the loss of his young love and the torment he still endures.
July 15, 2016
This is my first McCarry book; very disappointed . In a mad rush, I grabbed this book off the library shelf, in too much haste, hoping it was going to be as good as those that rated it with four stars. This book is really dragging its heels. I failed to realize this was a series based on one character, Paul Christopher. As one of reviewers put it so succinctly; it is really slow and McCarry doesn't get to the point of the plot very quickly. Lots of dialogue...I usually try not to skip or scan pages. It takes the author sometimes years to write a book. The least I can do read the words on the page and follow the plot. However, this book I did skipped and scanned pages throughout.
This is the story of Paul Christopher who in the beginning of the book was 17 years old and living in Germany with his mother and father Lori and Hubbard Christopher. He fell in love with a young girl named Rima. The story takes place in 1938 and 1939 and it deals with the raw subject matter of the Nazis reign of terror in Germany. Approximately at the half way point we discover that Paul Christopher is the series star and super agent that is working for the fledgling CIA.
McCarry's description of Paul's relationship with Rima, a Jewish girl, was heart wrenching. The memory of Paul and Rima's past gives an awkward description of their love and teenage sexual exploits. It also gives the explicit description of a female Nazi guard doing some exploration of Rima's vaginal area. This check was to find out if Rima had sex with our hero, Paul Christopher. Saying this I found many passages very maddening, because of the descriptive nature. The passages would describe the inhuman methods the Gestapo would use to control the population, especially the Jews. Of course, I'm sure, this is McCarrie's purpose. One of the frustrating events in the book, which I feel McCarry fails to let us in on his little secret. We never find out what happened to Lori Christopher, Paul's mother. Subtle suggestions...know one knows? We know about the father and the remaining family, but what happened to Lori Christopher... she was the theme for most of the centre of the book. We were left in limbo. Heydrich, the head of the Gestapo, loved this woman, possessively so. Maybe like the Romans, Heydrich made Lori his slave, serve him as he demands, or...? It would have been interesting to read what Heydrick did to her in the end and why. Nothing explicit, but at least give us a hint of her demise, or is she still alive somewhere in Russia? Maybe Yeho has found her and needs Stutzer to take them there; who knows, we will never know, because McCarry didn't think to add something interesting in the plot line for this.
One reviewer made reference to the fact that McCarry did little on the research of his novels. That his previous employment and the nature of that employment (CIA) made him a seriously right wing, tarring all characters with the same perception of being evil. I only mention it because, maybe using that point of view, he could have added some very interesting details to the story to make it more interesting; using his CIA back ground to spice up the dialogue?
I have to say, other than the literary prose and the fact it stayed on course right to the end, it was predictable. The end was a real disappoint. I felt he didn't know what else to do with ending.
I gave it a 2 star because it isn't worth the read. The prose and dialogue got it there. There was some interesting parts, but nothing that would have left me shaking in the dark, because of the suspense.
This is the story of Paul Christopher who in the beginning of the book was 17 years old and living in Germany with his mother and father Lori and Hubbard Christopher. He fell in love with a young girl named Rima. The story takes place in 1938 and 1939 and it deals with the raw subject matter of the Nazis reign of terror in Germany. Approximately at the half way point we discover that Paul Christopher is the series star and super agent that is working for the fledgling CIA.
McCarry's description of Paul's relationship with Rima, a Jewish girl, was heart wrenching. The memory of Paul and Rima's past gives an awkward description of their love and teenage sexual exploits. It also gives the explicit description of a female Nazi guard doing some exploration of Rima's vaginal area. This check was to find out if Rima had sex with our hero, Paul Christopher. Saying this I found many passages very maddening, because of the descriptive nature. The passages would describe the inhuman methods the Gestapo would use to control the population, especially the Jews. Of course, I'm sure, this is McCarrie's purpose. One of the frustrating events in the book, which I feel McCarry fails to let us in on his little secret. We never find out what happened to Lori Christopher, Paul's mother. Subtle suggestions...know one knows? We know about the father and the remaining family, but what happened to Lori Christopher... she was the theme for most of the centre of the book. We were left in limbo. Heydrich, the head of the Gestapo, loved this woman, possessively so. Maybe like the Romans, Heydrich made Lori his slave, serve him as he demands, or...? It would have been interesting to read what Heydrick did to her in the end and why. Nothing explicit, but at least give us a hint of her demise, or is she still alive somewhere in Russia? Maybe Yeho has found her and needs Stutzer to take them there; who knows, we will never know, because McCarry didn't think to add something interesting in the plot line for this.
One reviewer made reference to the fact that McCarry did little on the research of his novels. That his previous employment and the nature of that employment (CIA) made him a seriously right wing, tarring all characters with the same perception of being evil. I only mention it because, maybe using that point of view, he could have added some very interesting details to the story to make it more interesting; using his CIA back ground to spice up the dialogue?
I have to say, other than the literary prose and the fact it stayed on course right to the end, it was predictable. The end was a real disappoint. I felt he didn't know what else to do with ending.
I gave it a 2 star because it isn't worth the read. The prose and dialogue got it there. There was some interesting parts, but nothing that would have left me shaking in the dark, because of the suspense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2021
Christopher's Ghosts by Charles McCarry is divided into two parts. The first, "1939," is a touching romance between teens, Paul Christopher and Alexa Johann Maria Kaltenbach, whom Paul calls, Rima - since, "she had been like Rima the Bird Girl in his favorite novel, W.H. Hudson's Green Mansions -- free, innocent, unattainable, a child of nature." Rima is "attained," and the romance blooms, though amid the terrors, brutalities, and consummate evil of Nazism.
In the second part, "1959," Paul Christopher, now a CIA agent arrives in East Berlin in fulfillment of two missions: the first personal -- to exact revenge on SS Major Stutzer, Paul's and the Christopher family's nemesis in 1939; the second professional -- to "recruit a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer ... a KGB colonel named Yuri Kikorov. The second mission was not successful; the first was. Christopher's Ghosts is the best of all the series, I think, and certainly the most poetic.
In the second part, "1959," Paul Christopher, now a CIA agent arrives in East Berlin in fulfillment of two missions: the first personal -- to exact revenge on SS Major Stutzer, Paul's and the Christopher family's nemesis in 1939; the second professional -- to "recruit a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer ... a KGB colonel named Yuri Kikorov. The second mission was not successful; the first was. Christopher's Ghosts is the best of all the series, I think, and certainly the most poetic.
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