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Max Hertzberg
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Stealing the Future: An East German Spy Story (East Berlin Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Max Hertzberg (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 340 ratings
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What if the Berlin Wall never fell ...
#1 Alternative History bestseller on German Amazon

Behind the Berlin Wall a dissident is on the trail of a killer

This "compelling" series (Fiona Rintoul) is set in an East Germany that didn't end in 1990. 1993. After forty years of communist rule it's time for change: participatory democracy, citizen's movements and de-centralization are part of a new political landscape in East Berlin. But when a politician's crushed body is found, a constitutional crisis erupts. Ex-dissident Martin Grobe turns detective and his investigations point towards the Stasi, the KGB and the West Germans—has he uncovered a putsch against the new GDR, or is it just a conspiracy to murder?

Book 1 of the East Berlin Series
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  1. Book 1 of 3
    East Berlin Series
  2. Print length
    243 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    September 22, 2015
  6. File size
    5454 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'A compelling re-imagining of East Germany's peaceful revolution in 1989--exploring what might have been. As Europe grapples with the consequences of austerity, this novel poses questions both about the lost chances of 1989, and about how we organise our society--questions that are becoming more relevant with each passing day.' (Fiona Rintoul, author of The Leipzig Affair)

'Creates the perfect atmosphere that existed around the fall of the wall: the sense of hope dashed by the awful reality of reunification.' (Peter Thompson, The Guardian)

'An intriguing and gripping page-turner of a thriller--believable and exciting. More than that, though, it's an exploration of power - political, economic and electric power; and what it might be like, day to day, to put our ideals and hopes for self-determination into practice.' (Clare Cochrane, Peace News)

'An authentic atmosphere of tension and uncertainty ... The brilliance of Stealing the Future lies in the honest portrayal of a young country and its idealistic inhabitants struggling to keep alive their dream of freedom, justice and equality in the face of international and domestic opposition.' (Jo Lateu, New Internationalist)

From the Back Cover

Includes a tour of key locations from Stealing the Future

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B015QAB6Q0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wolf Press (September 22, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5454 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 243 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0993324703
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 340 ratings

About the author

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Max Hertzberg

Max Hertzberg

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After the experience of the East German political upheaval in 1989/90, Max Hertzberg became a Stasi files researcher. Since then he has been a book seller and a social change trainer before writing his debut novel, Stealing The Future (2015).

Visit the author’s website for background information on the GDR, and guides to walking tours around the East Berlin in which many of his books are set:

www.maxhertzberg.co.uk

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
340 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

WindowViper
4.0 out of 5 stars socialist utopia
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2022
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I've read all 5 of the pre-1989 Stasi Vice series and now this. All are from the East German perspective, and that is enough to make them interesting. The pre-1989 novels are realistic in their portrayal of the evils of communist dictatorship --- a/k/a socialist dictatorship. So what prompts Hertzberg to speculate that a cleaned and rinsed version of socialism might have been better than reunification with the west?

The word "freedom" is often seen among the alleged virtues of socialism, and yet socialism makes economic freedom impossible. The most important lesson to be drawn from 20th century history, including especially Germany's, is that fascism vs. socialism is a false choice and that both must be firmly rejected. Right now, in 2022, it is becoming clear that 21st century generations have not learned that lesson and are now repeating the same mistakes. Hertzberg's speculation is that East Germans never got it, not even at the moment when the Wall fell.

Germany today has its problems, but privatization in the former DDR (GDR) is not one of them.
One person found this helpful
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Willie the Shoe
5.0 out of 5 stars Great History
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2020
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I knew the history of the collapse that East Germany went through. I found this very interesting. It showed what went on during that time. Eye opener!
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Rod Raglin
3.0 out of 5 stars Insights in East German spy story overshadowed by didactic passages and convoluted conspiracy
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2016
It's 1993 and East Germany (GDR), recently free from the grip of the Soviet Union, is experimenting with a socialist style of direct democracy. The country is struggling - economically, politically, even psychologically and it's citizens are doing their best to cope.

Martin Grobe is sort of a cop, but without much authority. His job is to keep the new republic on course. How he and his colleagues do this is by attending a lot of meaningless meetings and talking philosophy.

A minor official is found murdered. Why Grobe is sent to investigate is never clear. In fact quite a bit of Max Hertzberg's, Stealing the Future, An East German Spy Story is vague including the conspiracy theory behind the murder.

However, if you're interested in the landmarks of East Berlin this story reads like a guidebook and there's some interesting history of what it was like to live in the German Democratic Republic while controlled by the Soviets and the difficulty it's citizens had in changing from a totalitarian regime, where you were told what to do and how to think, to democratic system where you must take control of your own destiny.

There's some good characterization with realistic relationships and dialogue but overall the plot is plagued by didactic passages and the conspiracy that drives the narrative was beyond this reader's comprehension.
8 people found this helpful
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John K. Gayley
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting premise and a plot that almost delivers
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2017
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This series has potential. I liked the book and it kept my interest, although the plot line got a little too convoluted towards the end and seemed to exceed the writer's ability to bring his readers along with him.
However when Hertzberg is being descriptive or setting a mood or atmosphere it's quite well done. Kind of a stripped down Joseph Kanon.

I will agree with another reviewer in that the socialist polemics underpinning the independent GDR got tiresome; they were delivered with virtually no irony, and it's not as if we haven't heard all this somewhere before, nein? I'm hoping that--having set the stage for the basic counterfactual GDR in the first book of the trilogy--the protagonists can be absolved of any need to repeat their socialist doxology in every chapter of subsequent volumes.
5 people found this helpful
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Gregory J. Obrzut
5.0 out of 5 stars What if?
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2017
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Brilliantly conceived and executed alternative history of post-war Germany. Wonderful.
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Henry M Meyer
2.0 out of 5 stars WTF
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2021
The story was obtuse, confusing and dumb.
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Stoolie
4.0 out of 5 stars Not to be confused with the true history of reunification
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
Spoiler alert.........Too much detail for what turns out to be a bogus, rewritten history. Quite disappointing trying to follow a story that you know is factually incorrect.
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howard miller
1.0 out of 5 stars very political
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2021
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If you are an anarchist or fr left person you will love this. I did not.
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Top reviews from other countries

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mickel
4.0 out of 5 stars Dieser alternate-history Roman
Reviewed in Germany on November 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
nahm mich sofort gefangen. Als Wessi habe ich mich damals auch über die Maueröffnung gefreut. Ich war aber, wie viel zu Wenige in Ost und West, gegen eine Kolonialisierung der DDR. Der Autor beschreibt hier einen glaubwürdigen Versuch, die DDR durch das Volk neu zu organisieren, ohne sich dem Kapitalismus/Neoliberalismus auszuliefern. Die Beschreibung der Charaktere und deren Lebensumstände sind sehr gut gelungen.
Der Grund für einen Punkt Abzug liegt in der nach meinem Empfinden zu langen Aufklärung des die Handlung tragenden Mordfalls - das letzte Viertel des Romans zog sich etwas zu sehr in die Länge.... Trotzdem: Kaufempfehlung.
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Kindle Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Seems like a political manifesto
Reviewed in Australia on December 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
Only got a third of the way through. Could not take the socialist garbage anymore. There seemed to be no destination.
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Nick Ransdale
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting spy thriller...
Reviewed in France on December 12, 2016
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Spy thriller set in an interesting period of history, just after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Well written with some nice twists...thoroughly recommended.
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G Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars If Germany had remained divided after the Wall fell...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
I have been interested in books set in Germany, during the twentieth century, because for so long Germany has been represented by 2 catastrophic events, but I like to hear about the people less involved in politics, but most directly affected by the fall out of various policies and the results of wars on people who were not directly involved with war. This novel is set in the period following 1989, an imaginary political scenario, so probably not quite within my remit but I enjoy espionage stories and this was a reasonably good example.
2 people found this helpful
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John Hopper
3.0 out of 5 stars interesting ideas, but didn't work for me
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2020
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This is an East German murder mystery with a difference - it is set in an alternative 1993 where the GDR still exists, but not as a communist state. They still overthrew communist rule and the Wall still fell, but as a result of minor differences in the sequence of events, a referendum resulted in East Germans voting not to reunite with West Germany. In this scenario, the East Germans are, at least in the view of the main characters in this novel, trying to construct a democratic, independent socialist alternative to both their predecessor Soviet bloc state and the West. While a fascinating idea, it struck me as unrealistic both from the narrative of the novel, and from my own memories as a young man in 1989-90 when these events happened. The murder mystery here surrounds the gruesome slaying of a politician from West Silesia, which is threatening to secede from the GDR, taking it with many sources of raw materials and energy. It's also linked to events in the USSR, which still exists and is still led by Mikhail Gorbachev, but which no longer holds sway over the GDR. Some fascinating ideas for anyone interested in the geopolitics of the end of the Cold War, but the main problem is the author seemed to me to be clearly not terribly interested in the murder mystery, but much more interested in the political speculation; which is fair enough, but I can't help feeling the author would have been better writing a non-fictional "what if" work, rather than a whodunit. I didn't find the main characters particularly appealing either. So I doubt whether I will bother with the rest of the trilogy.
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