Bear Any Burden

I just finished Bear Any Burden by Ellis M. Goodman. It took me longer than usual to read. I am, for the first time, stumped as to how to review this book.

Let me start by giving you the blurb on the back:

* Bear Any Burden by Ellis Goodman

1983: The Cold War is at its height. Sir Alex Campbell, head of an international drinks company is on a business trip to Poland, a country in the midst of political turmoil. A new "Solidarity" movement is rising on the streets, and the Communist government is cracking down mercilessly. Alex has an additional mission, a "little job" for the British Secret Intelligence Services. He will deliver an airline bag containing money and passports to a British agent who is to help the world-renowned nuclear scientist, Dr. Erik Keller, escape across the Iron Curtain to the West.

Alex meets the beautiful Anna Kaluza, the British agent, whose life like his and that of Erik Keller, had been impacted forever by her World War II experiences. He agrees to help her complete her mission.

What begins as one of many routine "little jobs" Alex has done for the SIS, quickly turns into an increasingly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. His involvement in Dr. Keller's defection becomes a journey into his own past, as Alex has to face his family's history and, ultimately, his own self. Faced with the specter of oppression, he has to ask himself one question: What do you do? Do you turn and run? Or do you "pay any price and bear any burden" for liberty and freedom?

Bear Any Burden is a gripping page-turner, full of twists and turns and surprises as much a spy story as an epic family saga, spanning decades and continents, from 19th Century Poland all the way to the height of the Cold War. A richly complex thriller in the tradition of Graham Greene and John le Carré, posing urgent and timeless questions of family, loyalty and liberty.

As the book opens we are witness to a clandestine meeting where an envelope is passed to Keller. Just as quickly, we are then introduced to Sir Alex Campbell, the owner of a highly successful company that sells liquor. Sir Alex lives in London with his wife but has ties to Poland. His friend, Tim Bevans, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligent Service. Alex and Tim have known each other from World War II and from time to time, Alex has helped the SIS by delivering packages, tickets and other things to people in different countries as he has traveled for his business. This time the trip is to Poland and Sir Alex is asked to pass on a travel bag with a secret bottom that contains fake passports and money for Keller and his wife.

With out any pomp and circumstance or warning we are taken back in time. For the next 100 or so pages we follow along the family lines starting with Alex's great grandpa and follow along the stories of each descendant. We are then brought back to present time and for 20 pages we follow Sir Alex into Poland, as he meets with business officials and his contact, Anna Kaluza. Just as abruptly we are sent into the past as we follow along Anna's history, starting with her mother.

The last 70 pages of the book, we finally get into what the back of the book promises as an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse, with murder, bribery, international politics. The thing is, the history on the families was interesting. At times it was a little confusing because new people would be introduces for only a couple of sentences as if they were characters that we already knew about. Also, when he introduced us to Alex's grandpa, Jakob, the spelling of his name would change from Jakob to Jacob. At first I was confused...perhaps this was a new character, I thought. It mentions on the back of the book that "His involvement in Dr. Keller's defection becomes a journey into his own past." That is simply not true. He never journeys into his past...we are taken there with no segue...one chapter we are learning about Sir Alex's "mission" in 1983, the next chapter we are in 1888 with out any warning. Chapter 2 and I had no idea who these people were, or where he was going with this story line.

All that being said, the stories were interesting, once I understood what was going on. The book as a whole was not cohesive. There wasn't a flow to it, and when we did get to the defection part, it seemed rushed. The book ends abruptly, leaving everything unanswered. Even books that you know are going to be part of a series never end that unfinished.

I went to Barnes and Nobel and Amazon online and found that it got rave reviews. Well, B&N had 4 reviews that were 4 and 5 stars, however all 4 were anonymous. I thought that was strange...then at Amazon there were 11 reviews, again 4 and 5 stars, but this time there were names. I clicked on the names and except for 2 people, this book was the only book they review, the other 2 had reviewed one other book beside this one. I don't know, maybe I just don't know spy novels.

I have to give this one 2 out of 5.