by Paul Vidich (Author), Jeff Harding (Narrator), Tantor Audio (Publisher)

An Audiobook

Set in both West and East Berlin just before The Wall came down, this is a suspenseful and personal story of a woman used and tossed aside by a cruel and heartless man called The Matchmaker.  This man ran an East German spy ring “matching” his assets with vulnerable women in key places and positions to marry and hide them in plain sight. The Matchmaker was good at his job, and If the women caused trouble or got suspicious of their husbands, they would simply be eliminated.

Anne Simpson was just such a woman, chosen to meet and marry a charming East German piano tuner. She was a translator working for a Refugee Committee and unwittingly gave this “Romeo” a perfect cover.  The problem was that the unsuspecting Anne fell in love with her double agent husband. She only recently became suspicious of his week-long piano tuning gigs in Vienna and Prague. That’s when he disappeared and the CIA showed up on her doorstep.

They explain to her about the Matchmaker, who has probably killed her husband by now.  They want her to identify his body (not him) and help find the man behind it all.  She refuses to believe her husband is dead and secretly travels into East Berlin to an address she saw in her husband’s private desk in their apartment.  What she finds shocks and enrages her.  

The unraveling of her life is painful to see.  Anne is deeply wounded, and she seeks justice.  The extent of the deception is staggering, but her will becomes like steel.  Justice is calculated and harsh when it comes.  It will stun readers, but leave them eventually (after some thought) totally satisfied. 

A remarkable book read by a talented narrator.