Tunnel 29 The true story of an extraordinary escape beneath the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall stood as a defining monument of the last half of the twentieth century. Not only was it a political and humanitarian affront, it also came close to provoking a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Its construction was meant to stop the catastrophic flow of East Germans to the West, but enterprising Berliners on both sides of the wall conspired to breach it. In a gripping, suspenseful narrative, Merriman recounts an attempt to traverse the wall by tunneling under it. This elaborately planned effort was led by Joachim Rudolph, a young Berlin student, who recruited a cadre of enterprising conspirators from both sides of the wall. This little band made several tries to construct tunnels, but were hampered by flooding and cave-ins. Worse, a Stasi informant betrayed an early attempt. But by September 1962, 29 people managed to escape through a narrow tunnel into the waiting arms of loved ones. Adding to the drama of this getaway: an American network television crew determined to score a remarkable scoop by filming the escape. Fans of thrillers will immerse themselves in this true-life quest for freedom, which Merriman also chronicled in a popular BBC podcast.

Based on a BBC podcast, Merriman's intriguing yet uneven debut history focuses on Joachim Rudolph, a young East German who, in 1962, helped 29 people escape to West Germany through a tunnel he dug underneath the Berlin Wall. Merriman details Rudolph's war-torn childhood; teenage participation in anti-Soviet demonstrations, where he witnessed East German tanks crushing fellow protesters; escape to West Germany by crawling overnight through a field; and planning and digging of the tunnel with a group of coconspirators ("hours hacking into clay... pulling out small handfuls at a time"). Fleshing out the story's Cold War context, Merriman also describes President Kennedy's delayed reaction to the wall's construction, East Germany's use of informants to stop the exodus to the West (Rudolph's first attempt to help refugees escape was thwarted by the Stasi), and NBC's agreement to fund construction of the tunnel in exchange for documentary footage. Unfortunately, the overwrought narrative style distracts ("And so Joachim joins the ranks of fatherless German children and a seed of anger blooms in his stomach that he doesn't yet know what to do with"), and the brief chapters, which shift viewpoints abruptly, sacrifice depth and clarity for the sake of action. This Cold War history doesn't quite live up to its potential. (Aug.)

The inside story of a daring episode by a group of German students who dug into East Berlin to help their friends and families escape. London-based broadcast journalist Merriman focuses primarily on Joachim Rudolph, who grew up in East Berlin after the post--World War II division of Germany. As a young boy and teenager, he took advantage of the ability to travel between the two sides of the city to enjoy the freer lifestyle in West Berlin. In 1961, however, the East German authorities erected the Berlin Wall, and, almost overnight, life under the communist government became even more oppressive. Rudolph and a friend escaped in September of that year, and soon he was a student at the technical university in West Berlin, studying communications engineering. But the wall remained a key fact in the lives of everyone in Berlin and a vivid symbol of the differences between two systems. Rudolph soon found himself in a group planning to dig a tunnel into East Berlin to rescue friends and family left behind. In addition to chronicling Rudolph's story, the author cuts away to follow others, including the informant who nearly managed to expose the entire plot to the Stasi after he was caught smuggling contraband across the border and the NBC crew leader who found out about the diggers and recorded their efforts from start to finish. The result is a fascinating account of a daring escape from a repressive regime as well as a vivid portrait of life in Berlin in the early days of the wall--and of the international impact of events in that city. Merriman effectively maintains the pace and suspense, giving readers a novelistic narrative with a solid foundation of fact. An entertaining real-life Cold War thriller following a group of students who escaped under "the Wall of all walls." Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.