Plan D
Published on 5. June 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
528 pages
978-0-09-957835-2 (ISBN)
Description
October 2011. While West Berlin enjoys all the trappings of capitalism, on the crowded, polluted, Eastern side of the Wall, the GDR is facing bankruptcy. The ailing government's only hope lies in economic talks with the West, but then an ally of the GDR's chairman is found murdered - and all the clues suggest that his killer came from within the Stasi.
Detective Martin Wegener is assigned to the case, but, with the future of East Germany hanging over him, Wegener must work with the West German police if he is to find the killer, even if it means investigating the Stasi themselves. It is a journey that will take him from Stasi meeting rooms to secret prisons as he begins to unravel the identity of both victim and killer, and the meaning of the mysterious Plan D.
Plan D is a gripping thriller and a thought-provoking alternative history in the vein of Robert Harris's Fatherland and John le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
Detective Martin Wegener is assigned to the case, but, with the future of East Germany hanging over him, Wegener must work with the West German police if he is to find the killer, even if it means investigating the Stasi themselves. It is a journey that will take him from Stasi meeting rooms to secret prisons as he begins to unravel the identity of both victim and killer, and the meaning of the mysterious Plan D.
Plan D is a gripping thriller and a thought-provoking alternative history in the vein of Robert Harris's Fatherland and John le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
Reviews / Votes
A superb alt-timeline thriller that recalls Robert Harris's Fatherland * Financial Times * Simon Urban has created an imaginative alternate landscape that is so absurdly believable I had to remind myself, occasionally, that it wasn't the real world. And all was the backdrop to a conspiracy, wrapped in secrets, covered in deception. Compulsive reading, I devoured it -- Will Carver A gripping journey into an alternate past - Plan D is the epitome of what a great thriller should be -- William Ryan A genuine page turner. But it's also a book about the nature of dictatorships. It shows why dictatorship is possible, how dictatorship is done and what it does to people -- Juli Zeh Vividly imagined and described...a very good read -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review * This is my surprise hit of the year so far, and I can't recommend it highly enough * ReaderDad blog * Urban has conjured up an engaging tale of what might have been -- Ben Felsenburg * Metro * Plan D is a highly accomplished debut, ambitious, complex and written with great flair * LoiteringwithIntent blog * It has everything you could wish for in a good thriller * Die ZEIT *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
625 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-957835-2 (9780099578352)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Simon Urban was born in Hagen in 1975. He studied German literature at the University of Munster, and creative writing at the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig, and his short stories have earned him numerous prizes. He lives in Hamburg and Techau (East Holstein) and currently works as a copywriter for a leading German creative agency.