The Story of My Disappearance [Hardcover]

Paul Watkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

Although Paul Wedekind has found work as a fisherman along the coast of Rhode Island, he knows his new life is not yet his own. Years ago, as a patriotic young man in East Germany, he enlisted in its army, only to be recruited by the terrifying and omnipotent forces of the Stasi. On a tour of Afghanistan, he and a boyhood friend were taken prisoner and tortured by the Mujahadin - a nightmare that endlessly haunts him.

Years later, believing his friend dead, Paul is sent to America as an agent for the KGB, where his life is changed forever by one woman - a contact named Suleika. Soon, the violent events of the past will threaten their love, and their lives. On the dangerous waters off the New England coast, these two exiles must find the strength to satisfy the impossible demands of men who claim to own them.

An atmospheric, utterly gripping new novel by one of America's most acclaimed younger writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Subtly evocative prose and a convincing first-person narrative may have readers wondering if this tense and absorbing tale of a former East German spy marooned in New England by the fall of communism could actually be true. Paul Wedekind does not know what to expect when the KGB sends him to America to work on a fishing boat and ferry the occasional visitor back and forth between the Rhode Island coast and Soviet submarines. But any assignment would be better than his previous one, the memory of which continues to haunt him. Conscripted into the East German army at 24, Paul was coerced by the Stasi into spying on Ingo Budde, a boyhood friend who turned into a black-marketeer. Stationed in Afghanistan, the two men were eventually captured by the Mujahadeen, who tortured and killed Ingo. Paul was returned in a hostage trade but reported dead and transferred to the KGB. In America, Paul starts a new life with his contact, Suleika, a brave and competent woman with whom he works and shares a common secret. Together, the two will fight the surprising efforts of their past to reclaim them. Watkins (Archangel) uses the most extreme circumstances to test the identities and obligations of his displaced characters as he confides their stories gradually, building sympathy and suspense and conveying a textured picture of the gray world of people caught between two cultures. The ending of this literary thriller is ingenious, with enough twists and turns to make one hope for a movie version. (Apr.) FYI: Picador will simultaneously re-release Watkins's In the Blue Light of African Dreams in paper.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Set on the docks of Newport, Rhode Island, this is a suspenseful tale of a reluctant spy named Paul Watkins as he attempts to navigate a stormy relationship and a difficult past. As a young East German soldier named Paul Wedekind, he is recruited by the secret police to inform on his friend Ingo when both are posted to Afghanistan to aid the Russians. Later, in America, he poses as a fisherman to assist the mysterious Suleika in ferrying Russian agents. With the end of the cold War, he adopts a new name and becomes a working fisherman until the past intrudes in the form of Ingo, who commits a murder in a Newport bar. While Ingo functions in the novel as Paul's dark side, the eponymously named narrator makes this a doppelganger tale in the broadest sense. Recommended for public libraries.?Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: Picador USA; 1st edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312179952
• ISBN-13: 978-0312179953
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,036,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Cold War hots up, November 3, 2000

By 

"judithb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of My Disappearance (Hardcover)

You know how sometimes it takes several pages before you really get into a book? Well, this book only needed one sentence to get me nibbling at the bait, and two more paragraphs to have me completely hooked.

In the Newport, Rhode Island bar where Suleika and Paul were going through the death throes of their relationship, a sudden, brutal murder brought back into Paul's life a man who he had betrayed and long thought dead.

The central character is quickly revealed as an East German operative named Paul Wederkind, planted into the RI fishing community, shortly before the Berlin Wall came down. The old tub of a fishing boat he operates with Suleika, the widow of the man he secretly entered the USA to assist, also serves to covertly transport "cargo" to and from Russian submarines.

As the story unfolds, we learn about the machinations of the East German secret police, the war in Afghanistan, the Cold War - all things that normally would not interest me, but the writing is so compelling, I found myself just absorbing the story.

I've long been a fan of speculative fiction exploring alternate history, but in this book, the author seems to create an alternate biography. Partway through the book, Paul Wederkind changes his name to a more Americanised form, Watkins - is this really an autobiography? Well, the book jacket tells us Paul Watkins (the author) was born of Welsh parents and educated at Eton and Yale, so I guess not. Maybe this is his more exciting alternate life - I can associate with that. But he obviously has a Suleika in his own life - the author photo on the jacket is attributed to someone of that name.

This is the first of Paul Watkins' books I've read, and I'm grateful he seems to have been reasonably prolific, so I can enjoy more of this wonderful writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting Quilt of One Man's Life, November 17, 2002

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Story of My Disappearance: A Novel (Paperback)

First, I do not believe there is anyone around right now who can write as well as Mr. Watkins. "Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn" I feel was his best, but this is darn close.

"My Disappearance" is written in the first person. The narrator (later named Paul Watkins) weaves the stories of his three lives - East German soldier/spy in Afghanistan, spy in America and lover in America - into a quilt made up of wonerfully woven words and twisting plotlines.

From the first page, Watkins interjects a mysterious tensionthat trails through the book as is a constant undercurrent adding significantly to this yarn of a spy left in the cold when the Berlin Wall falls.

I strongly recommend all of Watkins. This one should be one of the first and not to missed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars East German Agent Stranded in US when Wall Comes Down, October 22, 2003

By 

R. Platten "rsvpdock" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Story of My Disappearance: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a believable and compelling story about the violent and dangerous life of East German agents, recruited under pressure; threatened and beaten to carry out their assignments. The assignment of this guy is to spy on a friend, and later to be a courier in disguise in Newport, R.I. (smuggling things to and from a Russian submarine). This is where he is when the Wall comes down and has to decide what the heck to do when stranded in a free country with a fake ID. Everything about this caught me by surprise.