This book serves as a timeless literary soundtrack for election years, setting the stage in the fictional United States of Europe during the election year 2013, and depicting the final days of Berlin before its obliteration by an atomic bomb. Marrying cynicism with dark humor, this account reveals a world without heroes, filled with varying degrees of malevolence in a relentless battle of evil against evil. Nevertheless, this is realistic literature, not dystopian fiction.
In this alternative history novel, steeped in political and power intrigues, the least repulsive character is a former terrorist, now on parole, once the most-wanted killer of his time. This reveals much about the other characters: corrupt environmental organizations running extortion schemes; global media networks twisting the truth; secret services going rogue; politicians manipulating public opinion to gain or retain power; and other dubious entities.
While "Berlin 2013: U.S.E. Power Games" is far from an uplifting tale, it is crucial because it shows how disinformation and storytelling are used to forge power structures that answer to no one. Unaccountable power poses a severe threat to democracy and the rule of law. The central question of this story, therefore, is not who committed the act or why but rather how we can stop and reverse the ongoing erosion of democratic values - if indeed that is still possible.
