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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Fun alternate-history thriller set in 1964 as Germany celebrates Hitler’s 75th birthday. Harris excels at atmosphere, and his Berlin setting is a rain-soaked, monolithic nightmare as originally envisioned by Albert Speer, its people the hard-bitten citizens of a police state. The plot, characters and dialogue are pure pulp, but — as we ourselves emerge from four relentlessly bleak years in which strongmen flirted on the world stage and right-wing ugliness seemed to bubble up everywhere — it’s hard not to engage in your own what-ifs.
Took me a while to get into this but really enjoyed it in the end!
Worth a read.
Worth a read.
Just realised I haven’t written a review for this. So quickly for my own memory- I have never screamed so lousy at a book in my entire life for the scene with his son! My god I want to throttle the little bast*rd. incredible writing
An extremely captivating novel, that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. This book kept me reading and always on the edge of my seat wondering what the next step in the novel would be. However, even though the ending did leave me thinking, personally I was rather disappointed. Yet, this is not a subject in which people who I know that have also read this book agree on so I would very much recommend to you can have your own opinion.
Germany won WW2 and in the days leading up to Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday, Kripo detective Xavier March starts to investigate the death of a high ranking Nazi. As the story progresses we uncover a conspiracy involving other Nazi party members, the Gestapo and the Kripo. Noone is who they seem and nothing is as it seems in this universe.
Xaviers back story gets slowly revealed though his inner dialogue and conversations with his son. We find out that although he is part of the Nazi party he isn't the most patriotic, something that causes his son to disown him.
I'm not going to spoil anything here because it was a brilliant story that presented a alternative time line without having to detail the atrocities of the Holocaust. The writing is done very sensitively as not to offend any survivirs or glorify what the nazis did, maybe glorify isn't the right word but I can't think of what word I was looking for.
All in all this is a brilliant story, thoroughly engrossing and leaving gemreat twists I didn't see coming. 4/5
Xaviers back story gets slowly revealed though his inner dialogue and conversations with his son. We find out that although he is part of the Nazi party he isn't the most patriotic, something that causes his son to disown him.
I'm not going to spoil anything here because it was a brilliant story that presented a alternative time line without having to detail the atrocities of the Holocaust. The writing is done very sensitively as not to offend any survivirs or glorify what the nazis did, maybe glorify isn't the right word but I can't think of what word I was looking for.
All in all this is a brilliant story, thoroughly engrossing and leaving gemreat twists I didn't see coming. 4/5
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Set in an alternate history where Hitler won the war, Fatherland follows Xavier March, a police investigator who finds himself wrapped in a political conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. After a body is found and he is mistakenly contacted to attend the crime scene, he's shocked to find out that the body belongs to a high ranking Nazi official. And the unravelling of the conspiracy begins..
So this book is something totally different for me. I don't normally read political thrillers like this, especially not ones involving the Nazis or alternate history. But I did somewhat enjoy this book. So I'm proud of myself for pushing myself to read something different.
I know very little about the Nazis (apart from the obvious) and even less about the hierarchy of the Nazis (again, apart from the obvious). So the terminology and the names confused me slightly. I even had a moment where I was like 'these people can't be real people because the author wouldn't be able to say this guy was murdered by the Nazis because he might still be alive'. Then I realised that all these guys were executed or died during the war and this is an alternate history. Felt pretty stupid after that haha.
Overall, a good book if you like historical political thrillers or books about alternate histories involving Nazi Germany. Just okay for me.
So this book is something totally different for me. I don't normally read political thrillers like this, especially not ones involving the Nazis or alternate history. But I did somewhat enjoy this book. So I'm proud of myself for pushing myself to read something different.
I know very little about the Nazis (apart from the obvious) and even less about the hierarchy of the Nazis (again, apart from the obvious). So the terminology and the names confused me slightly. I even had a moment where I was like 'these people can't be real people because the author wouldn't be able to say this guy was murdered by the Nazis because he might still be alive'. Then I realised that all these guys were executed or died during the war and this is an alternate history. Felt pretty stupid after that haha.
Overall, a good book if you like historical political thrillers or books about alternate histories involving Nazi Germany. Just okay for me.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Didn't want to put it down; fast paced and gripping. Also managed to keep me guessing as to what the mystery was until all was revealed by the heroes.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated