Review by nebraskanwriter - Prisoner of Night and Fog

nebraskanwriter 's review for:

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Regrettably, I have not been having the best of luck as of late when it comes to finding a good book to read. But thankfully the end of my dry spell came in the form of Anne Blankman’s debut novel “Prisoner of Night and Fog”.

Blankman’s book follows the life of Gretchen Müller, a seventeen year old girl living in 1931 Munich, Germany. Gretchen has grown up under the Nationalist Society Party, under the careful eye of Uncle Dolf who is none other than Adolf Hitler himself. Hitler has ensured the safety of the Müller family through the years because Gretchen’s father sacrificed his life for Hitler’s. Müller, like so many Hitler Youths, follows her “uncle’s” every command.

As the book progresses, she meets fearless Jewish journalist Daniel Cohen, who claims that Gretchen’s father was murdered by an unknown comrade and is not a war martyr. This revelation sets the rest of the plot in motion as the two work together to uncover one of the biggest scandals of the year.

I found it almost refreshing that Blankman decided to write this story pre-Holocaust because I feel as though many writers focus on Hitler and the Nazi Regime during that terrible time but not really on before and how Hitler really came to power; at least not in works of fiction this is not really represented. Blankman delves unashamedly into the psyche of the Nazi Party, not shying away from any details. She describes Hitler’s insanity with cringe inducing accuracy and the glaring truth that such a man was allowed to control a whole nation.

As a reader, I am normally the kind of person who can sense what the author is going to throw at you, what roads they’re going to take and put the characters through. This, however, was not the case with “Prisoner of Night and Fog”. This historical thriller kept me guessing until the very end. Blankman’s novel threw a smorgasbord of twists and turns that left my head spinning.

I would recommend this book to any historical fiction fan who is interested in reading a thriller that chronicles one of Germany’s darkest moments. However, only for teens and mature audiences would I recommend reading this as there were some violent scenes and a few scenes in the book that even made me a little uncomfortable. That aside, I was very satisfied with this novel and shocked that it was Blankman’s debut novel, no less. Her writing takes on the voice of someone who is not new to the writing scene.

Content Warnings