What would things be like if Hitler had won WWII? It's 1964 and the President is Kennedy ... not JFK but his father, Joe!! An interesting turn of events ... what if Hitler had won?? Couldn't put the book down.
Helpful Score: 3
Absorbing, chilling alternative history... What would life be like had Nazi Germany won World War II? Robert Harris explores this question in this wonderful combination of alternative history and murder mystery, as a police officer in 1964 Berlin dominated by an aging Hitler pieces together clues linking the recent murder of one man with a terrible wartime secret - one involving the deaths of millions...
Helpful Score: 2
Excellent WWII spy thriller alternate history.
Helpful Score: 2
Fun, exciting and a fast read.
Helpful Score: 2
this book is absorbing and frightening.
it is twenty years after nazi germany's triumphant victory in ww2.
it is twenty years after nazi germany's triumphant victory in ww2.
Helpful Score: 1
I thought the story was ok but not noteworthy.
Great alternative history premising Hitler winning.
Decent plot, but unremarkable book. Nothing shocking about it, if you're even remotely fimilar with the Nazis.
The last fourty pages or so were great. Again, nothing shocking. I'm usually one who won't finish a book if I'm not enjoying the book a lot, but I'm glad I finished this one.
The last fourty pages or so were great. Again, nothing shocking. I'm usually one who won't finish a book if I'm not enjoying the book a lot, but I'm glad I finished this one.
One of the better alternate history novels out there. Well researched and well written, Robert Harris did a fantastic job conveying his story and point across. This needs a big budget movie adaptation!
A great read -- completely engrossing and entertaining.
The year is 1964. Hitler is alive and well and Jospeh Kennedy is President of the US. Read by Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes. Who could ask for more??
What if Germany won WW II? An imaginative and captivating novel!
It was an exciting book to read, I would recommend it.
not as good as I expected
From the Publisher
Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb.
As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth -- a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.
Publishers Weekly
An eerie, detailed alternate history serves as the backdrop for this otherwise conventional crime thriller. The setting is Berlin, 1964, some 20 years after the Third Reich's victory in WW II. Germany and the U.S., the world's two superpowers, find themselves in a cold war resulting from a nuclear stalemate; but U.S. President Joseph P. Kennedy is soon to visit Berlin for an historic summit meeting with Hitler, clearing the way for detente. Meanwhile, cynical police detective Xavier March investigates the drowning of Josef Buhler, former state secretary in the General Government. When the Gestapo takes over the case -- ruling it suicide -- March continues his investigation at the risk of his life, uncovering a deadly conspiracy at the highest levels of the Reich. With the help of American reporter Charlotte Maguire, he finds hard evidence of the wartime extermination of Europe's Jews, a secret that Buhler and his colleagues have been murdered to protect. Of course March and Maguire fall in love along the way. Harris (Selling Hitler) generates little suspense in this tale beyond his piecemeal rendering of the novel's unusual historical setting. The characters are flat and the plot largely predictable. And readers may well question the taste of using the Holocaust as the point of departure for a rather insubstantial, derivative thriller.
Library Journal
The year is 1964. The setting is Berlin. JFK's father, Joe Kennedy, is president. Edward VIII is king, Wallis his queen. Adolf Hitler is about to celebrate his 75th birthday. In this thriller with a twist, the stalemate which ended World War II has evolved into a cold war, not between the Soviet Union and the United States, but between the Third Reich and America. Police investigator Xavier March handles a case involving the death of a prominent Nazi, an apparent suicide. The trail leads to other suicides, accidental deaths, a numbered vault in Zurich, and a beautiful American reporter. March discovers the pattern behind the deaths and locates incriminating papers exposing the Holocaust, which, because Germany didn't lose the war, has been kept secret for 20 years. Harris, author of the nonfiction title Selling Hitler ( LJ 5/15/86), is clearly well versed in the operations and machinations of the Nazi regime. He uses this knowledge to create a realistic and frightening world in which we all could be living. Recommended.
Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb.
As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth -- a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.
Publishers Weekly
An eerie, detailed alternate history serves as the backdrop for this otherwise conventional crime thriller. The setting is Berlin, 1964, some 20 years after the Third Reich's victory in WW II. Germany and the U.S., the world's two superpowers, find themselves in a cold war resulting from a nuclear stalemate; but U.S. President Joseph P. Kennedy is soon to visit Berlin for an historic summit meeting with Hitler, clearing the way for detente. Meanwhile, cynical police detective Xavier March investigates the drowning of Josef Buhler, former state secretary in the General Government. When the Gestapo takes over the case -- ruling it suicide -- March continues his investigation at the risk of his life, uncovering a deadly conspiracy at the highest levels of the Reich. With the help of American reporter Charlotte Maguire, he finds hard evidence of the wartime extermination of Europe's Jews, a secret that Buhler and his colleagues have been murdered to protect. Of course March and Maguire fall in love along the way. Harris (Selling Hitler) generates little suspense in this tale beyond his piecemeal rendering of the novel's unusual historical setting. The characters are flat and the plot largely predictable. And readers may well question the taste of using the Holocaust as the point of departure for a rather insubstantial, derivative thriller.
Library Journal
The year is 1964. The setting is Berlin. JFK's father, Joe Kennedy, is president. Edward VIII is king, Wallis his queen. Adolf Hitler is about to celebrate his 75th birthday. In this thriller with a twist, the stalemate which ended World War II has evolved into a cold war, not between the Soviet Union and the United States, but between the Third Reich and America. Police investigator Xavier March handles a case involving the death of a prominent Nazi, an apparent suicide. The trail leads to other suicides, accidental deaths, a numbered vault in Zurich, and a beautiful American reporter. March discovers the pattern behind the deaths and locates incriminating papers exposing the Holocaust, which, because Germany didn't lose the war, has been kept secret for 20 years. Harris, author of the nonfiction title Selling Hitler ( LJ 5/15/86), is clearly well versed in the operations and machinations of the Nazi regime. He uses this knowledge to create a realistic and frightening world in which we all could be living. Recommended.
It is twenty years after Nazi Germany's triumphant victory in World WAR two and the entire country id preparing for the grand celebration of the Fuhrer's seventy-five birthday, as well as the imminent peacemaking visit from the president o the United States.
A solid mystery that has vibes of Martin Cruz Smith.
This alternative history gave me nightmares. Harris draws you in and never lets go. Can't recommend it enough.
(on back of book)It is twenty years after Nazi Germany's triumphant victory in WWII and the entire country is preparing for the grand celebration of the fuhrer's seventy-fifth birthday,as well as the immenient peacemaking visit from President Kennedy.Meanwhile,Berlin Detective Xavier March-a disillusioned but talented investigator-is called upon to make a routine investigation of a corpse washed up on the shore of a lake.When the dead man turns out to be a high-ranking Nazi commander,the Gestapo orders March off the case immediately.Suddenly other unrelated deaths are anything but routine.Now obsessed by the case,March teams up with a beautiful,young American journalist and starts asking questions...dangerous questions.What they uncover is a terrifying and long-concealed conspiracy of such astounding and mind-numbing terror that it is certain to spell the end of the Third Reich-if they can live long enough to tell the world about it.
