Spandau Phoenix

Rating:
Summary: THE MAN AT SPANDAU
Review: A superb blend of historical fact and intriguing speculation resulting in a fascinating and thrilling novel, the type that you just can't put down. Was the man in Spandau truly Rudolph Hess or was he a double? If he was a double, who was he and what really happened to Rudolph Hess? Why did the Allied Powers keep him in prison for so long if he was not a war criminal, involved in the implementation of the holocaust and other assorted Nazi atrocities? Why did Hitler allow the British to retreat and escape at Dunkirk and why did he not invade England as he had threatened? If you like historical fiction or if you simply enjoy a good thrilling novel, then SPANDAU PHOENIX is for you ... 695 pages of non-stop action and suspense. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: The malabaryst
Review: Greg Iles is a different author. I've read three of his books, and all of them are different one from another. In "The quiet game" you have a legal thriller similar to John Grisham - when Grisham was good. "24 hours" is a very fast-paced kidnapping thriller, better than James Patterson's Alex Cross series' best moments. "Spandau phoenix" is totally different, a blend of World War II intrigue with a Clancy-esque plot of world-wide struggle for power.

The book starts simply enough, moments after Spandau prison, in Berlin, is demolished. Hans Apfel, a low-profile policeman, finds, during his nightly rounds through the rubble, a stack of papers signed by Spandau's most famous prisoner, Rudolph Hess. The papers contain information that could, through a series of seemingly unrelated events, get the world into a nuclear war.

Rudolph Hess' story and all the misteries involving his secret mission to England are still largely unaccounted for - at least to the general public, even after sixty years. Based on these premisses, Iles provides his readers with a plot that goes from the still divided Germany of 1987 to South Africa, Lybia and Israel. Iles throws lots of balls in the air, the characters start to appear before the reader's eyes, only to be slain a few pages later, or to disappear for long times; subplots follow subplots - there's even a subplot that is set during the War, featuring Hitler and Heydrich. However, Iles never drops the balls, or the pace of his narrative. The final moments of the story are incredibly fast-paced, when most of the characters and the plots are sewn together; pursuits, narrow escapes, dazzling machine guns; Greg Iles writes about all this with an easiness compared to Tom Clancy's early Ryan novels.

"Spandau phoenix" is a very nice thriller-slash-historic fiction by one of my favorite new authors - along with Michael Connely.

Grade 9.0/10


Rating:
Summary: An Action-Packed Thriller With Too Many Pages!
Review: Greg Iles really packed the action into "Spandau Phoenix." I would have rated the book higher, but it is way too long and goes off on many unnecessary tangents. A tighter narrative would have made a more suspenseful, and enjoyable read. However, if you have the patience to hang-in through almost 700 pages, you may find this suspense thriller very worth while.

Berlin's Spandau Prison, where WWII Nazi war criminals were kept, was the last residence of Rudolph Hess, Prisoner #7, and Hitler's one time second in command. Hess left Nazi Germany in 1941 and flew a plane to Great Britain. His reasons, or mission, for going to the UK were never revealed. Hitler publicly called Hess insane for making the flight and parachuting into enemy territory. When Hess supposedly committed suicide in his prison cell in 1987, he was Spandau's last occupant. The prison was then scheduled to be destroyed. As crowds gathered to watch the demolition of this famous building, Berlin police were assigned to maintain crown control. KGB agents diligently photographed the crowd for later identification by the East German Stasi. Among the observers was an Israeli agent. A German police captain, in charge of the contingent guarding the rubble, unexpectedly finds mysterious papers hidden in what was Hess' cell. The papers were all written in Latin, a language he does not understand, except for the first paragraph, which is in German. The paragraph interested the police officer enough for him to bring the papers home to his wife to translate.

Thus begins a desperate and brutal quest by the Soviets, British, Americans, and an Israeli agent for the Spandau Diaries - a search which leaves many dead bodies in its wake. Was Rudolph Hess really Prisoner #7, or did he have a double? Did Hess have a political agenda when he parachuted into Great Britain or was he really insane? Were members of the British nobility involved in a subversive plot with Hess and Hitler?

This novel involves Germans, Russians, Israelis, British, Americans, South Africans, and Libyans. Iles' extraordinary tale takes the reader on a terrifying adventure into the past, which leads to the chilling realities of the present, that could very well result in worldwide nuclear war. His action scenes are so well written that they are almost visual, and certainly bring this drama to life. The main characters are complex and well defined, individually and in their relationships to each other. The ending will have you on the edge of your seat.

In spite of the book's unnecessary length, and a confusing narrative at the beginning, I do recommend "Spandau Phoenix" to fans of mystery-thrillers and espionage novels. Bottom line - great plot and characters overcome any flaws.
JANA

Rating:
Summary: One Enriching Book
Review: I must say this is the book that made me fall in love with the WWII thriller, though its no actually a WWII conspiracy thriller, its close though. Its been tough though finding a book in the same sub-genre that meets the enjoyment I got from this book. This book and a segment of Unsolved Mysteries has convinced me that there was something fishy going on with the whole Hess mess. But anyway, this book has made onto the keep shelf of my book case, because I have already re-read it and plan on doing so many times in the future. Though I need to get a new copy, lent it out too much, and its now falling apart. Hope you take my advice and pick one up for youself.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic...right on up until the end.
Review: I read "Black Cross" first, and was extremely impressed with Iles skill in blending fact and fiction. It was interesting, too, to have Jonas Stern back. Having met him in "Cross" first, it gives me a better understanding of the man's motivations and personality.
This is one lengthy book..not that this is bad, but I somehow feel like someone who's gone to an "All You Can Eat", stuffed myself, and then had a tummy ache all night! Iles tries to stuff so much in this book that by the last third, I was having trouble remembering who's who, who got killed, etc. I also was confused at all the different situations between all these different countries..Russians/Arabs/Brits/Americans, etc. etc.
But one cannot deny Iles' expertise in this expansive, suspenseful tale. There are quite a bit of extraordinarily well-crafted action scenes, especially when Hess' fortress is attacked. One thing after another; there are tons of villains, all of them incredibly despicable; there are heroes where you least expect them; also heroes who turn a little villainous themselves when they don't get their way (Gadi, e.g.). Iles' finesse with characters is phenomenal, particularly with Captain Hauer; Ilse; Hans; Sparrow; Jonas Stern; Sergeant Schneider; Luhr; Pieter Smuts; and of course, the indomitable Thomas Alfred Horn/Rudolf Hess.
All in all, a terrific book, but I was extremely disappointed in the ending, not knowing what fate awaits Hauer, Hans and Ilse; and also by the "twist" in which one of the characters decides what needs to be done with the remaining copies of the Spandau papers. What in the world good would it do? Maybe I'm too "conventional"?
Anyway, Iles' two WWII historical fiction efforts are tremendous examples of this gentleman's talents.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: GREG ILES IS THE MAN
Review: im 15 years old and this is my second iles book. i read black cross first and was just blown away by it. it was action packed and the characters are so very real. this book is just as good or even better than black cross. i love how he mixes facts with fiction and in the end is a crazy story with tons of action yet still with facts and opinion. greg iles is , i think, the most under rated writer out there. with such spectacular works as this and black cross he should be well recognized throughout the reading world. id have to say greg iles is my favorite author out there now (along with tom clancy and jack higgins) this author would be for people who like books by such authors as jack higgins and tom clancy. even if you dont like those authors give his books a try. i gaurantee you will enjoy his work.

Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner!
Review: It's 1987. Gorbachev is in power. The cold war is rapidly winding to a close. So what does it matter that an old man, the last of the Nazi war criminals, is found dead in Spandau prison?

Well, it turns out that no fewer than eight governmental organizations (American, British, East and West German, South African, Israeli, Libyan and Russian) have a vested interest the death of the prisoner formerly known as Rudolf Hess - and it all revolves around a nine-page document that is found by an honest West German police officer.

Most of the intricate plot is set up in the first third of the book, and the rest just traces the story of the Spandau papers to its highly complex and inexorable conclusion. If I had a complaint, it'd be that some characterization is sacrificed in order to keep the plot advancing - but I wouldn't have made the book any longer than its 700 paperback pages, either. To Iles' credit, there's never any trouble keeping his large cast of characters straight.

Great beach read!

Rating:
Summary: Complex but Satisfying
Review: This is my 4th Iles book and I loved it. I agree, however, this book is not for everyone. It has a complex plot and there are MANY characters in this book. Some of the threads in the plot go nowhere and some seemingly key characters are killed off early in the book. There are also no clear heros (perhaps several) but some good bad bad guys (we all love to hate Nazi's).

In my opinion, though, The Spandau Phoenix is a great book. It is exciting and fast paced. The reader has to pay careful attention to the detail but the payoff is a book of epic proportions. I highly recommend it for those not looking for the quick and easy read.

Rating:
Summary: outstanding - especially since it was Iles' first thriller
Review: This terrific book launched Greg Iles as a leading thriller writer. Using the fascinating true story of the Hess mission to England during World War II, the book begins with the death of a prisoner (who was supposed to have been Hess) in Berlin's Spandau Prison. The question of that prisoner's true identity sets the superpowers on edge, culminating in an extravagant neo-Nazi plot engineered by a mega-rich eccentric. There's plenty of equally interesting characters, including a German policeman and an Israeli secret agent. The conclusion could have been better, but getting there is well worth the trip. The historical backdrop is handled nicely, and the pure fictional suspense is hard to match.