Garden of Beasts : A Novel of Berlin 1936

Rating:
Summary: Better'n Lincoln Rhymes
Review: I liked GARDEN OF BEASTS better than the Lincoln Rhymes series for a number of reasons: first off, it's a historical novel set during the 1936 Olympics, and we get to meet such personages as Herman Goering, Himmler, Jesse Owens, and even Hitler. Deaver does an excellent job making them believable. His fictional characters are also well drawn. Paul Schumann, the protagonist, is a hit man enlisted by the U.S. government to assassinate the architect of German rearmament. Then there's Willie Kohl, a German police inspector who investigates the murder of a man killed in an alley; he quickly latches onto Schumann as a suspect. Kohl is a family man, overweight, with sore feet, but he's a worthy adversary and he will hound Schumann's trail until the last minute.

Deaver has a penchant for wild plot twists, some of which aren't all that realistic; he does it again here but manages to justify this one in the resolution. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the book is the moral dilemma Schumann is presented with during the climax. Willie Kohl, who's on the scene, must make an ethical decision as well. The test of a good climax is presenting the main character with two equally enticing options and Deaver does this masterfully.

The ending is also rather original; let's just say that it's atypical and leaves room for another Deaver series.

Rating:
Summary: The first 100 pages...
Review: ... and I was done.

I am an avid fan of Jeffery Deaver. As in, will wait MONTHS in breathless anticipation for his books to come out in paperback so I can afford to buy them. Not with Garden of Beasts, though, which I actually checked out at my local library.

I made it through the first 100 pages. This book pales in comparison with the edgy, fast-paced excitement of Deaver's Lincoln/Amelia series. Maybe you shouldn't compare, since they are very different in plot, character, and time setting, but still, Deaver seems to lose his flair for the dramatic, the "what will happen next?" feel of his other novels, even those that didn't involve Linc and Amelia. I kept wondering, rather than "what will happen next?" when the book was going to end. I gave up. A disappointing Deaver endeavor.

Rating:
Summary: Ach! Not bad ...
Review: A pretty decent thriller, well-paced, well-written, with some good characterizations, and at its best with its seamless weave of historical research and atmospheric flourishes. Unfortunately the plot becomes increasingly contrived and implausible -- not to say illogical -- and is further hampered by being crammed into the tight space of 24 hours. I'm not sure why this is necessary: it heightens absurdity rather than suspense (but then THE DA VINCI CODE was the same, so what do I know?). I can't help thinking that Deaver hasn't made enough of the setting, too, for rather than being set DURING the 1936 Berlin Olympics the action takes place BEFORE it. A shame.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful atmospheric period feel and detail!
Review: A solid A for "Garden of Beasts" by Jeffery Deaver. Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, it seamlessly combines factual and fictional characters.

A US government agency promises mobster hitman Paul Schumann forgiveness if he will eliminate Hitler's architect of rearmament.

A cover set up and the chase is on.

The feeling of 1936 Germany is an important character as is Schumann's antagonist turned accomplice, German policeman Willi Kohl.

Red herrings abound and the twists and turns are addictively tantalizing.


Rating:
Summary: A Beastly Bore
Review: An avid reader, there are very few books I abandon before completion but this was one of 'em. 200 pages in, I wasn't remotely hooked.

Short, episodic chapters still manage to drag on interminably as a bland "anti-hero" goes to the 1936 Olympic games on an assassination mission. Even the most heinous Nazi criminals and dramatization of athletic legend Jesse Owens don't help to spice up this plodding story.

I was looking for all the elements of a period thriller and got none. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: A Suspense Master at the Top of his Form
Review: Garden of Beasts has a brilliantly braided plot, morally complex characters, in 1936 Berlin an endlessly intriguing background, and a breakneck pace. It was just impossible to keep up with the twists that Deaver devised. Anyone who likes a great read and edge of the seat suspense would find it difficult to get a better book than this one. When I put the book down, I immediately hoped that the author would write a sequel. I'd like to learn more about these fictional people.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, as usual. Great, lasting sense of place and time.
Review: I always like Jeffrey Deaver's novels. He always researches each one deeply and I learn a lot about the subject, whatever it is. He is always richly fresh and original. No recycling of plots, from his or anyone else's books. (I read this a few months ago so memory fades a bit, but...) In this one I have a sene of Germany I didn't have before, and the plot, original, creative, peopled with very memorable and interesting characters, has nonetheless stayed with a nice taste on the tongue still.
Jeffrey Deaver is one of my favorite novelists. I have a sense of his integrity reading his works as well as his creativity. I always put myself on the list for his next one, whatever it is. I thank him for his work and my enjoyable reads.

Rating:
Summary: What a fascinating novel!
Review: Mr. Deaver says he does not like to ambush his readers especially those electing to buy his hard cover books. So he lets people know right off the bat that he's writing about Berlin in 1936. That may have turned some readers off. Pity. They missed an extraordinary book.

Well let's see. Germany in 1936. You would have to be on Bill and Ted's Excellent Vacation or with Sean Penn at Ridgemont High to not realize that Armageddon was about to begin. So Mr. Deaver surmises, what about a plot not to assassinate Hitler (Tried that. Didn't work. Unfortunately.) but to assassinate his rearmament expert and throw the rebuilding of the Third Reich into chaos.

This is a cross between William Diehl's brilliant "Eureka" and an Allan Furst novel. It's a great period piece and Deaver generously sprinkles innocent reminders for us throughout the book. Cars. Travel by ship. Newspapers. Clothing. Hats. Brands of cigarettes. Drinks. Hostesses.

And of course the center of all this is Paul Schumann, a tough Humphrey Bogart like hit man who truly - corny as it sounds - is about to discover that there is something Homeric about him.

Every great detective story needs a great cop and here it's Willi Kohl, hot on the heels of Paul Schumann, who also is about to discover the hero within. Great stuff. I hope Paul Schumann returns. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Rating:
Summary: Great suspense!
Review: Offered a full pardon for past crimes if he'll cooperate with US Intelligence, New York mob hitman Paul Schumann agrees to undertake a dangerous assignment, the assassination of military man Reinhard Ernst, a key official of Adolph Hitler's Third Reich. Adopting the identity of a US journalist traveling to Berlin to cover the 1936 Olympics, Schumann slips into Germany and begins to prepare for the hit. His mission is threatened from its very infancy, however, as things start to go wrong for him even as he boards the boat to Europe. Plagued by the actions of enemies in the US as well as the Fatherland, Schumann quickly learns the only person he can depend on is himself.

Although it's somewhat of a cliché to say that a novel will keep you guessing until the final scene, this is the literal truth about Garden of Beasts, as Deaver dashes all expectations. As is the case for Deaver's sympathetic anti-hero Paul Schumann, readers are not permitted to take anything for granted--nothing is as it seems, and no one can be trusted. Deaver's machinations seem limitless; readers will experience several thrilling moments of frisson when they tumble to the fact that some new revelation is forthcoming.

The well researched Garden of Beasts (Deaver makes appropriate use of German idioms, and is spot on in his rendering of his German characters' halting English) is a top drawer thriller, not surprising given that it comes from the same man who has given us such memorable books as The Bone Collector, The Coffin Dancer and The Empty Chair. Chief among its many virtues are its swift pacing and a vivid recreation of the fear and paranoia so rampant in 1936 Berlin. What makes the book truly memorable, however, is Deavers' splendid evocation of the complexities of the human animal. A stone cold killer capable of sudden brutality, Schumann morphs into a sympathetic hero. His relentless pursuer, German policeman Willie Kohl, proves even more likeable--even though he's after the hero of the piece, readers will view him as an honorable man. More intriguing still is Deavers' characterization of Reinhard Ernst, doting grandfather, bereaved father, and loyal soldier. Although not an admirer of Hitler, Ernst is motivated by a deep love of country. Readers will be astonished by where his highly developed sense of duty ultimately leads the old soldier.


Rating:
Summary: Cat and mouse in 1936 Berlin
Review: This novel is a considerable departure from Deaver's recent Lincoln Rhyme crime novels in that it is set in Berlin in the 1936 pre-Second World War era. Yet it retains many of the elements which have made Deaver's novels bestsellers.

Paul Schumann, gangster hitman, is caught by the authorities in New York but, instead of being carted off to jail, he is given a choice- go to jail and face execution or go to Berlin and assassinate one of Hitler's top henchmen, the mythical Reinhard Ernst, who is in charge of Germany's illegal rearmament effort. If he performs this task, he will be freed and given money to set himself up in a legitimate printing business.

So it's off to Berlin for Schumann under the guise of a sportswriter covering the Olympic games. But, as he is about to meet his contact, Schumann stumbles upon a murder which sets the delightful Willi Kohl of the Kripo on his trail. As Schumann hunts his prey, he too is hunted over a feverish 48 hours in Berlin. We come to meet Hitler, Goering, Himmler , Goebels and other historical figures who masterminded the evil of the Third Reich.

The novel is also populated by characters such as Otto Webber, a conman who is of great assistance to Schumann in his endeavour, and Kathe Richter,a schoolteacher who has been forced out of her job for teaching Goethe and with whom Schumann falls in love. The plot twists and twists in many directions and the ending is unexpected. In the end Willi Kohl and Paul Schumann both put the lives of others ahead of their self-interest.