Crimes of War

Rating:
Summary: A Moving and Thought-inspiring Read...
Review: As a fan of Canadian literature and authors, I picked up Peter Hogg's "Crimes of War" with a bit of hesitation. Previous to this book, it had been my experience that the 'Nazis' of fiction tend to come off as one-dimensional, with nearly no thought behind them: cardboard villains.

This was not the case in "Crimes of War." Hogg has put a monumental amount of thought and effort into making this book not only enjoyable, but emotionally stirring. The main character, like Hogg himself once did, works in the special division of the Canadian Government that tracks down escaped world war II criminals in Canada.

Time, however, has made this government office obsolete. The Nazis are dying of old age, and, worse, so are the victims who could identify them even if they were arrested. The office is being closed, and Hogg's protagonist, Dennis Connor, has the distinctly unpleasant duty of being the last one there to shut it down, lock the door, and leave the keys behind.

But first, there is one more criminal he knows has escaped into Canada: Reile.

Alternating between the view of the war criminal, the protagonist, and dancing between the present and the past, this book is highly evocative. There is a real humanization of the Nazi who is old aged and ailing, and hiding in Canada. Hogg's novel dares to explore what the mass murderers of world war two were like on an individual level - and without pulling punches: Riele is not an apparent monster.

As the back of the book says, "Does it makes sense to pursue old men in their seventies or eighties for what they did, under orders, in the tumoil of war in Europe fifty years earlier?" "How can the forces of justive ignore mass murderers among us, regardless of how much time has elapsed since they killed their last child?"

The questions, and the book's characters, are disturbing, and dead-on accurate. This is not a light read, nor an easy one, but a very rewarding one. I promise you'll put "Crimes of War" down with many new thoughts.

Rating:
Summary: A Moving and Thought-inspiring Read...
Review: As a fan of Canadian literature and authors, I picked up Peter Hogg's "Crimes of War" with a bit of hesitation. Previous to this book, it had been my experience that the 'Nazis' of fiction tend to come off as one-dimensional, with nearly no thought behind them: cardboard villains.

This was not the case in "Crimes of War." Hogg has put a monumental amount of thought and effort into making this book not only enjoyable, but emotionally stirring. The main character, like Hogg himself once did, works in the special division of the Canadian Government that tracks down escaped world war II criminals in Canada.

Time, however, has made this government office obsolete. The Nazis are dying of old age, and, worse, so are the victims who could identify them even if they were arrested. The office is being closed, and Hogg's protagonist, Dennis Connor, has the distinctly unpleasant duty of being the last one there to shut it down, lock the door, and leave the keys behind.

But first, there is one more criminal he knows has escaped into Canada: Reile.

Alternating between the view of the war criminal, the protagonist, and dancing between the present and the past, this book is highly evocative. There is a real humanization of the Nazi who is old aged and ailing, and hiding in Canada. Hogg's novel dares to explore what the mass murderers of world war two were like on an individual level - and without pulling punches: Riele is not an apparent monster.

As the back of the book says, "Does it makes sense to pursue old men in their seventies or eighties for what they did, under orders, in the tumoil of war in Europe fifty years earlier?" "How can the forces of justive ignore mass murderers among us, regardless of how much time has elapsed since they killed their last child?"

The questions, and the book's characters, are disturbing, and dead-on accurate. This is not a light read, nor an easy one, but a very rewarding one. I promise you'll put "Crimes of War" down with many new thoughts.