Fatherland

Rating:
Summary: Clever and imaginative
Review: The basic premiss of the book is a real stretch. Even if Germany had won the war by discovering the atomic bomb first, there is no way Hitler would have lived to celebrate his 75th birthday (his health was in serious decline by 1945). Nevertheless, if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough, then you will find a lot of merit in this book. The description of the mechanics of how the extermination camps functioned is as detailed and chilling as I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing story with a good twist that rings true
Review: A great book -- a mix of history, informed speculation, the life of a German policeman and a thrilling storyline.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever!
Review: Best book I read in a long time. Harris excellently combines fiction and historic facts. Moreover, his fiction is based on these facts. A well told crime story which evolves into a political thriller. Absolutely great!

Rating:
Summary: One of the all best
Review: Scary Scary SCARY This book tells it like it will be. I cringed so much when I read it people had to ask me if I was alright. Robert Harris does a wonderful job of writing the future as in a what if scenerio

Rating:
Summary: Great work!
Review: One of the best books ever. It has all that what-if books usually lack. It tells "history" of WWII, it has map of europe, it has map of Berlin... Amazing. Meybe the only think that could be added is what "happened" to resistance leaders (De Gaule, Tito) and leaders of defeated countries (Stalin...). Advice for those who liked it: don't see the movie.

Rating:
Summary: a thrilling look at what might have been...
Review: A wonderful novel that blends fact and fiction together with some of the most monsterous characters in history . Harris draws on real occurences such as the 1942 Wannsee conference in which Rienhard Hedrich drew up the plans for the Final Solution, with a traditional detective story. This reader was compelled to find out exactly what was fiction and what was fact after reading the book. Harris' novel works beacuase his research is meticulous and the story well-woven. Super stuff!

Rating:
Summary: Familiar
Review: "Gorky Park" with Nazis. There is one genuine bit of wit, which involves the identity of the President of the USA in 1960. Otherwise, old hat.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasic?Horrible?Excellent!
Review: This book is one of the best novels about Nazi-Germany, I ever read. The possibility, that Hitler has won the war is a wonderful scenario for an interesting criminal affair. The book shows, how life would have been, if it all had came like this. I think, it is well written, because Harris drew a picture of what could have happen. The image, that I have to grew up in a Nazi-Reich makes me thinking.... If you are intersted in history, especially German history, read the book. IT'S GREAT!!

Rating:
Summary: frighteningly good read
Review: A terribly bleak and frighteningly realistic picture of the aftermath of World War II and a Nazi victory. Harris slowly reveals a detective's gradual understanding of the truth about the holocaust and the deathcamps, and his struggle to bring that truth to a world suffocated under Nazi propaganda. Most terrible of all, however, are the genuine diary notes about the deathcamps, to be found at the end of the novel. Heartily recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting how different are the views of the Victor
Review: amcdona2 gave a very thorough review of the intriguing readability of this book. But, I thought I point out something that continued to plague me while reading it.
I found it interesting the way Harris portrayed the Nazis in the way we today would common view the Soviets, yet the USSR was portrayed the way we see the Nazis. Each is guilty of its crimes, some quite heinous, but we view the Nazis crimes as evil and unthinkable. Harris, in this alternate history, views the Soviets with the same contempt we Americans are raised to view Nazism with contempt and everything evil.