Rating: 
Summary: pretty decent alternate history detective story
Review: Fatherland mixes alternate history with detective story and a touch of the Cold War individual against the state feel (this time the all-powerful state is a successful Nazi Germany rather than the USSR). A German detective pairs with an American journalist to trace the facts about an unnatural death that will lead to truths that will shake the world order (the alternate world order that is). This book is not outstanding but it is certainly interesting enough to take a look at.
Rating: 
Summary: The Other Side
Review: In this good and easy to read novel we explore the idea of Nazi Germany surviving the second world war.The storyline is based in the mid 1960s twenty years after General Rommel successfully repelled the Allied invasion force back into the English Channel and forced Britain's hand into peace negotiations while the USA, humiliated, went of to destroy Japan. This allowed Hitler to carry on the fight to defeat Russia. The world turned topsey turvey with the election of hardline isolationist Charles Lindburg as president of the USA and a puppet King Edward VIII on the throne. By the 1960s, Germany was at a peace of sorts (still fighting Russian resistance in the east) and willing to talk on freindly terms with their Cold War foes, the United States of America and it's hardline president, Joeseph P Kennedy. Germany needs America's hand as they both share a hate for communisim and the russians still can't be defeated. The story begins with a mysterious murder of a high ranking Nazi Party official and the case is picked up by a reciently divorced SS investigator. A delegation of American press reporters have arrived in Berlin to cover the visit of President Kennedy and the 75th birthday celebrations of the ageing Adolf Hitler. It is then a report receives information about an event that happened during the war. Eventually both reporter and SS inestigator meet and soon they are on the case which becomes more dangerous as they dig deeper and then uncover the horror of what happened during those dark years, all the while the Gestapo is closing in on the pair of them to keep this dark secret safe from the man who could eventually bring down the thirty year old Reich, President Kennedy. Ending on a high, this book is a good read on alternate history. (It has, of course, been turned into a movie.)
Rating: 
Summary: Very well written but still unbelievable setting/cadre.
Review: You are on for a good read (I really was'nt believing half of it at anytime...).
You have been advised about the big problem ( the action/cadre puts the novel in the science-fiction category or what/could/have/been...), otherwise good crime novel.
Will probably stand the test of time as a well written novel.
Rating:
Summary: INTERESTING FANTASY, GOOD READ
Review: Harris does a very good job of imagining what the world might have been like had Germany won WWII. Following Orwell's tradition (from 1984), the novel is set in Berlin under a police state. 1984 was of course a great novel, but this is a much more realistic image of what might have been. The main character is a police detective who is divorced with a son that dislikes him for not being a super-Nazi supporter. It is Hitler's 75th birthday, and so celebrations abound, when there are a few murders of high commanders in the government. Given the positive image of naziism in this imagined world, the main character follows a trail that is filled with danger in order to a great secret, which I will not mention in order not to ruin it for future readers. It is a good fast read, and I especially appreciated the entire mind construction of what a post-war Germany under Hitler might look like. The lessons are secondary and not the most interesting part of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Best WWII Thriller Ever
Review: The title says it all. If you are interested in WWII and Nazi Germany, this book is a haunting must-read that will stay with you for years after you have read it.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling reading of a well thought-out mystery
Review: The audio cassette reading of this abridgement of _Fatherland_ is read by two-time Emmy Award-winning Werner Klemperer (who won twice for his portrayal of Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the former Television show, "Hogan's Heroes.") His fluency with the German language makes one feel as is one is in the middle of Germany right along side the detective Xavier March, the main character of the story. I thought that perhaps the alternate history component of the novel--namely, that Germany won World War II--would be a larger part of the story; however, the murder mystery actually has its origins in the 1930s, during the rise to power of Hitler. As March uncovers clues spanning three decades--the action takes place in the mid 1960s--one feels linked not only to the story itself, but the days of a horrible past gone by. One such clue is a series of diary entries by a visitor to one of the concentration camps the Germany ran to destroy the Jews. The reading of the diary sneaks up on the listener and suddenly the listener is aware that this novel isn't just fiction, but contains a chilling historical account of the life and death of the victims of the Jewish Holocaust by Nazi Germany. Toward the end of the novel one genuinely wants Marsh and his investigative reporting American ally to succeed in their efforts to uncover the conspiracy and bring the truth to the world. If they succeed it would bring this alternate history closer to reality--in that the real world knows what actually happened to the Jews, that they had not just "disappeared" as this alternate world believes. The running time of this audio abridgement is three hours. I wish it had run longer as I was hooked into the plot and characters by the novel's end. I highly recommended this story, but for mature listeners only. This story contains foul language (in English and German!), as well as graphic descriptions of violence and death.
Rating:
Summary: Developing a good idea
Review: This enjoyable "history fiction" novel represents a good development of a "what-if" idea, and it is really interesting to examine as that naturally leads to an already seen solution: beginning from a Nazis-dominated country, the description of the society turns out to be very similar to former Communist countries, where a blue-jeans cloth was considered symbol of freedom. Besides, the novel is well written, historical references are well chosen and the Holocaust described as a spinning out theme is a good fiction of a sceptical mind facing an unbelievable event. The protagonist, detective Xavier March, reluctantly enrolled in SS, resembles many other not-too-heroic characters (I have been always sympathetic with that kind of unfortunate). A casual event, a few days before Fuehrertag (Hitler's birhtday) will make him involved in a more and more complex web of history and politics. There is not a happy-end, which would have been very unlikely, but, in a someway optimistic foresight, March, even if beaten, is not defeated, for his sacrifice, displaying the great crime undertaken by Nazis, will give an active contribution to accelerate the fall of a social system, even if still fully empowered. Either you like a weekend book or a hint to further studies, the book is worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading if just for the description of Hitler's Berlin
Review: A very enjoyable book. Unlike other reviewers, I won't pontificate about the merits of literary fiction or point you to another book. This one's good. Nice plot, reminiscent of 1984, with some nice, brisk scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Plot carries the seed of its own demise.
Review: The premise is a future alternate, not a future possible like C.J. Beck's new adventure 'Spiked'. It's fun to ask 'what if' Hitler had lived another thirty years and the Nazis had won? There's a comfort in knowing the result but at the same time that's the book's basic flaw. We do know the result. So the exploration of Albert Speer's new Berlin fascinates first then falters as we realise it will never be. In Beck's new novel 'Spiked' the links to Nazi technology and even their 'Lebensborn' breeding camps are there too. Like 'Fatherland' it asks 'what if', but in 'Spiked' the bad guys can still win. Even when you put the book down the threat is still there and real today! This gives 'Spiked' the winning edge. The story is most timely when the only limitation for the 'bad guys' in the Arms Race is the lack of access to efficient long range delivery vehicles. Beck's story appears to be based on the technolgy developed by ballistics genius Gerald 'Supergun' Bull in the 1980's. It asks what if a scientist actually achieved his ambition of building a supergun capable of launching missiles hundreds or even thousands of miles? And what if this relatively cheap, low technology fell into the wrong hands?
'Fatherland's' plot carries the seeds of its own destruction. 'Spiked' points to the very real possibility of our own!
Rating:
Summary: All Around Great Story
Review: Hey, wait a minute, am I confused or did somebody write a dark, spooky alternate history novel that can actually claim to be at the same level as Gorky Park? This is an all around great book; it is not often that an author can come up with such a comprehensive book as this on his first try. This had it all, a great story, good characters, wonderful action and a quick pace. This is an exciting book. The story is very believable and tight. You can really believe the out come of the War produced this. Ok so it is not the only book out there with a Germany won theme, but he pulls it off very well. It is dark but you need that darkness on this type of book, something light and happy would not fit the premise.
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