Rating: 
Summary: a curious journey with a twist
Review: Forsyth comes up with a passionate story of post WWII Nazi criminals and one man's fight to find justice.A good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Peter Miller has a big scoop
Review: We are told that the best stories com from people that write about what they know. So if this story seems insightful it may be because Frederic Forsyth worked for Reuters reporting from London and he wrote the story in hotels from Germany to Austria. He mixes the real, not so real and the plausible to make you think "what if." I do not want to say much as the fun is being surprised during the reading. However compared to the movie the book is much more in-depth with more characters and details. Manny times you think Forsyth is going off on some tangent and not focusing on the main story; then with out warning the information makes sense later on. One example to look for is the quick encounter with military maneuvers where he describes the tank sergeant. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is the night of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Peter Miller, freelance reporter in the process of chasing ambulances is disappointed by the apparent suicide of a person of no consequence. Turns out the dead man is holocaust survivor Salomon Tauber; he left behind a diary of his experiences. Miller reads this diary and seems particularly interested in some details. This inspires him to do a story on what happed to ex-Nazis. His quest puts him at odds with many people including an organization (O.D.E.S.S.A.) that was designed to help the SS escape justice. He also encounters independent agents out for their own agenda. Then there is the MOSSAD. Everyone accuses Miller of having his own secret agenda and not just out for a story. Can they be right? -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be sure to also watch the movie with famous actors that actually fit the characters from the book. Naturally a lot of information had to cut out and some sequence changes to fit the media. We still get the full speech from Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell)
Rating:
Summary: Truly Thrilling
Review: This novel makes me wish I had discovered Forsyth sooner (this is the first Forsyth I have read). He writes with a crisp, concise style that combined with his considerable skill in pacing and character development makes this book a first-rate thriller. Add to that the historical insight that emerges throughout this book and the result is a truly fine novel. Occasionally the narrative slows down when Forsyth expends too much description on the protagonist's cross-country drives, but even those interruptions fail to break the suspense that mounts throughout this story. This is one of the best thrillers I have read - I give it an A.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous read!
Review: I'd read Day of the Jackel and Dogs of War years ago, but somehow missed this one. What a great read. Too few authors today take the time and have the talent to write an engaging work like this. I was amused by a later reviewer who considered Frederick Forsyth an unknown author. Can you imagine that? Too much TV watching must be to blame, but better late than never!
Rating:
Summary: A Reckoning For A Butcher
Review: The first two chapters of "The Odessa File" are as brilliant as spy fiction has ever gotten; after that, it's just very, very good.
The opening chapter sets into motion a world of underground Nazis and underworld reporters against the compelling backdrop of the assassination of President Kennedy; Forsyth even finds a way of getting the Beatles involved.
The second chapter, a recounting of the diary of a former concentration camp inmate, offers some of the most stunning testimony of man's inhumanity to man. Yet the dead man, Salomon Tauber, still can write: "With the passing of the years I have learned again to love; to love the rocks and trees, the sky above and the river flowing past the city, the stray dogs and cats, the weeds growing between the cobblestones, and the children who run away from me in the street because I am so ugly."
From there, the novel may slide a bit, but how can it be otherwise? A reporter who reads the journal, Peter Miller, takes it upon himself to find the man behind Tauber's tortures, former SS officer Eduard Roschmann A.K.A. "The Butcher of Riga," and bring him to justice. Yes, people are right when they say "Day Of The Jackal" worked better as a story from front-to-back. Maybe the book could have done more with Miller's plan to infiltrate the Nazi underworld, the "ODESSA" of the novel's title, an idea developed more in the 1974 film adaptation starring Jon Voight. There are a couple of contrivances, not as egregious as are found in some other Forsyth books I can mention, but they are there.
It's still a brilliant story, delivered with a minimum of sentiment and a feeling of lived-in journalistic accuracy. Most of all, it's exciting from chapter-to-chapter, a brisk gallop of a narrative. The final confrontation between Miller and Roschmann is justly famous and well-known; I suspect George Lucas was taking notes.
I've read the book three times now since 1981, and while it's a little less than I remember, it's still tops in its genre in so many ways. People who think spy fiction is all about James Bond and Tom Clancy owe it to themselves to read "Odessa File;" they will be edified, or at the very least, highly entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Jawohl! A nail bitting thriller from the master
Review: I have something to confess. This is my first Frederick Forsyth novel. For years, my father had had almost all his books in his private collection, but I never thought of touching them, thinking to myself, "Just another pulp writer..." Oh, was I wrong!
Forsyth delved extensively into the Nazi mythos and came up with a brilliant thriller that could almost pass off as non-fiction. The whole book chronicles the long and wild chase across the whole of Germany for a Nazi war criminal.
The chase is intertwined with a convulated plot involving biological weapons, the Mossad, the Waffen-SS and of course, the shadowy Odessa. Thoroughly researched and the explanations in each background are vivid and clear.
Nevertheless, if you are in a mood for an exciting thrill ride from start to finish, this is the book for you. Forsyth fans were equally thrilled when this book was released. You might also want to check out the movie version of the novel, starring Jon Voight.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: I had to read this book for school and enjoyed it. i thought the writing was crisp and easy and that the plot kept you reading. Some parts were a bit unrealistic but it is fiction. There is a lot of information about what happened to the former dreaded SS members after world war II which is fascinating and the chapter about the holocaust is very sad. You can't see the twist coming, and I think the author cheated a litle by not divulging some needed information, but it is an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: gripping classic mystery thriller
Review: A classic mystery suspense set in 1960s Germany. A journalist gets involved in hunting down a Nazi war criminal (the Butcher of Riga) who is being aided by a shadow organization called The Odessa (name an acronym, not geographical). With a plot that links to arab terrorists, Israel, and ex-SS men, it's thrilling and tightly crafted. Fantastic, and apparently based on much fact in the generals.
Rating:
Summary: Skip The Last Half
Review: The author's description of Nazi attrocities is outstanding!!!!
It should be required reading for every class in Holocaust Literature. The book also revealed a great deal of information about the Jewish ghetto in Riga, Latvia that could almost be a book in itself.
However, halfway through the book I became very disappointed. The plot degenerated into a cheap thriller. Such a cleverly researched book should never have been coupled with such a poorly written plot.
The horrors of The Riga Ghetto recently made news because of an investigation by The Latvian Holocaust Commission. Unfortunatly, even sixty years after the horrors of The Riga Ghetto, The Government of Latvia couldn't overcome it's antisemitism and Abraham Foxman of The World Jewish Congress resigned from the commission.
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