Brandenburg (Brandenburg)

Rating:
Summary: If you like Ian Flemming, then you'll probably love Meade.
Review: Although I was a fan of the James Bond movies for many years, I never picked up an Ian Flemming Bond novel until a few years ago. The novels were so good I didn't like the movies nearly as much after reading all of the books. The most disappointing thing with reading all of Flemming's Bond novels is that Flemming is long dead and no other author can seem to capture his style or ability to create a spectacular plot. Or so I thought.

Then I saw Brandenburg and picked it up. If I were one to believe in reincarnation, I would swear Flemming's spirit lives on in Meade. Rather than give anything up about the book itself--the synopsis on the book is all you'll ever need--I should just say that if you like Ian Flemming or spy and mystery-suspense novels, this is about the best one I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: A fine hybrid of fact and fiction
Review: Before anything else is to be said about Meade's Brandednburg, it must be noted that the book is far, far too long, particularly for its genre. My Australian edition is almost 700 pages in length!

Having said that, I must admit I am perplexed at the widespread criticisms of the book. I found the exotic settings particularly tantalising. The strong contrast between the lush tropical setting of Latin America and the bleek and very wintry Europe bring out the very nature of both. I for one enjoyed the attention to detail that Meade pursued.

It also has to be said that the author knows his stuff - the places, down to the very street names are legit. Having travelled to many of the destinations myself made Volkmann's journey even more real. Meade clearly knows his WWII history too - and his story - historically - checks out.

Some say it was all too cleche-riden but I liked it anyway - the backbone of the novel - its plot - was historically and geopgraphically plausible and actually quite original. So some of the one-liners leaned on the corny side, but in the end, do such idiosyncratic details really matter???

A fine read to all those with ample time on their hands to read it.

Rating:
Summary: A meandering mess
Review: Brandenburg is a novel with WWII background set in the present day. The novel opens with Paraguayan journalist Rudi Hernendez working on a story. With some equimpment he records a secret conversation between several Germans living in his country. What is on that tape is enough to get him in deep trouble, and he is abruptly killed about 1/6 into the novel. So far, the novel is interesting and captivating.

The rest of Brandenburg destroys all of that goodwill it built up in the first 80 pages by detouring into a convoluted mess of characters and clues and ultimate boredom. Joe Volkmann is part of a European "FBI" and joins up with Rudi's cousin, Erica Krantz, to find out what happened to Rudi. They traverse Paraguay looking for clues and find a picture at an abandoned mansion from 1931 of German girl on the arms of a soldier.

Who owned the mansion and who is the girl and what do German extremists have to do with it. At this point, the novel degenerates into uselessness. The best way to describe it is Volkmann going on a massive investigation. Each step turns up new characters, each interview reveals little. Any new information is usually info to aid Volkmann in his next interview, and has nothing to do with the ultimate plot.

Soon, all of the characters run together and overwhelm what little evidence the plot has given me. This novel is way to long. The search for the truth is tedious and boring. I don't recommend you read this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A meandering mess
Review: Brandenburg is a novel with WWII background set in the present day. The novel opens with Paraguayan journalist Rudi Hernendez working on a story. With some equimpment he records a secret conversation between several Germans living in his country. What is on that tape is enough to get him in deep trouble, and he is abruptly killed about 1/6 into the novel. So far, the novel is interesting and captivating.

The rest of Brandenburg destroys all of that goodwill it built up in the first 80 pages by detouring into a convoluted mess of characters and clues and ultimate boredom. Joe Volkmann is part of a European "FBI" and joins up with Rudi's cousin, Erica Krantz, to find out what happened to Rudi. They traverse Paraguay looking for clues and find a picture at an abandoned mansion from 1931 of German girl on the arms of a soldier.

Who owned the mansion and who is the girl and what do German extremists have to do with it. At this point, the novel degenerates into uselessness. The best way to describe it is Volkmann going on a massive investigation. Each step turns up new characters, each interview reveals little. Any new information is usually info to aid Volkmann in his next interview, and has nothing to do with the ultimate plot.

Soon, all of the characters run together and overwhelm what little evidence the plot has given me. This novel is way to long. The search for the truth is tedious and boring. I don't recommend you read this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Major Dissapointment!
Review: I had previously read the other Glenn Meade books "Snowwolf" and the "Sands of Sakkara" and found them to be excellent writings. Brandenburg is not in the same class as the other two writings. The book is is essence about the creation of the Fourth Reich. I had hoped foe something on the caliber of the "Holcroft Covenant". This book does not come close. The book was drawn out trying to get to the point.The action rating in this book was also nearly missing. The heros and villains in the book were also as weak as water.All in all the book was dissapointing. Every author is due one bad book. This is Glenn Meade's. I hope that his next one is better.

Rating:
Summary: Read Meade's Resurrection Day, banned in USA!
Review: I really do not understand why this book has gotten such bad reviews. I loved this book. I did not want to put it down. The idea of Hitler having a child was quite interesting, and Meade was able to paint a picture of how it could have happened. The book really made you think about the rise of neo-nazis and the possibility of the 4th Reich. I thought it was an outstanding book and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Read Snow Wolf Instead
Review: I was dissapointed in this book. I read what I thought was Glenn Meade's first book "Snow Wolfe" and thought it was excellent. I couldn't wait for his new book to come out and when it did I could not understand why it was so boring. No thrill in this thriller! Then, while perusing my favorite used book swap, I encountered an old copy of "Brandeburg", published in England in 1994 by Coronet Books. It was a little different than the "new" Brandenburg, but mostly the same (written by Glen Meade in case your thinking something bad here). So, this was another publishing attempt to recycle an old book into a new one. Now I understand! Why they didn't just mass market it in paperback like everyone else, I will never know!

Rating:
Summary: not the greatest,
Review: Just by imagening the possibility of a Fouth Reich and how Germany would achieve it made me get this book. The idea of a 4th Reich is very powerful and fearing and the way it is presented in the book is quite entertaining. It's a nice, smooth book and not boring. It is sometimes surprising and the events are very film-like.

Rating:
Summary: Come on, get real.
Review: This was like somebody was writing a term paper for someone else. Nothing personal but if I bluy a book I hope that the guys reviewing it can be straight about what's between the coers. It was B O R I N G and I mean boring as hell. I'm sure the publisher payed the guy a lot of money for a miltibook contract, but how did anyone witha anything better do really read this and think that it was anything that made you keep turning pages. It made me turn the lights off and read a book I read before. Like something great like an old Jack Higgins book or Ross Thomas story. Who do you reviewers think your kidding? Oops. I know who. Everyone who reads the reviews that the company pays you to praise. When are reviewers going to be legit? Dumb question. Sorry Mister Meade. This was crummy. I hope you can write something that keeps our interest. Oh yeah, that Sands of Sakkara, I borrowed it from someon and read few pages and it looks like the same thing. Whatever, you already made it with the reviewers so, what can a poor schmuck like me have to say? Keep up the mediocre work.

Rating:
Summary: Ummmm, what to say....
Review: This work is long, weak and a tremendous disappointment. The characters are poorly formed and poorly executed. Depicted in the most impossible of situations and terribly stereotypical, they tend to irritate more than entertain. If a reader can bear grown women being referred to as girls, often, very often, and descriptions of the same being lurid and misplaces in the text of the novel, they just might enjoy this supposed thriller that takes place on both sides of the Atlantic. What I am sure of is the author knows the street address and organization of every law enforcement and counter-espionage agency in Europe. To a lesser extent in South America where in this book, a new Nazi party is doing its best to revive the Reich. There are endless and needless explanations of the form and function of these agencies throughout the novel. Still, with all this manpower and resources all over the world, the protagonist, a British DES agent, and his unlikely sidekick, a sexy, blonde journalist, are the only people between peace and a new Nazi Empire. Very predictably the sexy blonde the progeny of an SS officer and the hero, Joe Volkmann is the son of a Jewish victim of the Holocaust. However it is made clear he himself is not Jewish, only half. I think it is also very clear the author doesn't know anything about Jewish people or culture and was just trying to make the book interesting. There are some almost humorous gaffes committed by the writer when it came to ethnicity and international culture. Why a DSE agent would move a journalist he has never met into his home, cris-cross the globe with her, investigating the murder of her cousin in Paraguay is a stretch of the imagination. The reader has no idea how is footing the bill for all this travel or why European intelligencia would even be interested. The text mires down into a hodgepodge of poor Ian Fleming imitation. The hero is haunted by his father's suffering. He is also terribly clumsy and inept to be the dashing Bond-like character he's supposed to be. The beginning of the book is actually better than the latter part. Other than the grotesque but unrealistic murders and cruelty inflicted by the neo-Nazis, there is little else in the realm of action-adventure genre offered. Characters and situations depicted are weak, stereotypical and poorly if at all developed. It is just so improbable and so typical of a bad 1960's spy thriller, it is hard to finish reading. At just under 400 pages, it happens to be a long one, too. The formula used as the plot, super sharp agent, lovely sidekick, Nazis as villains, a nuclear weapon as the bad guy's bargaining chip, lots and lots of narrative about what the "girls" look like in and out of their clothes, and a climax wherein the super agent meets his arch-nemeses eye to eye, fulfilling his destiny, is just worn out. And pitifully re-done in this novel. Unless you are very bored and want a few laughs, skip this offering.