The Widow Killer

Rating:
Summary: This is an engrossing, intelligent historical thriller.
Review: Combining historical accuracy and vivid storytelling through the eyes of three disparate characters, THE WIDOW KILLER is an extraordinary read. Set during the final months of the Nazi occupation of Prague, THE WIDOW KILLER follows a naive Czech detective who must partner with an experienced Gestapo agent. Together, they track a serial killer as he butchers widows throughout the city. But as the Nazi regime crumbles and the Prague uprising begins in May 1945, the power hierarchy crumbles and both men are forced to carefully examine their own patriotism and courage ... and, in the case of the Gestapo agent, his willingness to accept moral responsibility for the actions of his fatherland, and for the Nazi Reich to which he once proudly pledged allegiance. Author Pavel Kohout has written a suspenseful mystery, an intriguing exploration of wartime morality, and a compelling historical account of Prague during the last months of the Second World War. Both main characters are flawed and complicated; they suffer not only for their own decisions but for the larger historical context in which they find themselves. The story's elements of nationalism, sexual passion, accountability and professional ambition remain universal and important. The translation, despite a clumsy word choice here and there, serves the story well; I was moved by Kohout's obvious passion for this era in Czechoslovakia's history, and by his skill in evoking both its widely-known events and the nuanced conflicts of the occupiers and the occupied. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Historical, gripping, spine-chilling
Review: I bought this book to get away from the normal stuff that I read. Good choice, as it is both historical gives one a glimpse of the days of German-occupied city of Prague during the twilight of World War II. The story opens with the gruesome murder of Baroness of Pomerania, the widow of a German Wehrmacht general, by a serial killer. The coroner's report determines that the victim did not resist and was not raped. Mysteriously, her heart was removed and vanished with the killer.

The mismatched pair of Jan Morava, a Czech detective, and Erwin Buback, a Gestapo agent who is questioning his loyalty to the Nazis, set out to track down the killer before he can strike again. But as Morava and Buback follow the killer's bloody trail through Prague, it becomes clear that he is not a political radical or a wartime dissident but a tormented psychopath.

In the final days of the Third Reich, as the war proceeds to its gruesome end, the narrative sinuously shifts perspectives, taking us deep into the emotional maelstrom of each of the characters: young Morava, struggling to find love and approval in a war-torn city; the disillusioned Buback, haunted by the ghosts of his beloved wife and daughter; and the tormented killer, sent on a bloody rampage to please "her whom he obeys."

As the story comes to the end, it grips you yearning the know what will happen next. A gripping tale of human struggle under a thrilling murder, Pavel Kohout creation of a memorable work of fiction, as one of the last important novels from one the war's direct eyewitnesses.

Highly recommeded, text refers to hardcover edition.

Rating:
Summary: A very good read, with excitement and intelligence
Review: Kohout's novel works on two levels. First, it's an excellent, gripping, historical murder mystery. The characters are well-rounded and interesting, the killer mysterious and frigtening, and the plot taught and fast-moving. Second, it's a thoughtful examination of issues of loyalty and personal morality, revolving primarily around the efforts of a Gestapo officer and a local, partisan Czech police detective to cooperate in capturing a sociopath while balancing their respective commitments to their own consciences, and their loyalties to their own countries, as the Reich falls around them.
A very good read.