Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting
Review: I'm suprised at the lukewarm reviews this book has been getting. I personally enjoyed it very much.
One complaint that pops up a lot is how the characters perceverate on their existance as Jews and how it's all over if their caught. Have you lived on Earth, recently? Human beings are very petty, and despite the fact that were are all complex individuals, have you noticed that you can usually sum up any individual with one defining characteristic? I personally thought the characters were very well realized.
Granted, not much happens for the first third or so, but I thought the payoff at the end was worth it. I've allways enjoyed the "setting up" parts more than the climax (case in point: my favourite chapter in the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy was the council of Elrond), so I didn't mind the interplay between characters. I didn't mind the bridge scenes, although I'm not a bridge player. I saw some parrallels between it and the Ferengi card game Tongo.
I did find the character of Erika Dorsh a bit silly, but that was the only real sore point. And yes, it's constantly hammered in that the characters are Jews and have to be careful, but have you noticed that most of us live in America? Judging by the amount of people who seem to have had trouble with the names/places/characters in the World at War series, most Americans must either:
A) Read with the telly on.
B) Skim
C) Are used to Harry Potter-style drival
*Sigh* More children left behind.
Rating: 
Summary: A colossal disappointment from a traditionally great author.
Review: I've long been a big fan of Harry Turtledove, starting with his "Guns of the South" series and even through the "Colonization" alien invasion epic. All of those novels were entertaining, original, unusual, full of twists and interesting turns that kept you reading well into the night. This new novel, "In the Presence of Mine Enemies," possesses none of those qualities.Let me summarize what happens for the first 350 pages: the characters commute to and from work, play a lot of bridge, have a few dinner parties, watch the TV news, and go to school. Absolutely nothing exciting happens. Not until nearly page 350 does anything remotely interesting or exciting happen to the main characters, and even then, it's handled in such a way that it's rather anticlimactic, and you could care less what happens to them. Turtledove's written far better works than this, despite the fantastic premise which holds so much potential. Even the premise of having the Nazis win WW2 wasn't explored very well, hasn't been developed all that much, and really isn't explored to the extent it could be. Three-quarters of the way through the book, I found myself skimming over sections in which, frankly, nothing happened. Or more of the same happened; the book is rather repetitive. I hate to say it, but this is one alternative history to skip. ADB
Rating: 
Summary: Good Ideas, not a great novel
Review: I've read the majority of Harry Turtledove's novels, and I've noticed on his more recent efforts that he is either getting worse as a writer or my tastes are becoming more refined. Turtledove has good ideas in all of his books, and this is no exception. He just isn't a very good writer. For some reason, he feels like he has to beat everything to death. About once every three pages he reminds the reader that these people are Jews and if they get caught, they're done for. He repeats things like this ad nauseum. I wish he would try to be a little more subtle and let the reader read between the lines. He has the same problem in his American Empire series. Also, as someone else said, there really isn't a lot that happens in this book. I was hoping for some more action. There are way too many bridge scenes, and if you don't know how to play bridge, you won't understand these. I always find myself buying Turtledove's books even though I can't stand his style because his ideas are interesting. So this book has some things going for it, but be prepared to sift through a lot of filler.
Rating:
Summary: Harry - you and history are strange !!
Review: If I had the choice, I would have said 3.5 stars, not 4. I made the mistake of reading all the reviews before I wrote this one. I agree with most. While good and interesting from a story line perspective, this is not Turtledove's best. As I've said in other reviews, "Guns of the South" - and NOT its sequels, is his best (though I could argue that Steve Barne's "Lions Blood" is more thorough and better described from a societal viewpoint). OTOH, it is hard not to like this one, the clear relationship (and almost copying) of the 18-10 years ago USSR/Russia, not withstanding. I like the Gimpels. Heinrich reminds me of a relative or two (and me). Herr Dr. Professor Weiss could be one of my aunts. I see relationships among his characters with many of my family. However, the South (in the 2000's USA) clouds all facets of imagination and free thinking. The novel is straightforward; the plot is foreseeable. It is not clear though who will "win" or prevail until near the very end (thought supposition can replace the story line and come out not too far off).. As I age I forgot my memories of Russia in 1990 or so. Still, the book is a bit cumbersome - too many subplots, some of which could have been eliminated w/o loss to the whole. It is difficult (for me) to see an alternative reich end in this way. However, I am not a trained historian. The USSR was rotten for at least 20 years+ before the "end." (Flying into East Berlin from Moscow on a winter nite in 1969 is one of my life's most frightening experiences.) It is not at all clear from this novel that there was a similar prefatory situation in the 2009 reich. IAC, I still enjoyed it. Zeiss computers? Using 'better' Japanese software? My, the ideas of history and the world and the different facets of a mirror. Enjoy this one...with a grain of salt !!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but flawed, alternate history
Review: In a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II, defeated America later on, and with its allies occupies the world, the few Jews remaining in Berlin have no option but to be more German than the Germans to avoid detection and state-sanctioned murder. They eat pork, they are uncircumcised, and they can pass on only what is not written--paper being too risky in the event of an SS search. It's 2009. The last of the WWII generation to become Fuhrer, Austrian-born Kurt Haldweim (guess who that is) has died, and a new, reform-minded Fuhrer has taken control. The six Jews who are the point of view characters in this stand-alone novel look on with hope which has been extinguished almost as thoroughly as their co-religionists as they look towards a new day when they might, just might, be able to live open lives. In the meantime, they must continue to face, and seemingly agree with, the unending anti-Jewish propaganda which lives on even though (as most Germans think) the Jews do not. An interesting novel. Unfortunately, Turtledove quickly finds himself trapped behind the fact that characters in such a situation do NOT want exciting things happening to them, but to live quiet lives, and therefore the first two-thirds of the book are very slow-moving. Perhaps the worst moments are the repeated bridge games (a hommage to Heinlein's "Farnham's Freehold"?) which go on for pages and pages, during which nothing much happens, and which are completely lost on the reader if you don't know much about bridge. Much of the rest is very reminiscent of certain events in Russia in recent years, together with a Yeltsin-like character. Turtledove never ceases to amuse with interesting parallels from our own reality (a play is mentioned like "The Producers" but focusing on Churchill and Stalin, the Czech delegation at one point is led by "a playwright" (Havel), and, of course, the Haldweim-Waldheim parallel). In case you're interested, the title is taken from Psalm 23. But ultimately, Turtledove is too much trapped by his own conception to make much of this alternate history. Recommended to those who have already read Turtledove. If you are new to alternate history, go read Turtledove's "The Guns of the South." It's much, much better.
Rating:
Summary: Book of secrets and political change...all wrapped in one!
Review: In the Presence of Mine Enemies allows Turtledove to take a break from his other series and do a self-contained novel set in the normally cliched world where the Germans won World War II and are dominating everything. I say "normally cliched" because Turtledove actually does a good job of making it seem fresh and interesting. It is the early 21st Century. The Germans and the Japanese won the war, cities in the USA were nuked in a second conflict after the European one ended, making the United States agree to be subjugated, paying tribute money every year to Berlin. Everybody figures that the next war will be against Japan for final control of the world, but for now an uneasy peace settles between the two empires. Jews have been eliminated from most of Europe, but like the cockroaches the Germans in this novel think they are, hidden infestations are everywhere, including right under there noses. This provides most of the story, as we are told of a society of hidden Jews who are working amidst every-day Germans in Berlin and elsewhere. The main character, Heinrich Gimpel, works for the Wehrmacht (the German army) as the man in charge of keeping tabs on the American money that gets sent to Berlin every year. At the beginning of the book, the ritualistic revealing of the family Jewish secrets to 10-year-old Alicia Gimpel occurs. When the parents think they are ready, their ancestry is revealed and they are absorbed into the conspiracy of silence. The children have to adjust to the raging anti-Semitism around them as well as changing their own feelings, because they have been indoctrinated with all of the anti-Jewish hate and must learn that they are the people who most other Germans consider the devil. Turtledove does an excellent job of telling the intensely personal story of this family along with the story of massive political change in Germany. Momentous events around the world sit beside the normal affairs and other personal problems that we all have, not to mention the secrets that the Gimpels and their friends are hiding. While sometimes kept to the background of the story, the specter of their ancestry is always hanging over them, even as events move to perhaps eventually allow them to admit in public what they've hidden for generations. Even when Turtledove seems to forget that aspect of the story as he tells of the politics (especially toward the end of the book), something often comes to the forefront as a harsh reminder of just what's at stake. Heinrich is caught up in the political changes but has to guard himself, lest he reveal their secrets in a rushed reaction to the world changing around him. He knows that with one misstep, extermination awaits him and his family. I was really impressed with the economy of viewpoint characters Turtledove uses. He uses the three Gimpels who are aware of the secret (two younger children don't know, which provides a lot of the conflict for Alicia, as she can't tell them but has to put up with, in silence, the anti-Semitic statements made by them) along with three other Jews who are in their circle of friends. With these characters, he is able to tell their story, a story of political change, as well as the deeply personal story of a troubled marriage and the effects it has on the Gimpels as Heinrich becomes the object of affection for a frustrated wife. Usually, Turtledove has so many characters that it's hard to keep them straight. I have always felt that this is probably why Turtledove insists on introducing them constantly almost every time they appear in the book. However, that reasoning must be faulty, because there are only six of them and he still insists on doing that. It became very aggravating. One thing I did find amazing is that Turtledove does manage to avoid most of the pitfalls his books usually fall in to. Sure, there is the introduction of characters mentioned above, but at least Turtledove makes every one of them interesting. It's almost heart-breaking watching Alicia struggle with the new knowledge she has gained, having to silently accept all of the statements made against her new-found people by her younger sisters as well as everybody in school. She finds it incredibly hard to absorb this new information and not reveal it to others through actions or, worse, inaction. Your nerves actually clench a little bit when the fighting between Heinrich's friend Willi and his wife Elena almost results in an affair that could jeopardize not only Heinrich's marriage but also accidentally reveal their secret. There are no useless characters in this one, and even the minor characters attract the reader's interest just enough to not be annoying. Turtledove also avoids the gratuitous, badly-written love scene. He effectively fades to black a couple of times and even the one that he does include doesn't concentrate on the details. I applaud him for this, as it really has been a weakness of his in the books that I've read. His prose is still wooden enough to give a woodpecker a woody, but it's not too bad this time around, probably because he's avoided most of his other problems. The climax of the book, while pulse-pounding as change sweeps through Germany, is so obviously a copy of the fall of another Evil Empire that it becomes very predictable. It's to Turtledove's credit that he makes the book interesting despite this, though by this time you have enough invested in the characters that you want to keep reading despite knowing what's going to happen. Inertia perhaps? In the Presence of Mine Enemies is an excellent book of alternate history, and probably the best book I've read by him. Give it a shot, even if you've found his other series to be a waste of time. This one isn't. David Roy
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: It is rare that an author can claim to be the undisputed master of his literaty niche, but when it comes to Harry Turtledove and the world of alternate history, there simply is no competition. Turtledove, who seems to write 3 books a year, has produced some amazing alternate history series, as well as some great stand alone stories. When I heard that Turtledove was going to take on the always fascinating task of creating a world in which the Third Reich won World War II, I was very excited. A victorious Reich has led to some great books, such as Fatherland and The Children's War. If anyone could master this, it was Turtledove, who did a great stand alone job with his last book, Ruled Britannia. Sadly, In the Presence of Mine Enemies is a shoddy story tied to a boring cast of characters populating a world that offers little in the way of historical fascination. The main protagonist of the story is Heinrich Gimpel, a Wehrmacht bureaucrat based in Berlin. He is a cog in the massive machine of the world wide Nazi empire, which has, for all intents and purposes, conquered the world. His uniformity serves a valuable purpose however, as Gimpel, shockingly, is Jewish. Using the Reich's computer system, Gimpel has managed to cover up the existence of a small community of secret Jews, who continue to practice their religion in the midst of a devilish empire which has exterminated millions of Jews worldwide. Gimpel's existence, and the lives of the small Jewish community in Berlin, comes into danger as various forces close in on the inconsistencies of the computer record and various other clues that the Nazi's pick up on. Also, Gimpel's complicated personal life, and his friendship with a co-worker, begin to place strains on the delicate existence that Gimpel must maintain. In the macrocosm of the world, the Reich is struggling to keep its worldwide empire in line. At the same time, a new Fuhrer is chosen, a leader who begins to propose changes to the political philosophy of the Reich. The book is just dreadful at points. While Turtledove tries to build some kind of tension within the small world of the Gimpel's, it soon degenerates into dull family drama. The same devices are used over and over again, school houses, bridge games, a lustful friend. It simple goes nowhere, and none of the other characters are built up enough to care. The plot just meanders, and Gimpel himself is way too domestic to ever build up a thriller pedigree. The worst part of the book however is how it almost totally ignores some of the greater themes available to a story like this. It is maddening when the story concentrates more on bridge game moves than the dynamic between the Third Reich and its conquered states. Most readers of books like this do not care about what the Gimpel's little girl thinks about anti-Semitic teachers, we want to hear of the past, how exactly the Nazi's won, how they consolidated their empire. What little we are told is through ineffective snippets. Even when the main political story takes shape, it is almost indecipherable in its presentation. I still do not understand how a relatively successful empire, controlled by the SS and the Army, would elect a Fuhrer who runs against their own interests. Also, I think Turtledove thinks a little too highly of Nazi civilization, as a culture of insane fear and corruption would have little chance of surviving in such a glorious state. Weak offering by Turtledove.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty slow, last 100 pages were the best part
Review: It seemed as though Mr. Turtledove spent about the first 2/3's of the this novel setting up the scene, which really made for an uninteresting, and slow novel. Now I'm not one of those people that can read any kind of alternate history and enjoy it, I just can't. The writing has to be good, and frankly I just didn't think Turtledove did a very good job on this one. I finished because just when I was about to give up, it picked up and became interesting, leaving the first 200 pages behind in a hurry.
Rating:
Summary: But this war had such promise!
Review: Just got thru this book...and pretty much agree with all the other reviewers have said. The first chapters, where young Alicia Gimpel finds out she is Jewish in post-millenium Nazi Germania after "coming of age", are quite wonderful, well done, realistic, touching. I believe this was published as an excerpt or a short story somewhere, and it actually does better on its own. A potential love affair between the book's hero, Heinrich Gimpel, and his work bud's increasingly frustrated wife is actually well-woven throughout the book for the most part. The Gimpel family scenes, and the sketches of the thoughts and internal struggles of Alicia, Heinrich, and Lise on their lifelong struggles with living as Jews while playing the game of survival in the tightly run Aryan state, come across quite well. So do the well-thought out snippets of Turtledove's alternative history (the U.S. didn't fare too well); he had the broad canvas roughed out so well! But...well, the severe shortcomings of the plot and narrative have been well-described by others here. I enjoyed the first two bridge game scenes, but the next dozen don't cut it. (Why in the world describe, one by one, successive hands where everyone passes?) The climactic finale is just way too reminiscent of what we all saw in the late 80's (to the point that it comes across as parody, as someone else wrote), also being unrealistic at points. The book pretty much crashes and burns at the end. If you read this, spend time enjoying the family scenes and first chapters, and feel free to read the last half of this book quickly, as there's unfortunately little reward there. Not a total time-waster, possibly worth buying at the current low price on this site if you like Turtledove and can handle his style. Could have been so much better!!
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't put it down...
Review: Mr. Turtledove's novels tend to be hit or miss with me, and this one was a definite hit.
The story was believable and (I thought) a pretty decent projection of what might have happened if the Third Reich won WWII...and what might have happened to the Jews in their midst.
The interplay of personalities certainly held my interest. I thought the main characters were well drawn and sympathetic. Some of the minor characters could have been more well-rounded but this did not detract from the plot.
And yes. I stayed up ALL NIGHT to read it.
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