Our hero, Xavier March, is an SS agent in Nazi Germany, but we still root for him. That's storytelling. It helps that the book is set in a world in which Germany won their part of Word War II, and nobody knows exactly what happened to all the Jews.
In Fatherland, author Robert Harris creates a world where America beat the Japanese, but Germany won in Europe. It is now 1964, twenty years after Nazi Germany's victory, and the country is preparing for the Führer's seventy-fifth birthday and a peacemaking summit that will likely bring détente with President Kennedy. March is a police detective in Berlin, and all police have been made part of the Kriminalpolizei, also known as the SS. In a black uniform that strikes fear into most people who see him, he begins to investigate what seems like a routine murder. The victim turns out to be a senior Nazi commander and suddenly the Gestapo orders March off the case, an order he ignores. Solving this case might mean the end of Third Reich, but it might also mean the end of Sturmbannführer March.
Though the premise may make this sound like science fiction, the novel is a relatively straightforward police procedural that escalates into an international thriller. Tightly plotted and based more than a little bit on historical identities and facts, this book is hard to put down.
As gripping as the plot is, the characters are even more engaging. Zavi March is a hero in bad circumstances and he teams up with Charlotte Maguire, an American reporter stuck in Berlin to cover the summit. She ends up personally involved in the story, but it promises to be the biggest story out of Germany since the war ended.
He pulled out his wallet, took out the photograph. It looked incongruous amid the plushness of the restaurant — a relic from someone's attic, rubbish from a flea market stall.
He gave it to her. She studied it. A strand of hair fell over her face and she brushed it away. "Who are they?"
"When I moved into my apartement after Klara and I split up, it hadn't been decorated for years. I found that tucked behind the wallpaper in the bedroom. I tell you, I took that place to pieces, but that was all there was. Their surname was Weiss. But who are they? Where are they now? What happened to them?"
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Further research reveals that the VHS video is from an HBO movie. I guess that explains the presence of Rutget Hauer! :)
2 - Andrew Duncalfe
Also recommend Enigma and Archangel, by the same author. I think of the three, I enjoyed Fatherland the most, though. I should revisit them this summer after classes finish up...
3 - Michelle
I've only seen the film years ago. With Rutger Hauer - blue eyes and blonde... here goes the German sterotype;-)
4 - Ed Driscoll
Phillip,
It's an interesting film, although a larger budget would have helped. I remember reading an excellent New York Times book review of Fatherland, which (if I recall correctly) stated that Mike Nichols was set to direct it on the big screen. Why he backed out, I don't know.
Incidentally, I reviewed the film version of Enigma, based on Harris's follow-up novel in an early Blogcritics post. If you liked Fatherland (in either book or movie form), you'll probably like Enigma as well, even though its core concept isn't as audacious.
Ed
5 - Phillip Winn
As it happens, I'm a fan of the whole story of encryption during WWII, so I imagine I'll love Enigma, too. My local BBuster doesn't have Fatherland, and it isn't on DVD, so I think I'll just order it through Amazon using the BC link. It's only $8.
6 - Sean
The movie is ok. I agree that it could have used a bigger budget. The ending of the film is completely different from the book, and it is not an improvement.