Reinhard Schulze

Advantages: nice
Disadvantages: only nice and too expensive

...Institute of Romance Philology at the University of Regensburg in Germany (the town and the university exist in reality) and his colleagues experiencing odd events. Professors, university . . . we´re in the world of Academia, the book belongs to the genre campus novel, so very typical for the English speaking world (David Lodge!) and not at all typical for Germany which does not mean that strange things don´t happen in German universities, but German authors somehow don´t feel like writing on them (I can only think of one exception: some years ago a professor of English (!) literature wrote a campus novel with the not very original title ´ Campus´) Why then has McCall Smith set his series in Germany? The books are dedicated to Reinhard Zimmermann [he´s really Dr. Dr. (honoris causa) (mult) Reinhard Zimmermann], a friend of the author´s. From... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Excellent plot, credible characters, great mix of fact and fiction
Disadvantages: None that I can think of...

...the Germany of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Globus, Reinhard Heydrich and Artur Nebe, are mixed with fictional characters like March, his partner Max Jaeger and Charlotte Maguire, an American journalist living in Berlin, who plays a pivotal role in the development of the story. Harris also refers to actual documents from the Nazi period, relating to the Wannsee conference and the plans for a ‘final solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’. Of course, it helps if you’ve been to Katowice and Auschwitz, as both towns are mentioned as March’s investigation draws to a close, but it all helps to reinforce the credibility of what is, after all, a fictional tale. All of this factual basis means that when Harris does invent an event or a place, it is much easier to accept it as being plausible. All in all... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Fast paced and compelling, Thoroughly researched
Disadvantages: You need some background historical knowledge to get the most from it

...and only understand a few words of German, then it can get a trifle overbearing; a simple glossary of terms at the back of the book would have helped enormously, I think. The other point is in the knock-on effects in the histories of countries outside of Germany, which are mentioned from time to time. It may be possible to stretch your imagination to see why King Edward and Queen Wallis are ruling Britain, but would a Liverpool of this world really have produced the exact same Beatles that we know in ours? As an author on previous non-fiction works on Hitler and Nazi Germany, Harris certainly knows the era and its politics very well indeed, and has done an admirable job of extending them into a fictional 1960s. Many of the people (such as Reinhard Heydrich, Artur Nebe and Martin Luther) and most of the set-up of March’s Germany are founded... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful