Робърт Харис е автор на някои наистина чудесни книги, като серията за Цицерон, на която се надявам да има преиздаване на български, щото сега стари копия се продават антикварно на абсурдни цени.

Най-популярната му книга обаче е историческа фантастика относно Втората световна война, в която Оста е победила Съюзниците и Третия райх властва над Европа.

За хора, незапознати с другите форми на тоталитаризъм, описанието на контролираното от партията и построено по идеологически модел общество могат да се стори новаторско, но за всеки, който е чел нещо относно комунизма в която и да е от държавите, дето той е безчинствал, Фатерланд звучи доста познато.

Като изключим обстановката, самата книга е криминален роман и не ми беше особено интересна. ( )

Book 260. Fatherland Robert Harris. Loaned to me by John Baldwin. Lesley Baldwin . I thought this book might be a bit heavy going for me but after the first few pages I sailed through it. Using real people and facts up to 1942 he then twists it to explore what might have happened if Hitler had won. 7.5/10 ( )

A thoughtful, chilling thriller, set in 1960s Germany. A Germany in which Hitler and the Nazis had won the war. It's powerful and believable: though it would be preferable to believe that the Nazi regime with its abuse of power and intolerance of free speech could not have survived so long. An unsettling yet satisfying read. ( )

Subtle alt history, more like a noir detective story, set in a world where the Nazis won the war. The state of the world remains mostly a sketch, probably for the benefit of the novel. Our nazi policeman Sam Spade is a bit too inquisitive for his own good as he uncovers the mystery of the great replacement hidden among a string of murders. ( )

It's 1964, twenty years after Germany won WWII. Hitler is approaching his 75th birthday. Berlin has been rebuilt on a massive scale. Poland no longer exists. Western Europe has been dissolved into one Economic bloc. Only Switzerland has escaped becoming part of the Reich Empire. Joe Kennedy is the current American president.

Xavier March, a member of the SS after the absorption of the police into the SS, is sent out to investigate a body found in a lake. This pulls him into the high ranks of the German hierarchy during the war, the taking of art, and ultimately the notes of Wanasee, where the Final Solution was discussed and agreed. He finds corruption is rife, triple crosses everywhere and a fanatical belief in the Third Reich (and Hitler) starting with his ex-wife and son. Already disenfranchised with the state of things, it is shattered even more when he comes across an American journalist who gives him another view of things.

As usual, you feel that Harris has done his homework - the whole story with regarding to Wansee and the concentration camps ties with other variations I have of this, the use of the German ranks is impressive (esp if you dont know what they mean!) and the envisioning of what Berlin would have been like had the building plans gone ahead.



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